No joke! The 38-year-old stand-up comic and NBC reality-show host is serious about her L.A. living room

BY RHONDA RICHFORD

From Chi-Town To Tinseltown
“I grew up in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, but I really think of myself as a Chicagoan. I moved out here when I was 19 and lived in a studio apartment in Santa Monica for six years. I had a kitchen and a bedroom and it never occurred to me that I should move. I think my rent was $319 a month. Then I made the huge leap to a one-bedroom in the same building. Eventually I got the house bug, so I bought this modern-style four-bedroom place [in 1996 in Los Angeles], andl love it like it’s a person.”

Signature Style
“I don’t like interior decorators. If I found one that I liked, I would use one, but I find that they just impose their own ideas. And the way they jack up the prices. I can’t afford that. So I just like to mix and match cheap and expensive stuff. Like I have a really expensive dining room table and all Ikea chairs to go with it. Comfort is No. 1, and if the colors match, then that’s groovy.

Average Couple
“My dream night is me and Matt [Moline, 35, her computer technician husband of two years] sitting on the couch with the dogs [adopted strays named Patches and Lucky], eating in front of the TV and watching reality shows or a murder documentary. The living room is where it all goes down in the Griffin-Moline household.”

Artistic License 
“This house is very modern with all these big walls. It’s crying out for large pieces of art and I know nothing about art. I told the girl who did my living room painting to do an homage to Matisse. I said, ‘Not a Matisse knockoff, but what he would paint today if he were a woman.’”

Kitchen Confession
“I think it's really funny when celebrities are ashamed to be in the tabloids. They’re crazy. The minute I make a worst-dressed list, I laminate it and put it up on the fridge. Actually, I only laminate the ones with pictures. I’m a little fussy that way.”

Love Thy Neighbor
“Marilyn Manson’s house is next door. One time he heard me and Matt out on the patio talking. He came out and started yelling ‘Shut up, Kathy Griffin!’”

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