Review: Kathy Griffin Has Arrived (And So Has Her Terrific New Memoir!)

Kathy Griffin is sooooo no longer on the D-List.

How do I know this? Just yesterday, I mentioned to a straight male friend of mine that I was reviewing her new book, and he said, “Kathy Griffin? Oh, yeah, she looks great in a bikini!”

And I thought to myself, “If Kathy Griffin is now not just known to straight guys, but known for having that rockin’ bikini bod, she has absolutely arrived on the A-List!”

But not to hear her tell it. When I interviewed her this summer and suggested that perhaps it wasn’t quite accurate to say she’s on the D-List anymore, she insisted she was. Being on the D-List is her shtick, and she’s sticking to it, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Fair enough. When you think about it, you can see that her “celebrity dish” comedy would be much harder to pull off if she suddenly 'fessed up to now being a celebrity herself. It only works when she’s on the outside.

Clearly she’s given herself a lot of thought. Now she shares what she’s learned/decided about herself in her fascinating new book Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin (Ballantine Books, 357 pages, $25).

The book is not what I expected. I thought it was going to be one of those slight books of “humorous essays” by comedians like Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Cosby, or Whoopi Goldberg. You know the kind I mean: thin with big type.

It’s not that at all. This is a full-fledged memoir, and a terrifically insightful one at that. Oh, it’s funny in parts, such as when she addresses Oprah directly, assuming that Oprah has looked up her name in the index and is reading the parts where she’s mentioned.

Kathy ends the section with, “You can skip ahead now, Oprah. Nothing else to see here.” Then, of course, in the next section, Kathy writes, “Is she gone?” Then proceeds to write what she really thinks about Oprah (sorta).

But this truly isn’t just a book of humorous anecdotes. It really is the story of her life.

Next Page! What does Kathy Griffin have against Hillary Swank? (A lot!)