At first glance, she looks like country singer Reba McEntire, but she is Kathy Griffin. In order to jog some memories, Griffin has hosted 20 stand-up comedy specials, holding the Guinness Book of World Records record for the most stand-up specials by a comedian. 

If that didn’t help, Griffin also posed with a fake severed head of former President Donald Trump in 2017.

As Griffin tells it, after the controversy over the photo, she was put on a number of lists, most notably the no-fly list, fired from CNN’s New Year’s Eve broadcast and blacklisted from the industry for about six years. 

But after these chaotic years, she is excitedly returning to Minneapolis on Oct. 11 at the Pantages Theatre as part of the extension of her tour ”My Life on the PTSD-List.”

The name of the tour is a play on her Bravo television series, “My Life on the D-List,” which Griffin said all six seasons received Emmy nominations and won two Emmys.  The name is also a reference to the fact that Griffin was diagnosed with complex PTSD. 

Griffin said in her show she makes fun of her mental health and tells a number of penis jokes. 

“If you’re a devout Christian Trump supporter, this is definitely not the show for you,” Griffin said, even though she said she doesn’t mention Trump in her current set. 

As Griffin said many times throughout the interview, the set she performs is not her on a soapbox complaining about politics but made it clear how baffling the current political climate is in the U.S. 

Griffin is still shocked Trump became president in the first place and is polling so close to Kamala Harris. 

“Minnesota, get it together. Don’t fuck this up,” Griffin said, referring to the upcoming election. 

On the topic of Minnesota, Griffin brought up how many people in the comedy world, including comedian and former U.S. senator Al Franken, distanced themselves from her after her Trump photo. On the topic of Al Franken, she brought up how Minnesota is politically in good hands with Sen. Tina Smith and Sen. Amy Klobuchar. 

Griffin said during her decades-long career in comedy, the times have changed so much and she is happy to change with them. 

“I don’t want to say like, it’s safe, or I’m afraid of the woke comedy virus or any of that Joe Rogan bullshit,” Griffin said. 

Griffin then spoke to me, woman to woman, on how she cannot believe that men such as Joe Rogan, Andrew Tate and Matt Rife are celebrities. Griffin even mentioned Rife’s opening joke about domestic violence. She was not amused by it. 

Griffin said she jokes about how she copes with her mental health through yoga and essential oils. However, she goes back to her comedy roots and tells juicy celebrity stories. 

“But for some reason, it’s like America, including Minnesota, sort of decided to forgive me after six and a half years of ‘We don’t want you,’” Griffin said.