I was a late bloomer to the whole “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List” show, which is odd considering that I am so addicted to the Bravo “reality” shows and because Kathy and I pretty much have the same irreverent sense of humor. I just started watching her show this season and boy, am I glad I did because last night’s season finale was pretty much one of the coolest celebrity moments ever captured on TV.
Kathy opted to do the closer by visiting an Army hospital in Washington DC. She has gone over to Iraq to perform for the soldiers before, but since these are injured veterans of war, that makes the whole situation a little different. Why I am particularly crushing on this episode is because I love how human she was in front of the camera. You got to see flashes of Serious Kathy in there and because the situation these soldiers are in can be so emotionally devastating, she wanted to offer them all that she had to give, which was the best comedy show ever. She and her assistants took time during the day to wander the grounds, spend time with these soldiers (most of which were amputees), and get to know them. The people she met were incredible. Most of the injured are still super young—as in can’t even legally buy alcohol—and yet they have already lived through what most of us never have to witness in our life time. These “kids” have permanent damage to their bodies that will forever change the way they go about their business so that we might have our freedom and yet they are able to maintain their strength and even a sense of humor about their circumstances. It was incredible to see their determination and resiliency. I found myself crying through a fair portion of the hour because I was so touched by these young men and women and their families who help them throughout their recovery.
What I thought was so cool of Kathy was that she actually had to take a moment to go cry herself because she too was so touched by these soldiers and the emotional strength of their young families. Not only was the fact that she decided to go there knowing it would be hard admirable, but the fact that she let down her comedic exterior and showed us all a part of who she is that we don’t normally see made me respect her even more as an entertainer. It’s so easy for us to avoid seeing those situations, but I think it is important that we do on occasion so that we can remember what others do on our behalf and not take it for granted that we live in a country where we are awarded more freedoms than any other country in the world. Sometimes it takes the awkward situations in life that nobody wants to talk about to remind us of how blessed we truly are. I am grateful to these soldiers for their service and I am grateful to Kathy for going on that trip and sharing with her fans something that is not her usual comedic shtick.
For those of you who have cable, I highly recommend watching the show on one of its many reruns (the one negative about Bravo is that they love to rerun their shows into the ground). If you don’t have cable and your curiosity is aroused enough to want to see it, you can find the episode on either www.bravotv.com or www.youtube.com. I don’t recommend lightly so you know it must be somewhat good if I am putting myself out there saying “watch this”. It doesn’t matter whether you like Kathy Griffin or not (which I don’t understand why you wouldn’t since she is hilarious but whatever), the episode opens your eyes to a new understanding of what our returning soldiers are going through. It would be unpatriotic to not watch the season finale of “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List” and really, you don’t want to be unpatriotic do you?
