Entertainment :: Music
Suckin’ It For The Holidays by Frank Paiva
EDGE ContributorFriday Nov 6, 2009 Kathy Griffin’s Suckin’ It for the Holidays is the perfect CD to pull out in mid-December when you’ve had about enough of Christmas carols and just want to hear some good old-fashioned catty negativity. The comedian’s second album was released on iTunes in late August in order to meet the eligibility cutoff for the Grammy Awards. Listeners who prefer a physical copy can head to stores now.
Griffin freely admits that the CD is a blatant attempt to win a Grammy for Best Comedy Album. She lost the 2008 award to George Carlin’s It’s Bad for Ya. Is it substantial enough to get nominated and win? Only time will tell, but you have to admire her for pandering.
Recorded in Atlantic City in early June 2009, Suckin’ It for the Holidays really has nothing to do with the holidays at all, another fact that Griffin freely admits. Instead it’s more of the comedian’s usual material: Her crazy mother, weird run-ins with celebrities, and reality TV deconstruction. It all feels a bit short at 56 minutes, but as Griffin notes, she can’t go over time because casinos want people to keep gambling and will penalize her if she keeps talking.
Highlights of the CD include Griffin’s trip to the Gracie Awards, a ceremony for women working in radio and television. Suze Orman was her date, and the financial guru was forced to examine Griffin’s financial records on the limo ride over.
Never one to shy away from beloved public figures, Griffin sets her sights on the ceremony’s keynote speaker Maya Angelou: "I admire her. I respect her. And she’s awful. It takes her 17 minutes to say one sentence. I learned why the caged bird sings. To drown out her horrible voice." She then goes on to give a hilarious impression of Angelou describing a glass of water on a table.
The final third of the disc won’t make much sense to listeners, like this writer, who are unfamiliar with The Real Housewives of Orange County and its various New York, New Jersey, and Atlanta offshoots. It’s still pretty funny though.
Griffin is best when she’s pointing out the tiny narcissisms of Hollywood. In the best part of the CD, she attends a swanky Hollywood party full of A-listers and decides to congratulate everyone without telling them why. Everyone single person at the party thanks her except for Tina Fey, who asks, "Congratulations for what?"
It’s small observations like those that are the real gold of Griffin’s comedy. Maybe this perfect holiday gift will be enough to bring her some Grammy gold.
Frank Paiva is a playwright and actor whose freelance writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Not for Tourists guide, the Seattle Weekly, and on MSN.com. He lives in Brooklyn.
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