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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Is Not Nicole Kidman

Kathy Griffin

Bravo · 2005 · 60 min

Gossip and award-show disasters from a professional Hollywood outsider.

Watch it free on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Kathy Griffin turns minor public embarrassments and awkward greenroom encounters into high-drama performance art. Her comedy functions like a debrief from an untrustworthy friend who just came back from an exclusive party they were barely invited to, trading heavily on the petty indignities of mid-level celebrity. The highlight of the show is her recounting of a disastrous co-presenting gig at the American Music Awards alongside Ryan Seacrest, which culminated in an on-stage clothing mishap and a surprisingly tender backstage welfare check from the rapper Nelly. Filmed at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, this 2005 special caught Griffin at a major turning point in her career. It aired on Bravo just before the debut of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, the reality series that would solidify her brand of self-deprecating opportunism. The set also includes extended takedowns of contemporary reality-television fixtures, ranging from an incoherent meeting with Anna Nicole Smith to Barbra Streisand’s highly orchestrated appearances on Oprah.

The set list

4 bits

  1. American Music Awards with Ryan Seacrest

    Details co-hosting an awards show with Ryan Seacrest, running into him in a parking garage, and fixating on his waxed eyebrows.

  2. Anna Nicole Smith

    Riffs on celebrity tabloid culture and the absurd public antics of Anna Nicole Smith.

  3. Barbra Streisand on Oprah

    Deconstructs Barbra Streisand's TV appearance on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' using spot-on diva impersonations.

  4. Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson

    Dishes on the phenomenon of American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, and Clay Aiken along with his dedicated fanbase of 'Claymates'.

How it plays

Tone
Irreverent, gossipy, ego-puncturing, and biting.
On stage
Celebrity-obsessed, sharp, catty insider functioning as a fly-on-the-wall enthusiast dishing irreverent gossip about the A-list.
Pace
A comic-riff machine delivering rapid-fire gossip with high energy and flawless storytelling cadence.
About
Celebrity encounters and tabloid culture, American Idol, Red carpets and award shows, Interviews and divas

What the critics said

Critical reception praised the special as entertaining and sharp, with the Chicago Tribune hailing her riff on Barbra Streisand and Oprah Winfrey as masterful and Decider describing Griffin's early specials as pure dynamite driven by her unique comedic perspective.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, themoviedb.org, azmovies.net, episodedata.com, decider.com, bancodeprofissionais.com, letterboxd.com.

Backstory

Televised live on Bravo on August 3, 2005, airing immediately before the series premiere of her reality show 'Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List' amid mid-2000s pop culture fixations on American Idol and tabloid celebrity news.

Details

Released
Taped
Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles
Runtime
60 min
Where
Bravo
Director
Keith Truesdell
Topics
Before
Allegedly (2004)

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