Kathy Griffin is the first to acknowledge that she's no Joan Rivers. The comedienne, 54, is set to replace her late friend on the style series Fashion Police beginning Jan. 12, but as she told the Today show's Savannah Guthrie on Monday, Jan. 5, she'll be doing so with her own personal brand of snark.
"[Joan] absolutely left big shoes to fill, and I'm bringing my own slippers," Griffin said of the iconic Rivers, who died at age 81 on Sept. 4, following surgical complications during a procedure on her throat. "And yeah, as you know, Joan and I were great pals. And I will continue, if nothing else, in her fearless style of taking no prisoners. But our styles were different."
She went on to explain what she would do differently as co-host. "I'm a different human being," she elaborated. "I'm more improvisational. I don't know what I'm going to say, and neither does anyone else on the panel."
Guthrie then pointed out that Griffin has been, in the past, a repeat offender on the kind of "worst-dressed" lists she'll now be curating on Fashion Police, to which the outspoken star replied, "Many times…I have gone from the worst dressed to the best dressed and everything in between. I have been on the other side of the microphone, walking the red carpet at the Emmys or Grammys, and I've also taken hits."
Griffin doesn't take any of it personally, though — or seriously. "This is all pomp and circumstance," she said on Today. "It's ridiculousness. If you can't make fun of the red carpet, what can you make fun of?"
With that in mind, the Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List star hopes Hollywood's A-listers step out of their comfort zones a little this awards season.
"I would actually like to encourage the gentlemen and ladies to not play it so safe," she advised. "I think this could be the year where people take some risks, and I like it…I actually hope some of the ladies bring the heat for the [Golden] Globes."
She noted, too, that her opinion on people's looks might depend on her mood. "Every week is going to change, and I change my mind, believe it or not," she said. "One week I might make fun of Gwyneth Paltrow and think she's too Goop-y. The next week I might Goop it up."
