Kathy Griffin Scores Grammy Nomination: Is Oscar Next?

By Tom Rose
Fancast.com

There was a time when Kathy Griffin thought “if I could just win an Emmy… that would show ‘em all!” After she achieved that distinction it was time for the next step in her plan for domination of the entertainment world.

Griffin got the ball rolling on the last season of her increasingly popular reality series Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List with a shamelessly self-promoting plan to convince the voters on the Grammy Awards committee that she deserves a nod for her latest comedy album. It worked.

After being seen in public canoodling with Britney Spears’ paparazzi boyfriend, erecting a giant billboard of herself on Sunset Boulevard and titling her new CD “For Your Consideration” to save time and postage, her efforts were rewarded last week when it was announced that the comedy album had achieved its goal.

Actually winning will not be easy. Making the cut along with Griffin are entries from some comedy heavyweights including Harry Shearer, Lewis Black, and Flight Of The Conchords.

But her biggest obstacle to overcome will be the inevitable outpouring of sentimentality that will accompany the posthumous nomination of George Carlin who passed away this year. It will be very interesting to see how she plans to whip up support for the prize, running against a dead guy. I get the feeling she relishes the challenge.

Kathy Griffin has never been ashamed to admit that she views her career as a series of calculated steps leading up the ladder to the top of the show biz heap, and her success at phase 2 proves that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

So what’s next? Well a Tony would look nice on the mantle (or more likely in her purse - she carries her Emmy everywhere) but you have to schlep through 6 shows a week and two matinees. Plus you can only reach a few hundred ticket holders at a time. The big score would have to be an Academy Award. And her turn in the upcoming “Dixie’s” might just make the cut.

Let’s just hope nobody kicks the bucket before the Oscars are handed out next year. In the meantime, Kathy should seek some advice from a man who’s been there: Sly Stallone. He lost his one time title shot at Best Actor (as “Rocky“) when Peter Finch snatched the prize from beyond the grave way back in 1976 for his work in “Network“.

You can’t buy that kind of publicity.

Stay tuned and find out if Kathy Griffin wins the Grammy Award. We’ll be watching on Fancast.