Getting real with Kathy Griffin

The comic's new show, Kathy's So-Called Reality, begins tonight on MTV, and those TV reality shows may never seem the same.

By ERIC DEGGANS

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 4, 2001

As a comic, ex-Suddenly Susan co-star Kathy Griffin has taken on everyone from Mariah Carey to Jerry Seinfeld -- usually in expletive-laden monologues that betray an incisive eye for pop culture minutiae and the good old-fashioned put-down.

So when you hear this flame-haired diva has somehow snagged a weekly forum in which to skewer reality TV -- well, you know it's time to pay attention.

Griffin's brainchild, Kathy's So-Called Reality, makes its debut tonight on MTV -- appropriately enough, right after the channel's cult hit Jackass. She'll join a panel of cohorts (including her parents and a reality TV celebrity) in dissecting the week's developments in a bizarre cross between Politically Incorrect and Talk Soup.

"Well, honestly, I'm really obsessed with all these shows," said Griffin, who treats shows such as Survivor and Temptation Island with the reverence some viewers reserve for the latest The Young and the Restless episode.

"I just thought, what if there's a program that dished these shows, but more comedic, like Tom Green or Howard Stern or something?" she said, noting that the cable channel that invented the Real World and Road Rules would be the perfect home for such a twisted creation. "And I couldn't think of a more perfect person to host it than me."

This is a woman with the guts to ask Rick Springfield about spousal assault charges minutes after he got out of jail -- while taping a VH1 special, no less!

So she pulled no punches in a conversation that ranged from the hidden pathology of CBS' Big Brother to why people still confuse her with red-headed Three Sisters and ex-NewsRadio star Vicki Lewis (hint: Griffin's the spunky sidekick who was actually funny).

Question: So we hear you've unearthed the new Survivor's first big mistake: kicking out corrections officer Debb Eaton.

Griffin: Come on, they should not have voted off the crazy lesbian. Right out of the gate.

Q: She's not a lesbian. She's marrying her stepson.

Griffin: I thought . . . now we're not going to get any of them sitting around the campfire -- as if any of them could actually make fire -- but now we're not going to get that scene where they sit around and find out her big story. (Eaton has admitted a romance with the son of her deceased husband.) I would have just chipped away at her, until she told me the story. I would have gotten all the dirt.

Q: But you would have gone in the wrong direction.

Griffin: I definitely wouldn't have guessed the stepson . . . that's a nice, unique angle. But that's got to be the worst thing . . . to be the first one kicked off -- especially the second series, which is so high profile. You just know she bragged to everybody at the prison: "I'm going to go down there and show them what real survival is!" Those inmates are going to make so much fun of her. It's going to be horrible.

Q: What attracts you to these shows?

Griffin: I can't believe people's thirst for fame. I can't imagine having the burden of being known without the money. These people have, to me, all the negative aspects of fame. People bothering you in restaurants, people thinking they know you when they don't. But they're not, like, rich and living in a private house in the hills.

Q: Gervase Peterson, from the first Survivor, says he'll make a million within the next two years.

Griffin: Gervase needs to worry about those four kids he has.

Q: Tell me your thoughts about the Survivor sequel.

Griffin: I was thinking I wouldn't like it, because they hired all these skinny chicks and they all look alike to me, and that's so boring. I mean, how many guys do you know that actually walk around with their shirts off like that in public? But they really do that show so well -- the way it's edited, they really got me invested in Debb. They really did focus on four people, where I thought it could go any way.

Q: Jenna Lewis, another contestant from the original, said when she saw that Debb was getting a lot of screen time in the debut episode, she knew she was gone.

Griffin: Yeah, but they also gave the persnickety guy lots of screen time and the bald guy who thinks he knows it all. He said he was used to this because he has gone camping. Riiight. That was my favorite line.

Q: What about that Fox-TV show with four couples who are encouraged to date other people, Temptation Island?

Griffin: Temptation Island I'm totally into. I cannot believe the (stuff) going down on that show. I can't believe it's only six episodes. I want them all back on the island within a week.

Q: With machetes.

Griffin: Yeah! Not only are they trying to break you up as a couple, they're also trying to kill you. No, really, I'm more fascinated by the women. Because men are just always big idiots that will go for a skinny girl in a bikini, so that doesn't mystify me. But I'm looking at some of these women thinking, "Why are you with this loser?" It's so sad to me, these girls who think this actually will cement their relationship.

Q: Isn't that some kind of denial?

Griffin: Oh . . . it's deep, deep denial. Ytossie and Taheed, who clearly hate each other . . . they clearly are so bitter and hate each other so much, why are they together? (The pair were removed from the show Wednesday after producers discovered they have a child together, in violation of the show's rules.) Then there's the guy with the bad nose job who is supposedly a model. It's like if I tried to be a model. Like, maybe with some good lighting I might do something for Target.

Q: What other shows will you be talking about?

Griffin: We're going to cover whatever we think really delivered that week. I'm sure we'll always cover Survivor, and I'm sure we'll cover Temptation Island, Popstars, MTV's Fear -- have you ever seen that show? Oh, I love that show. I think it's so funny that they just put these poor teenage kids in an abandoned building. They must convince them that there isn't an MTV production truck like 30 feet away, because they actually think they're going to be killed. Show after show, they're running down a dark hallway going, "AAHHHHH! GODDD!" They actually think MTV would just let them be killed by a ghost on television. And they so believe it, that's what I love. They really, really lose it.

Q: I think MTV might actually let them be killed, if it got some ratings.

Griffin: (laughing) There's a couple that might slip between the cracks, for sure.

Q: You've said what you like about these shows. What irks you about them?

Griffin: It irks me when they're not done well. I look at Survivor, and I think this is really put together well and cast well. And then you have Big Brother. I could not believe how stupid they all were. They had one show where they were all arguing about whether Lincoln was the first president.

Q: On Big Brother you've got 10 people stuck in a house. All they could do was sit around and think about how they were coming off on camera.

Griffin: They talked so much about how famous they were. On Survivor, the first group, it seemed like they were really concentrating on surviving . . . the elements and each other. On Big Brother, it was just so embarrassing when Jamie would sit around and talk about (adopts spacey voice), "I don't know if I'm going to do a Playboy spread. I probably won't." I'm sitting there thinking, "Honey, nobody's going to ask you."

Q: Sounds as if your show will have plenty of material. But is there any concern that people will confuse you with Vicki Lewis?

Griffin: Any more than they already do? Believe me, that's a burden I already bear.

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