Kathy Griffin finds her happy place — one show a month at Palm Springs Plaza Theatre

Pollstar magazine, the live entertainment bible, defines a show biz residency as “a series of 10 or more shows in one venue.”

But comedian Kathy Griffin has announced a unique residency for next year.

She’ll perform Jan. 31 at the Plaza Theatre in Palm Springs. Then she’ll take a breather before resuming her residency on Feb. 26. Then she’ll do one more stand-up show to conclude her residency on March 26.

In other words, Griffin’s three-month residency at the Plaza Theatre will feature one fewer show than the two-day stands she used to do at the McCallum Theatre in the late 2000s.

The 65-year-old former “My Life on the D-List” star hasn’t decided yet if she’ll drive to her real home in Los Angeles after the first night of her residency.

“I can’t decide if I’m going to go home or stay because I love it there so much,” Griffin said in a recent Zoom interview. “I love the history of Palm Springs, and I love what Palm Springs is today. I do love that Palm Springs is a blue town instead of red.”

Griffin, of course, was an Emmy and Grammy award-winning comic famous for her biting, often improvisational takes on pop culture and politics. Her 2017 attempt at prop humor, holding a mask resembling Donald Trump’s severed, bloody head, generated such a backlash, she was effectively cancelled from show business. The Department of Justice investigated her as a security threat — which she used as the basis for a concert film.

She nevertheless embarked on a “Laugh Your Head Off” tour after to embrace the controversy. She was greeted in most cities, she told me at the time, like “someone in Isis.”

But the inaugural Palm Springs International Comedy Festival named her its 2018 Comedian of the Year. She was greeted by a protester and she turned that into a bit spoofing her disappointment at attracting just “a lone protester.”

“One person, it kind of hurts,” she said upon reflection. “I mean, if you’re going to protest, at least get a baker’s dozen.”

Protesters again appeared at her recent shows through the Southeast and Long Island, and she said the hurt still lingered.

Asked how she’d rate her pain on a one to 10 basis, with 10 being the most extreme, she said, “Eleven.”

“Is that because of all the social media?” I inquired.

“No,” she said. “I say 11 because when you’re a woman, they just go, ‘Here, have a Tylenol. You’re being hysterical.’”

But Griffin sold out two Plaza Theatre shows in March and attracted Palm Springs residents Lance Bass of ’N SYNC and Barry Manilow.

“Lance and Barry Manilow came to my show the same night,” she said, “and that was just gay fantastic. I mean, that was a dream come true.”

Along with encouragement from people like Jimmy Kimmel, and fresh attention in gossip columns, that makes her hopeful the tide against her is starting to turn.

“There’s something in the air,” she said. “I think I might be finally getting uncancelled. I don’t know if you’ll ever see me on a TV channel or streamer again because I get in fights with all those guys. But I have my YouTube show, which is helping to sell tickets. People still love to watch ‘My Life on the D List’ on Peacock.

“I know it sounds corny, but I have the most loyal fans ever. They know they’re going to get different stuff every (show) and they know I’m going to keep getting in trouble. I have been getting in trouble a lot in the last year, but in a fun, campy, Breitbart-Fox News way.”

After her Plaza sell-outs, she said four friends suggested she do a residency – as long as it wasn’t in Las Vegas. The result is, “Can You Handle This Heat? The Kathy Griffin Palm Springs Residency.”

“One of my friends said, ‘You know, the competition in Vegas is so fierce, and with the economy, people just aren’t going to Vegas as much,’” she related. “It’s an expensive town to get bottle service or see a Cirque show. When I started playing Vegas, there were not that many comics there. Over the years, I said, ‘I’m competing with bottle service at a nightclub.’” 

Plaza general manager John Bolton said, “We couldn’t be prouder to give her first-ever residency a home right here in Palm Springs.” But it was decided that one night per month might be a smart way to see if there were still only a few lone protesters out there.

“The Plaza’s a big room,” Griffin said. “I’m starting (slow) and seeing how it does. I hope it’s a destination where people can obviously visit.

“I just want to bring the laughter break to these bizarre, dark times and Palm Springs has always been so good to me. Audiences are on top of it and smart, and very forgiving about when I’m inappropriate.”

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More information: Tickets are on sale now at palmspringsplazatheatre.com. 

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