Kathy Griffin Cracks Me Up

I am most definitely not a fan of stand-up comedy. To me, there's something vaguely unnatural about someone standing in front of a group of people telling jokes. Sure, I can appreciate the humor of old school Eddie Murphy or Richard Pryor, and Jerry Seinfeld's observations are pretty funny, but generally I don't really feel the stand-up.

But Kathy Griffin rocks my world. In a serious way.

Maybe it's the fact that she doesn't tell "jokes," per se, but rather tells stories in her singularly acerbic and hysterical way, but I find her consistently, and ridiculously, funny. Her most recent Bravo stand-up special, subtitled Straight to Hell? Pure comic genius.

She began the evening recounting the controversy surrounding her Emmy Award acceptance speech ("Suck it, Jesus!"), which, ironically, got more press for the shameless publicity seeker than she ever could have possibly have hoped for. She continued with anecdotes about Paula Abdul, Martha Stewart, Dr. Phil and, of course, her sometime-View colleague Barbara Walters. Attempting to recreate any of her stories would be a fruitless exercise -- her delivery is just as important to the humor as the content of what she's saying. But, if you missed it, take my word for it: one story is funnier than the next, and if you are a fan of celebrity culture, I'd be shocked if you don't find yourself with a huge smile for the entire duration of the set.

I may not be a fan of stand-up comedy, but I am most definitely on the Kathy Griffin bandwagon.