Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin

Kathy Griffin is a very polarizing person...you either love or hate her. I've always been on the side of dislike because I didn't care for her publicizing all of her plastic surgery and her comedy style feels a little cheap-shot to me. But after a friend mentioned that she picked this book up for summer reading, I looked into it and it sounded interesting enough to try!

Summary: Kathy Griffin has won Emmys for her reality show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, been nominated for a Grammy, worked and walked every red carpet known to man, and rung in the New Year with Anderson Cooper. But the legions of fans who pack Kathy’s sold-out comedy shows have heard only part of her remarkable story. Writing with her trademark wit, the feisty comic settles a few old scores, celebrates the friends and mentors who helped her claw her way to the top, and shares insider gossip about celebrity behavior—the good, the bad, and the very ugly. 

She recounts the crazy ups and downs of her own career and introduces us to some of the supertalented people she encountered before they got famous (or, in some cases, after fame went to their heads). Word to the wise: If you’ve ever crossed Kathy Griffin at some point in your life, check the index for your name.

Along the way, Kathy reveals intimate details about her life before and after she made the big time. She opens up about everything from growing up with a dysfunctional family in suburban Illinois to bombing as a young comedian in L.A., from her well-publicized plastic surgery disasters to her highly publicized divorce, and more. Only in this book will you learn how the dinner table is the best training ground for a career in stand-up, how speaking your mind can bite you on the ass and buy you a house, and which people in Kathy’s life have taught her the most valuable lessons—both inside and outside the entertainment industry.


This is an interesting book, but I'm about halfway through and am losing motivation to finish it. It's pretty neat finding out about Kathy's childhood and family because it helps explain where she came from and why she is the way she is...it's especially great to hear how devoted she is to her parents (in every movie/TV show she was on, she included a negotiation in her contract that her mom and dad be allowed on set for one day bc they love meeting celebrities). Learning about different comedy styles is also interesting. I knew there was a difference between stand-up and improv comedy, but Kathy does a good job of explaining the differences through her successes and failures in each. And of course I love reading about what jerks some celebrities are (Steve Martin) and what celebrities were like before they were famous (Jack Black)...but I've gotten to the point in the book where it feels like I'm reading the same thing over and over again.

Her story reminds me a lot of a the documentary Joan Rivers recently did about herself, A Piece of Work. (If you haven't seen this documentary yet, it's on Instant Watch on Netflix and is really insightful into who Joan Rivers actually is.) Much like the Joan Rivers documentary, it's nice to get past the tough exterior and see how these ladies, who nobody seems to like, feel about all of the negativity projected towards them. I appreciate the determination that both of these ladies have, but at times you feel bad for them because of all the flack they get on a daily basis.

I've put this book aside for a while and am going to move onto other books to see if maybe I miss the story...but I don't know if I will.

Rank (for halfway through the book): C-