Fri. June 12 & Sat. June 13

This year, on her double-Emmy winning Bravo series “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List” (Monday nights) the actor-creator meets some famous pals – Paris Hilton, Cher, Bette Midler and Salman Rushdie among them – in her attempt to move up from the D-list to which she proudly proclaims herself a member. Now, whether this 48-year-old redhead who plays the Wang Theater Fri. June 12 and Saturday June 13, is still, truly, a D-lister may be a matter content. Nevertheless, Griffin relishes the role of friendly, but prickly, outsider. She’s loves gays, she puts her 88-year-old mum in the show, she risks embarrassment at will.
   We interviewed her for the Boston Phoenix and that will show up  on line June 10 on www.thephoenix.com and in the paper the next day. As is often case, we have out-takes, some pretty damn good ones. So, we suggest you check out the Phoenix piece when it’s up and get a taste of her talent and mindset here as well.

JSInk: I’m calling you. You’re in Mexico. Have you not heard of the swine flu?
KG: I have taken on worse viruses than this. If I can handle the scorn of Oprah I can handle a little swine flu. I don’t think Oprah and her boyfriend Gail have me on their radar, but I do enjoy making fun of The O because she is in fact I was going to say, large, but what I meant was wildly famous.

Your mum is a prime source of your comedy.
Well, you know a box of wine can go a long way. Two boxes can go longer.

But you know she will die at some point. Then what?
There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s going to bury all of us, my mom and Cher. She’ll be dancing on my grave in some way shape or form. Once again this is some kind of conspiracy she has with Oprah and Ryan Seacrest. And I’m not ruling out Gail.

Ok, I heard you went to Cher’s house – have a hilarious story you tell in your act about it, like she walked in grandly and announced “I’m Cher!” - and still became, like, best friends? True story?
Not only is it true, she actually came to see me [in concert] and I was dong that story about her and thought it was really funny and said, “I did say “I’m Cher!” didn’t I? I said you did and you can because you are Cher. There’s only one.

You dis a lot of celebs. Ever had the tables turned on you?
Absolutely. They’ve made jokes about me on “Family Guy,” There’s a character called Griffin so they make Kathy Griffin jokes. And every so often I come up in an “SNL” sketch and it’s heaven, I love it.

You won GLAAD’s Vangaurd award and appeared in a rather skimpy bikini. What goes?
I have a bikini bod and it all started as a joke when I was taping with Paris Hilton for “My Life on the D-List,” this year 10 episodes, action-packed. And the feel of the show is I’ve enlist celebrities to help me get off the D-list, the Divine Miss M, Lilly Tomlin, Paula Dean, a very wide array of cast,. It’s a unique show. We were taping with Paris Hilton and they thought it’d be funny to walking poolside with Paris Hilton. Now, I have not worn a bikini in about ten years, I basically go swimming  in basically a wet suit, because I’m so fair, sunshine is not my friend. Paris picked it out for me, and I put it on for a joke and then it turns out that I have a much better body than her which is been a bitter pill for her to swallow. And I’ll have like a Suzanne Somers poster. It’s only a matter of time before my poster comes out and I have teen boys are wishing they could be with me. And so I did a bikini shoot for OK magazine.

Shows start at 7:30. Tickets;: $75-$45.

270 Tremont St., 617-482-9393 www.ticketmaster.com  www.citicenter.org