Went out to Centre East Theatre in Skokie to see Kathy Griffin. She had 2 shows tonight. It was Carol and Diane and Melinda and I.

I've never seen her in person. I've caught her Bravo reality show and a couple of her performances.

Funny. Good laugh riot. Distinct two parts of the show - the first over an hour of just dishing celebrity stuff (though, it started with all the crap we've seen on TV about Katrina, the federal response, and the media coverage - including Larry King and Celine Dion. Here it was - the night before the Emmy's - and she's her back in town doing a show, before she has to fly back to LA early in the morning to do red-carpet coverage for E!. Of course, she went into where she would be doing the coverage from (NOT the red carpet) and Star Jones.

She's straight, to the point, and makes you laugh at everything she talks about - even if it crosses a certain imaginary line. You still wind-up laughing about it.

The last 20 minutes was a story about he going to Pal;m Springs with her dogs to stay at a hotel and do a show in-town. Part of the story is about letting her dogs outside on her hotel room patio to, um, "relive themselves" in the morning. She talks about going on the patio and hearing the door close behind her, standing her outside wearing a big t-shirt and underpants...

...which she decided to demonstrate on stage.

No flash photography allowed? HA! You should have seen the strobes going off! I think it caught her off guard (not that it happened but by how much happened)

Great performance. I'd see her again. It was just a good time.

Had dinner at L. Woods Tap & Pine Lodge afterward. Good food there in this great Wisconsin-woods-supper club-lodge setting.