Kathy Griffin: Pants Off and Tired Hooker (Shout Factory)

Kathy Griffin has a message for the gay community: don't get married! The comic diva does not consider the wedded state to be a blissful one – her own marriage ended badly. "I'm against marriage," she says cheerfully, "because I'm a bitter divorcee."

It's all in good fun. Griffin has stood loudly and proudly for marriage equality, and for all forms of LGBT equality. She's often been accompanied at equality marches by her 91-year-old mom, Maggie. Mrs. Griffin introduces her daughter to the cheering audience in Pants Off, the first selection in Griffin's new double-feature DVD. Both Pants Off and Tired Hooker originally aired on Bravo. Seen back to back, the raunchy, raucous specials underscore Griffin's unique brand of blunt, screamingly funny observations on pop culture and various social issues. We couldn't have asked for a better best friend.

"I'm all about gay rights," she states in Tired Hooker to a mixed crowd who applaud wildly. "It's almost funny how bad the gays wanna get married. Have at it, gays, because it sucks, and say goodbye to sex!"

Both of these masterful stand-up routines were shot before live audiences, one in Costa Mesa, CA, the other in Atlantic City, NJ. In both shows, it's just Griffin alone onstage in a simple pair of slacks and a T-shirt. No music, no lighting effects, no video clips, just Griffin, her voice and her sometimes provocative body language. The two sets add up to nearly 90 minutes of side-splitting laughs. In this age when digital effects encompass so much of what passes for popular entertainment, it's refreshing to see a true performer whose talent doesn't need to be enhanced via computers.

If you're a public figure, you'd better watch out, because Griffin is watching your every move. Her observations on the Kardashians, Nancy Grace, and Marcus Bachmann's "pray-the-gay-away therapy clinic" are funny in part because Griffin's mimicry of her subjects' speech patterns is so dead-on, but also because her pointing out how phony and self-serving they are is so true. "Curing the gays works every time," she says of Bachmann, while rolling her eyes. The audience nearly falls out of their seats.

Griffin's language is graphic and ribald. She's not afraid to say what she really thinks. When reading actual postings from Kim Kardashian's Twitter pages, she refers to them as Kim's "twats." Griffin doesn't discriminate, she seeks to offend everyone. In doing so, she points out many of society's foibles. You'll laugh, you'll cringe, and you'll also think as you listen to the brilliant comedy stylings of Kathy Griffin.

Shout Factory's DVD includes bonus footage of six segments that weren't included when the shows aired on Bravo. It's highly unlikely she'll get any interview requests from Katie Couric after these get around!