I admit it, I love Kathy Griffin. But when she announced on My Life on the D-List that she was publishing a book I was a bit skeptical. Would her comic wit parlay appropriately to the written word? I ran to the store and purchased Offical Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin to decide for myself.
Offical Book Club Selection begins with a foreword written to Oprah Winfrey. The first few chapters highlight Kathy’s childhood as an ugly, orange haired, obsessive tv watcher that longed to be in show business. In grade school, boys in her class used to bark at her! Our Kathy? How dare they! She claims her career in ‘gossip’ began as a child when she would regularly run to the neighbor’s house and sell all her family secret’s for cookies and milk. She’d tell tales of her older brother’s keggers and her dad’s incessant cussing the night before, all to her mother’s chagrin. Surprisingly, Kathy writes about some troubled family relationships in detail. Many people brush Kathy off as an irritating, crass annoyance but the discussions around her pedophile brother may give readers some insight to her strength and character.
A great deal of Official Book Club Selection is about Kathy’s path to show business by way of various comedy clubs and stand up routines. I never realized she had just a difficult rise to fame. While these chapters were interesting, I found them a bit tedious and lengthy. They were however, insightful. The pace of the book seems to pick up again when she discusses her years on Suddenly Susan.
There is a good amount of gossip about other celebrities, but not as much as one would expect from Kathy. If you’ve seen Kathy’s stand up routine over the years, you may notice an overlap in stories. Kathy once dated Jack Black and the relationship is highlighted. Andy Dick, Jerry Seinfeld and Brooke Shields stories abound. I sensed Kathy had a lot to say about some of our beloved talk show hosts, and was disappointed she held back. Who can resist the ongoing tension with Barbara Walters and the cast of The View? She admits in the book that talk show hosts are the only population not affected by her wrath because she needs talk show bookings to further her career. So, no ticking off David Letterman today, folks.
Ever wonder what really happened in Kathy’s marriage? Well, you’ll have all the details after reading Kathy’s book. Care to know how filming My Life on the D-list has changed Kathy and many of her friends? It’s all in there.
Offical Book Club Selection is a witty, insightful read. I recommend it to any true Kathy Griffin fan.
