Kathy Griffin at The Palace Theatre

This evening Chris took me to see Kathy Griffin at The Palace Theatre (normally the home of 'Priscilla'). I sort of know who she is and have seen her on telly a few times but that's about it. She's lithe and fit looking and, surprisingly, the same age as me (I've obviously gone wrong somewhere). She's rude and seems to like the disingenuous 'ooo did I really just say that?' pose. Well, yes you did Kathy, we all heard you.

Waiting in the bar before taking our seats I marvelled at my fellow audience members and 'fellow' is the right term. 80% male, terribly thin, size 0 tee shirts and odd haircuts on the younger fellows, with the odd beard on show here and there with a bit more flesh. Yes, that audience. There also seemed to be quite a few Americans with loud voices dotted round.

Kathy had no support act (good for her) and came on at about 8:10pm and stood there talking to us for two hours - now that's good value in anyone's book. She's got a great way of delivering her jokes, jumping from story to story, mainly about celebs and stars, people she's met and people who avoid her, dishing the dirt in a gossipy style. This wasn't simply the same act she does everywhere since she'd clearly had her eyes and ears open over the past few days in London to tell us choice tales about her hotel and running into eastern Europeans everywhere she's been. Everyone is fair game and she had some choice words to say about Sarah Palin and Oprah, and that's what makes me think of the audience tonight as a bit like a braying Oprah audience.

I enjoyed Kathy but I thought my fellow audience were awful. Shut up! Chattering away, seeing who could laugh the loudest, whistling, explaining jokes to others in their party - shut the fuck up! It probably sounds great to Kathy on stage - she's connected - but I missed quite a bit of the show because of the noise. And the cheers and jeers for names of people famous in America that I've never heard of - do people spend their lives glued to YouTube or something? People getting up to go the bar and all that - this is a theatre not a rock gig. Maybe I'm getting old and grumpy (um... I am) but that selfishness of the audience annoyed me. Look at me, I *really* get this joke because I'm laughing louder than anybody else....

Leaving that to one side (I'm being grumpy), Kathy was excellent. She seemed to revel in being able to say things that would get her into trouble in America, such as the death threats she gets from Palin fans and the Tea Party in America. I nearly went into one when she talked about making rain (ie throwing money at crowds) and explained that that was what rappers did when they weren't in prison - that touched my funny bone for some reason. She talked for two hours and clearly could have gone on longer. She's a very clever woman and knows how to use words like weapons. And that's a good thing. Come back soon, Kathy.