Kathy Griffin Begs People To Buy Tour Tickets—'Not Selling Well'

Kathy Griffin has issued a plea for fans to purchase more of her standup comedy tour tickets, as she admitted that some were "not selling well."

The comedian is set to hit the road with her My Life on the PTSD List tour from Des Moines, Iowa, on February 2, heading to Omaha, Nebraska, the following day. After playing stops in Canada and several U.S. states, including Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, and Texas, Griffin will wrap her tour in California in June.

Griffin has assured fans that the turmoil in her personal life should make her a "riot" when she takes the stage. Griffin filed for divorce from her husband, Randy Bick, in late December, days before their fourth wedding anniversary.

More than two years earlier, the My Life on the D-List star announced in August 2021 that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer, before going on to reveal in November of that year that she was cancer-free.

Despite her recovery from cancer itself, she has dealt with issues resulting from the treatment she underwent, including concerns that her voice may never return to its original pitch after surgery left it higher than usual.

Speaking in a video shared on Instagram and X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday, Griffin told her fans: "I'm gonna be honest with you guys. I had another voice surgery two days ago, so my voice is sounding better, I think. And yet, I have COVID and I'm heartbroken because I'm getting divorced."

After listing the issues, she went on to state that the true subject of the video is "all about the tour, man. Just freaking get me to opening night in Des Moines. And Omaha is not selling well. First of all, there's not enough people there."

"I need comedy fans to come out and see me and Kansas City, come on," she continued. "I need sell-outs. I've been through hell. I've been through so much crap since my last tour. I actually just have to laugh at it. So please..."

After advising fans on where they can purchase tickets to see her perform, she urged: "For God's sake, come see me on tour. I'm coming to 40 cities. It's gonna be the Panacea. It's gonna be the thing that gets me through. You guys get me through, you always have."

Teasing what might be discussed onstage, Griffin touched one particular court battle that Donald Trump has been facing. The former president, of whom Griffin has been highly critical over the years, is in the midst of a second defamation trial brought against him by former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll.

In May 2023, the journalist was awarded $5 million in damages after a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming her. The GOP presidential frontrunner has denied sexually assaulting Carroll at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York in the 1990s.

Carroll's lawyers are seeking another $10 million in compensatory damages and "substantially more" after Trump continued to deny the accusations that he assaulted her, claiming he had no idea who she is and that Carroll was not his "type." In May, Trump called Carroll's account "fake" and labeled her a "whack job" during a CNN town hall broadcast. In early September, Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Trump's comments against Carroll were defamatory.

Griffin, who is a vocal supporter of Carroll, said of her upcoming shows: "We have so much to discuss. I mean, oh my God, so much. I actually don't bring up Trump in my new show, but he did just take the stand in the E. Jean Carroll case and you know he just, like, started shouting stuff from the defendant table. So I mean that's something. That'll eat up at least three minutes. But now I have a lot more stuff to talk about, I promise."

"But I need you," she told her fans. "You said you wanted me to come to the real America. Well, look at the cities on that tour. Go to any of my socials. You can find there's a poster of me coming out of a dumpster fire. Oh, I wonder why that is."

"And by the way, buy tickets," she stressed. "If you know me, don't be calling me for comps. Those male promoters are looking to see how I sell and if I sell. It's all about that, and when you're a female comedian you'll never sell as well as the boys, no matter what your accomplishments are, blah, blah, blah.

"But come see me, for God's sake. I've done more standup comedy specials than any comedians, male or female, living or dead. Any! Don't talk to me about the other guys. I broke the record and they all know."

Concluding her video, Griffin shared a memory of late comedian Joan Rivers: "She used to say that when you're heartbroken, you're your funniest. So I must be a riot!"