Griffin’s celeb jabs find a home at NBC

By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

“Celebrity Mole: Hawaii” participant and self-proclaimed sublebrity Kathy Griffin has landed a gig starring in an NBC comedy pilot based on her own life.
Griffin will play Kathy Griffin, a reality TV-obsessed comedian and one-time star of “Suddenly Susan” who regales standup audiences with stories of her bizarre run-ins with the famous and infamous.
Griffin’s brutally honest tales about the peopie she meets — such as her fellow “Celebrity Mole” contestants — form the basis of her Thursday night shows at the Laugh Factory. The gigs have drawn the ire of those she mocks, but raves from just about everyone else. An episode of “Seinfeld” was based completely on depiction of Jerry Seinfeld as the devil.
The NBC project, which is being developed through the net’s alternative department, would be a cross between HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and Griffin’s short-lived MTV series “Kathy’s So-Called Reality.”
Stuart Krasnow (“Martin Short Show”) is on board to exec produce the NBC Studios single-camera laffer. “It’s my life as a D-level celebrity,” Griffin said. “I’m the girl you call when they can’t get anyone else. The hell with you, Paltrow and Aniston, it’s my time.”
Cheryl Holliday (“King of the Hill”) is in negotiations to also join the show as a writer and executive producer. “It’s important to be with a writer who thinks I’m the funniest person on the planet,” she said.
Griffin’s latest feud is with cheesy “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest, whom she shared a podium with at the American Music Awards. The comedian wondered whether NBC would be able to stomach her frequently vicious — but humorous — swipes at celebs.
“My goal is to never meet Jeff Zucker,” she said. “My goal is for him not to know who I am and for the show to accidentally get on the air without them knowing. As a matter of fact, I’m going to call it ‘The Debra Messing Project.’ I don’t know what the hell they’re going to do with me.”
Besides the MTV show and her four-season stint as Vicki on “Suddenly Susan;’ Griffin’s credits include hosting the Billboard Music Awards and supplying the voice of Alice on UPN’s animated “Dilbert.”
Griffin, Holliday and Krasnow are repped by UTA.

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