Will nomination move Griffin from the D-list?



The comedian says she won't hang out with the stars too much.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Kathy Griffin, celeb-deflating star of Bravo's "My Life on the D-List," could be moving up a letter or two if she snags the Emmy she's up for Sunday night.
The first season of Griffin's series, which follows the ups and downs of her showbiz career on the outskirts of Hollywood's elite, is nominated in the outstanding reality program category.
Griffin is stunned by her good fortune.
"I still think it's a typo," Griffin, wearing a white tank top printed with the not-so-subtle slogan "For Your Consideration," told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "I can't believe I'm up for an Emmy. It's the Cinderella story."
Dishing it out
In her standup act, the 44-year-old comedian, through a self-deprecating smirk -- throws dishy darts at the rich and famous: Star Jones Reynolds ("a pain" in the a-word, she told the AP), Gwyneth Paltrow, Beyonc & eacute; Knowles, teen queen Lindsay Lohan, who "needs to put her feet in a cold pool and [eat] a cheeseburger."
Last year, Griffin's brashness got the better of her. She was fired from her job as an E! Channel red-carpet commentator after joking at the Golden Globe Awards that child actress Dakota Fanning had checked into rehab. Steven Spielberg, who directed Fanning in "War of the Worlds," demanded an apology. Griffin refused.
"Well, I can't wait to be on the other side of the carpet, because then I can say whatever I want and I can't get fired from the red carpet," she told the AP. "They can't stop me!"
It's safe to say, however, that Griffin's favorite target is herself. Despite her success, she claims she's "still on the D-list." In fact, she says, she was denied a chance to present at the upcoming Emmy Awards ceremony -- that is, unless "someone from 'Grey's Anatomy' gets a stomachache."
Like high school?
For Griffin, Hollywood is like high school and she is the outsider shunned by her peers. But one gets the feeling that she yearns, at least once, to sit at the lunch table with the cool kids. "I can't wait," she said of Emmy night. "And I get to go to all the parties and feel 'in.' I get to feel like I belong!"
She won't get too close, though, she adds, for fear of becoming one of the boldfaced names she mocks.
"Here's my thing: I really don't like to hang out with celebrities because then I don't feel that I can do my work, which I call the 'Lord's work,' which is making fun of celebrities," she said.
"And so I like to gawk at celebrities and look at them from afar and I'm having, you know, a Diet Pepsi and sipping it and judging them ... I'll definitely say hi to lots of celebrities, but believe me, I'm not gonna be at the afterparty."
Plus, Griffin said, she really enjoys life on the D-list. "I get to make a great living in the field that I love, but nobody goes through my garbage and nobody jumps out of bushes and photographs me."
End of the marriage
The Chicago native made headlines last month when she told CNN's Larry King that her 41/2-year marriage ended in divorce after she discovered her now ex-husband, Matt Moline, was taking money from her bank accounts. She has accused him of taking $72,000 over a period of time.
Though Moline has apologized, Griffin said they no longer speak.
"I am learning to navigate the waters that are Single Life," she said. "But I also don't want to meet anybody, don't ever want to get married again and don't particularly love men right now."
Griffin, who for four years played an acerbic columnist on the NBC sitcom "Suddenly Susan," does have a soft spot for gay men, who are among her most devoted fans. Following the Emmys, she said, she "might just have a few gays over" to her Los Angeles mansion and bring in some In-N-Out Burgers for the occasion.
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