Last May, comedian and staunch LGBT+ ally Kathy Gri n was hit by a “wall of shit” a er tweeting a picture of herself brandishing a mocked-up version of Donald Trump’s severed head. The president went on a mission to destroy her career, the Secret Service launched an investigation, and for a moment it seemed like Gri n’s career was in the toilet. But the queen of celebrity self-invention has turned things in her favour, it seems, as Róisín McVeigh discovers.

Everyone knows who Kathy Gri?n is. Well, anyone who follows the news or has internet access. The outspoken comedian and LGBT+ ally is world famous. Or “weird world famous” as a friend put it upon hearing I was due to interview her. It wasn’t until earlier this year that the former star of her own reality TV show My Life on the D-List became an international household name after “a wall of shit” fell on her, as she delicately puts it. I spoke to Griffin ahead of her visit to Dublin this month to discuss her new Laugh Your Head Off tour and the series of events that led to its inception.

In May of this year, Griffin posted an image of herself on social media holding a Donald Trump mask covered in ketchup. The satirical photograph was taken by the notoriously provocative image maker Tyler Shields, to promote what was to be Griffin’s next tour. It’s intended resemblance to a severed head outraged the public. It went viral immediately and was met with vitriolic death threats from Trump supporters and statements of disgust from democrats, including Chelsea Clinton who tweeted “This is vile and wrong”.

Trump also took to Twitter. Obviously. He described his 11 year-old son Barron’s distress over the violence of the image. Griffin’s team removed the photo within hours and a shaky apology video was released, in which Griffin appeared uncharacteristically vulnerable. She declared “he broke me”. But this was only the beginning of the American president’s retaliation.

“I’ve known Trump on and o for20 years. I know what it’s like to spend time with him and darn it,I’m gonna make it funny.

The talk show host was fired from her longstanding spot on the CNN New Year’s Eve broadcast. 15 scheduled live shows were cancelled as a result of bomb threats from Trump supports, estimated to have cost over one million dollars. Friends and family shunned Griffin’s behaviour, including her CNN co-host Anderson Cooper and her own mother. The Secret Service launched an investigation into Griffin, something which, according to Griffin, has been unprecedented for an entertainer. “A two month federal investigation, which has never happened in the history of the United States,” she says. “We are dealing with a president who is quite possibly a Nazi.”

However, the New York Times reported: “The agency routinely investigates comments that might be deemed threatening to a president.”

The image was in bad taste. Too many Americans have suffered this awful fate at the hands of ruthless terrorists. While it doesn’t excuse it, Griffin is an infamous button-pusher. Causing offense is part of her shtick. The investigation was a demonstration of power by president. She is after all, a comedian-stroke-reality TV star. (Although, underestimating reality stars is what got America into this mess.)

“It wasn’t Will Ferrell, It wasn’t Kevin Hart; it was a 56 year-old woman,” she says. Trump used her as an example to send a very clear message. Now the only list Griffin is on, is the blacklist.

Much of Griffin’s life revolves around fame. She thrives off of it. She loves it, maybe even needs it. She brags about plastic surgery and living next to the Kardashian-Wests. Her show My Life on the D-List chronicled her life as a low-level celebrity, and her quest to stay in the spotlight.

At one point she challenges me to name another comedian over the age of 50 touring the world. The aggressive tone she asks this in causes me to remain silent, partly because I’m slightly stunned and partly because I don’t want to give her the satisfaction. She presses on. “Can. You. Name. Another. Comedian. Over. 50?”

I can’t.

Griffin is no stranger to controversy. She has been banned from numerous talk shows, theatres and events for her crass comments in the past, though always bouncing back or later being booked to reappear. Though she might have forgotten it briefly, she knows better than anyone that any press is good press.

“That picture made me the most famous comedian in the world for a day. Louis C.K called me up and said, ‘Use it! I would give my right arm if this was happening to me. You’re gonna have the most amazing act that every comedian would kill for’. And it changed my mindset.”

It’s no coincidence that this is Gri?n’s first ever world tour. The aptly named Laugh Your Head Off will go to 15 countries in Europe, all carefully selected according to their anti-Trump sentiments. Discussing the show, Griffin comes across more activist than comedian, but with a few more profanities thrown in.

“I’m on a fucking comedy mission now, for disenfranchised people everywhere. One of the reasons I took that photo was obviously to get under his skin, and boy did that work… but his policies, the things he says, the way he’s been able to build this insane cult-like following, and his followers are like freakin’ scientologists.

“This is a very important time for queer community because there are a lot of queer Americans who have been enjoying freedom for the first time. And now the Trump base, they turn on Jews, black people, me because I’m outspoken, so yeah, we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

Griffin has spent years moving in the same circles as Trump, and by the sounds of it she is ready to dish. “I am so excited to bring this show to you guys. I’ve known this fool on and off for 20 years. I know what it’s like to spend time with him and darn it, I’m gonna make it funny.”

“I’m on a fucking mission now, for disenfranchised people everywhere.

Trump is not the only one on Griffin’s firing line. If her debut show earlier this month is anything to go by, no-one is safe. In one skit, which Griffin calls “a gay cup of tea,” she delightfully reads out a letter she received from a gay fan, another version of which was sent to Anderson Cooper.

“Dear Anderson, from one homo to another, you’re a fickle faggot. Really? Not supporting and backing Kathy Griffin after she had your back for years. Even to talk about your c*ck sucking in her comedy back when you were still a closeted queen. And another thing, Anderson: Homo rule 101, you always back your fag-hag.”

She then goes on, inevitably, to annihilate Harvey Weinstein. “The Weinstein thing is just fucking unbelievable, but I’m not afraid to say anything because I don’t appear in movies ever and no one will ever put me in one. That guy seems to be what’s called a rapist. I’m using it as a broad term. There’s a lot of them, and they are everywhere. So it’s time we started to fucking look out for each other because this shit has been going on for way too long.”

Kathy Griffin’s comedy mission it seems, is only beginning. The worst moment of Griffin’s life could turn out to be a career-defining one. With nothing else to lose, how far will she go?

She said it herself in her apology speech: “I might not have a career after this.” You can bet it’s not going to be PC. Kathy Griffin is no longer sorry, and heads are going to roll.

Kathy Griffin’s ‘Laugh Your Head Off’ is at Vicar Street on Wednesday, November 8, ticketmaster.ie