Kathy Griffin has appeared on The View often enough to remember panelists from its earliest years. Keeping the current lineup straight is apparently more difficult.
Asked about Alyssa Farah Griffin in a new Entertainment Weekly interview, the comedian joked that their shared surname could make the conservative cohost one of her relatives before admitting, “I’m not sure which one she is.”
That would be less surprising if Kathy had not shared the Hot Topics table with Alyssa only a few months ago. On April 24, she appeared alongside Alyssa, Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro while promoting her New Face, New Tour.
Days later, Kathy said she had originally planned to tease Alyssa over her past work in the Trump White House but changed course during the taping. Her assessment afterward was unusually warm: Alyssa had “turned out to be like the nicest one at the table.”
Kathy Had Plenty to Say About Alyssa After Their April Appearance
Kathy’s April 24 appearance came shortly after Alyssa returned from maternity leave. In a video posted after the taping, Kathy said she had gone in expecting to target the former Trump administration official over their political differences.
Her plans changed once she learned Alyssa had recently become a mother. Kathy joked that the news took her out of “fair game” territory and said the encounter ended very differently from what she had imagined.
“She turned out to be like the nicest one at the table,” Kathy said at the time, according to Entertainment Weekly. She also described the current lineup as an “easy panel” compared with some of the more combative versions of The View she had encountered over the years.
Four Months Later, Kathy Says She ‘Can’t Keep Track’
Kathy’s new comments were considerably less specific. Although she remembered that Alyssa “was great” when they interacted, she told EW she was no longer sure which woman at the table was Alyssa.
Her explanation had more to do with the show’s long history than with any new problem between them. Kathy pointed out that she has been appearing on The View since the era of Meredith Vieira, Lisa Ling, Star Jones and Debbie Matenopoulos.
“I can’t keep track,” she said while running through how many different women have occupied the table since the show began in 1997.
The current lineup includes Whoopi Goldberg, Behar, Haines, Sunny Hostin, Ana Navarro and Alyssa. ABC brought all six back this month for the show’s milestone 30th season, which opened with a tribute to creator Barbara Walters. ABC confirmed the same six women as the returning Season 30 panel.
Her History With ‘The View’ Goes Back Much Further Than Alyssa
Kathy’s relationship with the show includes guest appearances, temporary cohosting stints, fights with former panelists and years of material that later found its way into her stand-up act.
She famously clashed with Elisabeth Hasselbeck during a 2010 appearance after Hasselbeck confronted her over jokes she had made about the cohosts. Kathy has continued revisiting that exchange and other backstage stories in the years since.
Her history with Barbara Walters was even more complicated. Kathy has said she adored Walters despite believing that the show’s creator did not particularly like her, and earlier this year she repeated her claim that Walters sometimes kicked her under the table hard enough to leave bruises.
“Barbara Walters, the late great, who I adored, did not care for me,” Kathy said in the June interview, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Barbara Walters Is Giving Kathy New Material Again
Walters, who died in December 2022, has become part of Kathy’s current New Face, New Tour. The comedian told EW that she is now sharing stories she was more hesitant to use when the legendary journalist was alive.
One of those stories concerns her years appearing on The View, where Kathy says the tension with Walters could coexist with genuine affection. She has continued describing their relationship with the same mix of admiration and provocation that characterized many of her appearances on the show.
Kathy told EW that audiences still immediately recognize Walters and understand the world she is describing when she tells those backstage stories. With Walters no longer alive, she also feels less restrained about how far she can take the material.
“You can’t defame the dead,” Kathy said, “so now I can really riff on backstage View stories.”