Kathy Griffin - Comedian HARDtalk

row fears the number of dead could

now rise. -- there are.

Now on BBC News,

it's time for HARDtalk.

Welcome to HARDtalk.

I'm Stephen Sucker.

Comedy is subversive.

It finds laughter in dark

and difficult places,

but when it goes wrong

things can get ugly.

Kathy Griffin is an American

stand-up comedian probably best

known for being pictured last May

holding Donald Trump's severed head

in her hand.

The Trump head was fake,

but the outrage was real,

from the President, the TV

network which fired her,

the FBI which investigated her,

and the public which heaped abuse

on her head.

What was, and is,

Kathy Griffin thinking?

Kathy Griffin, welcome to HARDtalk.

You'll stand up so which you are

taking around the world is funny and

Frank but to many people shocking

and to some offensive. Do you

carefully calculate how to offend?

I

do. I am an expert in offending

people. I offended you in the

dressing room because I cannot

believe someone actually married

you. Anyway, good luck to her. What

I like to talk about in my head is

talking about people saying it was a

severed head. As if I went to the

shop and bought one. I have no

single day of paid work in my

country because of the reaction.

Let's start with the action.

I

thought I was the guest.

Let's start

with the action of choosing to go

into the photographer's with that

mask and the catch-up. -- tomato

sauce.

I have no say in the

copyright of that photograph.

Because I trusted him I kind of got

screwed because he can make as much

money from that image has it wants.

Your epitaph may be about that

moment.

People at airports wanted to

do it oppose like that.

You must

have known you were crossing a line.

Yes, of course, that is a comedian's

job. I like to move it and then

across. But we don't, what do we do?

Make jokes about the difference

between puppies and kittens. There

is never been a president that

deserved to be shamed so much and

the reason he had such as reaction,

and his growing children...

Lets

stick with your thinking. As we

tease out your career, it is

important to understand how you make

decisions. There you are with Donald

Trump's had an you adopt a pose

reminiscent of those so-called

Islamic State fighters...

And also

Medusa. A lot of iconic imagery in

comedy has been done...

A movie with

David Spade, there's a scene where

they roll Meryl Streep... Head down

the bowling alley. None of this

would have happened if Donald Trump

did not get freaked out about a girl

shaming him. A girl shamed him.

The

beheading of the commander and chief

and America has ideas about the

security of its president. I cannot

even count the lines you have

crossed. When you talk about not

being confused and clear about what

you are doing, after this reaction,

it you issued an apology.

I am not

sorry. I take the apology back

thousand %. I made the apology

because I thought people would think

it is just the doing a shocking

thing. One time I said suck it,

Jesus and conservatives were out in

the paper and that it what they like

to spend their time and money on. My

good friend Rosie O'Donnell, the

pre-eminent expert on being trolled

by this accidental President, he has

been trolling her 14 years, and she

said, what if Daniel Pearl's mother

saw this...

Daniel Pearl, the

American journalist be headed in

Pakistan.

When she said that, I

said, oh, my gosh. I never apologise

for a joke but I get it. Number one,

the apology was not enough the Trump

psycho still came out at me and he

was happy to have the attention away

from Russia and all the other

improprieties.

When you say I went

too far, I apologise and beg for

forgiveness...

It was a sincere at

the moment. I am not worried about

my career. I have two Emmys. That is

a website called TMZ... Why it

report those in real time. TMZ

reported the cancellations of my

American tour in real time. I want

to point out I have been to Iraq and

Afghanistan, has Donald Trump? I

performed in a war zone so I know

exactly what am doing and I more of

a patriot Benny is every day of the

week.

You seem to believe Donald

Trump has organised to plot against

you. You seem to be accusing him of

being behind the Secret Service

investigation...

Department of

Justice. I am still on the Interpol

list. I have been detained in every

single airport at this tour...

And

you seriously think President Trump,

sitting there in the White House has

time to say, let's get Kathy

Griffin.

Are you not aware of this

guy?

It is not govern. GU find

Donald Trump funny?

I proud of this

tour because I have had this Donald

Trump for 20 years. I have known

this orange full, the accidental

President for so long. This guy

shows to the opening of an envelope

so I have met him plenty of times.

Once he turned to me and said, so,

you are a female comedian, next

thing you know we will want to vote.

He is an idiot. Whether you like him

or hate him he is an extraordinary

president...

Careful. Careful. What

do you mean by extraordinary

president?

Whether going on stage

and slapping him off is it actually

comedy?

I have personal experience

within. My current show is not just

jokes about Donald Trump. I have had

interactions with him. Now that he

is accidentally the president

through cheating etc, is sort of

comical. It is frightening as a

citizen but as a comedian with a

goal mind. Before CNN, on NBC, as a

throwaway someone said do you want

to interview the trumps and I said,

only Melania. A two-month taxpayer

funded investigation which has never

happened in the history of the

United States so, if nothing else,

respect the history of the fact that

you're looking at the only woman, an

American citizen which the entire

White House, the Department of

Justice and Fox studio in the words

of the little monster, we want to

decimate Kathy Griffin it was unjust

the threats to my mother, to my

sister as she was dying of cancer,

yes, it is a campaign and well

documented.

The fact that you lost

your sister in the middle of all

this.

That is why I shake my head

and I know I look like 11th from

stranger things. Many of my friends

were dear Balde dyke we died

instantly sister.

This sounds like

an incredibly painful moment. I just

wonder, why on earth you are now

back on the road doing stand-up

comedy, engaging with the very

people he knew say tried to bring

you down. You are still getting vile

abuse on Twitter because, frankly,

you still engaged... Hang on, it is

two ways.

What comedians do not?

Name one. The point is, what do you

want to play this game?

They are

playing with my life. He is trying

to stop me from making a living. I

want to be a case study. I am clear

to stop me from making a living. I

want to be a case study. I am clear,

I want people colour, LGBT people to

not go through this again. This

should not happen to an American

citizen. My point of doing this

tour, believe it or not, it is not

about me, I want younger people to

look and say if they couldn't take

that old bird down, they cannot take

me down because this should not

happen to an American citizen.

I'd

be death threats continuing today?

Yes. How do you handle them? I am

all over the map. I will have days

where I will be crying, days where I

am justified. There is one which I

read on stage. A lot of the Trump

fans are not into the grammar and it

gets so crazy it is funny. One thing

I have done my whole life, we like

to take something dark and difficult

and spin it and spin it in the week

and make it funny and relatable.

Sometimes I will just read a death

threat on stage and hopefully make

hilarious comments. May show

currently is different than my

regular act because now it has a

lady at Tuitt that it never did and

I got a standing ovation at the

Sydney Opera House and trust me

nobody in Hollywood cares one bid.

It seems to be in a position where

you are bringing in big crowds in

big arenas around the world and you

cannot get a gig in the US.

And no

one will lift a finger. We will see,

never say never but the point that

no one will lift a finger hurts. I

have never been more on my home and

yet I have never had more fun with

the material.

We will get back to

the way it so best works in the US

because it raises questions but

sticking to the personal for the

moment. You talk about how you take

the dark stuff and spin it around

until it is comedic as well as

painful but you do that to an

extreme. You pick apart your life

and some of the darkest corners in

your up ringing in a way that I

cannot think of many other people

would be able to do, including

abusive behaviour inside your

family.

My brother is a paedophile.

All the Harvey Weinstein things I am

aware of certain triggers. I was

sexually assaulted myself, twice,

and frankly my narrative is a little

bit more about ageism and misogyny

and that is what I have experienced

more than any other challenge.

Is

there not some stuff inside your

family that fed them as much as you,

it would be better not to put out

their.

No. I do not cover for

paedophiles, even if he was my

brother. The truth hurts. You have a

paedophile in your family, you think

it is not effective? He was never

convicted. He did go to prison for

other offences but he would talk to

me about it in a way that was

unbelievable so when you grow up

like that, it turned me into the

type of comedian, at the and Thai

air land where my comedy is very

down to less. -- anti-Ellen. My

audience is forward thinking people,

people who cannot be shocked and

that is why I doing well here and

overseas.

Some authors find there are certain

things they cannot write while their

parents are still alive. Does your

mother come and watch your show?

Share me comes to senior Los

Angeles, she won't get on a plane

any more because she might get the

runs. Look, that is how I was

raised, she talks about getting the

runs. Old people talk about their

ailments a lot.

Comedy, hasn't

always been you, because you have a

difficult up bringing and

complicated life, hasn't always been

a form of therapy?

Let me be clear,

my life now much more difficult in

my bringing. My up and in was on

this typical for a comedian. --

upbringing. But my journey now in my

40s, 50s, it has never been harder

than now. That is why I am speaking

out now. The people who kept me

down, the Jeff Zuckers of the world.

I did find a half hours on CNN, the

highest ratings in ten years, I am

not a CNN employee. All those people

who hate CNN or whatever, I worked

there one night a year. And I got

fired.

Here is what I see is a

paradox...

You should see what

happens when I tried to get a raise.

I dare say many people watching this

will have been there themselves.

I

just want women to know, when Cheryl

Sandberg says Lingy and, in my case

I fell on my face and broke the

nose. To her. -- says lean in.

Why

do you continue, clearly, to have

this drive and ambition to make it

in showbiz? You have made it, you

have 12 Emmys. But you got so fired

up by the fact that CNN fired you...

No, the CNN thing... Let me finish

the question. You had showbiz in so

many ways.

How dare you, I love it!

You have talked about a business

that has, over time, it encouraged,

if not forced you to get cosmetic

surgery, to get so sick with

different forms of losing weight

because of a particular way they

want women to look on screen...

Two

nose jobs, all that.

You took speed

to lose weight.

That is just funny.

I took speed back when it was called

speckled eggs. I don't know if they

even make those any more. But when I

was 19, working in a shop, I took

speed to try to be thin because I

had so many agents say if I was then

and I wasn't so ugly I might work.

And I believe them at that age.

Men,

it has to be said, don't suffer in

the same way. I've never been told,

God knows I probably need it, to get

a head job or a face job. And

probably do not suffer the same way

that women have these demands on

them on screen, especially in the

US. So why do you still want to do

it?

Firstly, I love it. I really

love it.

That's weird.

How can you

say that? Nothing better than making

people laugh.

How can you love being

in a business which objectified as

you, demeans you, judges you on the

things you do not regard truly

important? Yet you love it?

Because

I think I have finally figured out a

way to run it like a boss. I have

all male employees. Every piece of

material is mine. I do not have

writers lack many other thing

comedians. Like I have I have done

23 stand-up comedy specials, and I

just wanted to be in the Guinness

Book of World Records for younger

women do not have defied that stigma

of women not being funny. -- have to

fight that stigma. I like to set

these records are after I'm gone,

young women can say maybe they have

a shot. She did it, so I will try.

It is not even just about the

demands on looks and weight and

everything else. It is also a basic

sort of thing about money, isn't it?

Of course. I would kill to make 80

cents on the dollar. When women say,

making 80 cents on the dollar, in my

business I make a nickel on the

dollar. You think I make anywhere

near my former grounding student

Will Ferrell? I was his teacher. You

think I make the same money as Adam

Sandler?

This is a quote from the

recently. I'm not saying there is in

progress, but there is not a woman

in Hollywood who can really sign a

cheque, for example, a woman Rupert

Murdoch. What is going to change

that? It and the people with the

money and the power to get more

women in those positions?

First of

all, women have to not be

discouraged out of the business. One

thing, obviously, people are talking

about are the Weinstein. One of the

things that breaks my heart is all

the women who either became addicted

to drugs after being raped, how

could you not, or just left the

business, how could you not. One

thing I want to do is, stay in it. I

am not going to let them wind. And

luckily, like I said, when I do be

Vicar in Dublin, when I do the

Palladium, it is two hours,

sometimes longer, and I can just

breathe. And I love it. I'm not a

snob about comedy. I don't care if

it is a funny commercial, a funny

sitcom, I've done it all. I've done

a reality show, a talk show. Any

opportunity to make people laugh, I

cherish it.

You say, I'm not going

to let them wind. In this

conversation we've already

acknowledged that right now your

career in America is effectively

over. You are not getting the live

gigs, you are not getting the TV

work. Do you even want to be in

America animal?

Yeah. It is my home.

We will see what happens. Anything

can happen. I'm going to finish this

tour, I'm going to go home, and I

don't know what's going to happen.

It is frightening to me, to not

have, like they said, a day of paid

work. And you should know, all the

celebrities I make fun of, they

always committed host their charity

gigs for free, so they hate me until

the free performer. Chelsea and

Sarah said no. Anyway, I love doing

it and I will keep doing it. Thank

goodness stand-up is the one thing

that even a horrible man, and I

could list the names right now,

can't stop me from doing. Because as

long as there is an audience and a

mouth and a microphone, then I can

do that. That's what I'm doing now.

Do you feel patriotic?

I think, like

I said, you don't just go to

Afghanistan as your pager. You don't

go do stand-up in this Pakistan and

Kuwait and Iraq unless you a

patriot. I am or pager at it than

any of those Nazi Tom supporters. I

think our president is a Nazi. I

think people should be frightened. I

think there is an actual Nazi, or at

least somewhat Nazi-leaning, in the

White House. Wake up.

We began the

interview would you saying that sort

of thing and we are ending the

interview with that sort of thing...

Because everybody is afraid to say

it, especially the American

journalists.

The way that you say

it, and the fact you are so

determined to say it, suggests to me

that you burn your bridges in

America and networks who have to

ensure that they sort of appeal to a

wide range of different people

across the nation are not going to

put you on television.

Are you nuts?

Wait until I do the first thing that

gets ratings. They will come running

back. That's all a care about. --

they care about. I do one thing that

gets ratings, boom, they are back.

I've done it for times in my career.

It is a merry-go-round. Up and down,

I learn so much from idea departed

friend Joan Rivers about riding the

wave. -- might dear departed friend.

She was fearless, Peerless, and

didn't give a you know what. I think

that is essential for comedy.

That

is interesting, didn't give a unit

what. Given the choices you have

made all your career, you must have

the thickest skin imaginable. You

cannot afford to show pain and

vulnerability. Yet in the fallout

from the Trump head incident, you

did show pain and vulnerability.

And

I think... I cried onstage, I cried

on stage. Yes. Look, this is all new

material. I'm standing on stage at

the Sydney Opera House...

You

couldn't afford to be vulnerable,

not the way you have chosen to run

your career.

I don't agree with

that. Folks who come to my show know

they will get something real. They

know that my act is very

improvisational, it changes all the

time, and I love changing it. When I

play Indian I will do material

unique to that city. When I play in

Antwerp, I can't find it on a map,

but I will make it funny. I love

changing it. That keeps it fresh and

funny.

I want to end with some words

from Ricky Gervais, I don't know if

you know him, him... He says, he has

no problem offending people, but he

says, yes, we comedians have the

right to say horrible things, and

everybody else has the right to hate

you to doing it. You say horrible

things, you have to take the

consequences. Are you prepared to

live the rest of your life on that

basis? Saying horrible things and

then taking the consequences?

I

think I have proven that. Never has

a comedian been on the Interpol list

and the Five Eyes list. Obviously I

am willing to take it.

But how long

can you do it? You are in your 50s

now.

I50 seven. I was detained here,

I will be detained at the next

airport. You know what I think in

the next Anton Enus? Can I put this

in the act? I might mention that

guy, he is kind of funny, I will put

this in the act.

It is a lonely

life.

No, I have a great team. My

team manager is my boyfriend. We

travel the world together. I love

it. I love doing it. And you know

what, kind of without the other

stuff, the agents, and to the first

time in my life, actually don't have

somebody saying, you are an ugly old

hat, stop. I don't have those people

around any more. So I have at a

little smaller and I just get to do

my job and I love it. And at the end

of the show, they stand.

Kathy

Griffin, it is the end of the show.

I can't stand... Get up, Steve!

But

thank you very much.

Thank you. I am

a big fan.