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Kathy Griffin is missing.
The pumpkin-maned comedian, 44, and self-proclaimed "whistle-blower for Hollywood" isn't near her hotel phone for an interview. But the staff spies her, lounging by the pool like the sort of diva she savages in her stand-up act.
After apologizing, Griffin explains she is staying at a Courtyard Marriott in Stuart, Fla.
Where? "No one has ever heard of it," she says. "That's me -- playing in communities no one has ever heard of."
Happily, the success of Griffin's Bravo reality show, My Life on the D-List, which starts its second season tonight (9 ET/PT), hasn't made her go all snootily C-list on us.
The merciless mocker of stars continues to suffer humiliating if hilarious reminders of her diminutive fame. On the premiere, it's bad enough when only a few show up for a ceremony giving Griffin the key to Louisville. But when she auctions a weekend at her home on eBay for charity, the winner backs out at the last minute.
Still, much has changed, and not for the better, since the last peek at Griffin's less-than-fabulous existence. "The vision is 30 percent off in my right eye from Lasik surgery, I filed for divorce, my dog died. It's almost comical." Actually, she and her spouse of five years, Matt Moline, attempt a reconciliation during the six episodes. "We're still working on it," she says.
The biggest blow was losing her job as an E! red-carpet commentator. It might have had a little to do with a crack about Dakota Fanning, then 10, being in rehab. The remark incited the wrath of no less than Steven Spielberg.
"I was just excited he knew my name," Griffin says.
But it's not all downers on the D-list, as Griffin heads to Iraq to entertain the troops. "I went over ghetto," she says, "not like Nick and Jessica in a private plane. I slept in barracks and ate Army food."
The base was hit by two rockets while she was there, but she says any risk was worth it. "I love a captive audience." What humor did the soldiers crave? "They like swearing and talking about sex. They don't care that Gwyneth Paltrow named her second kid Moses."
On the finale, Griffin takes to the ice with Olympic skater Johnny Weir. After his failed gold-medal quest, he was quoted as saying his friends joked he was now on the D-list. His response: "I told them, 'Great, I'm Kathy Griffin.'" Instead of being insulted, she says, "I sent him flowers to thank him for putting me in the papers. "
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