2009 has been an interesting year in assistantland. Here are some facts and figures:
The most popular post of 2009 was actually a post from 2008 - the post where I announced that Kathy Griffin’s first assistant, Jessica Zacijek, was leaving her job. The #2 and #3 posts were from this year, and they were also about the Jessica/Kathy situation.
The most popular category of 2009 was, as it has been every other year since the site launched, “Horror Stories.” Refresh your memory with the story of the office Halloween grinch and a boss who earned the nickname Miranda Priestly 2.0.
The most controversial post of 2009, by a landslide, was a post about Susan Boyle getting her very own assistant. Some really militant Susan Boyle fans - some of whom had the same IP address - thought it was impertinent of me to suggest that Susan should be nice to her assistant.
As I reported last July and again this April, “Team Griffin” member and Kathy Griffin’s assistant Jessica Zajicek quit both her job and Kathy’s Emmy-winning Bravo show, My Life on the D-List. Though there’s been a lot of speculation about why Jessica left, ranging from the innocuous “she wanted to do something else” to the potentially-scandalous “she hated Kathy’s guts and couldn’t take it anymore,” Jessica has not offered up any official comment on the matter.
Monday night, the new season of My Life on the D-List debuted, and Kathy addressed Jessica’s absence with a very quick and brusque “Jessica has decided not to return and is pursuing other interests.” For now, former second assistant Tiffany Rinehart is working alone, and there has also been no mention of whether she’ll seek a new assistant to fill her old role. Perhaps Team Griffin has felt the effects of the bad economy and has had to cut back on hiring?
Either way, there’s no smoke, so for the time being there’s no fire. That said, if Jessica ever wants to give me an exclusive interview about the real reasons she quit her assistant job, I am all ears.
Although some gossip bloggers went back and forth about the status of Jessica Zajicek’s job as Kathy Griffin’s assistant, Jessica herself is confirming that she has definitely quit and will not be back either in Kathy’s employ or on My Life on the D List. That leaves former backup Tiffany Rinehart [in the picture, holding Kathy's Emmy) as the new #1 assistant - but will she get an assistant of her own to fill the vacant slot, or not? [Side note: there's something about a second assistant becoming the first assistant that makes me want to imitate a Miss America pageant host.] A press release for the upcoming fifth season of My Life on the D List reads:
Returning to the new season are Kathy’s ‘peeps’ assistant Tiffany Rinehart, tour manager Tom Vize, her beloved mom Maggie and her unruly dogs Chance and Pom Pom.
Um, I totally don’t get the Peeps reference. Can anyone out there with a better memory than me tell me what episode/reference it comes from?
Also, will Tiffany take over the Team Griffin blog that Jessica used to write? Right now if you go to the old TG link, you get an error message saying the page doesn’t exist anymore.
Kathy Griffin is going to write a memoir! The comedienne/reality star signed a deal with Random House’s Ballantine imprint to write the book. Not only that, but she got them to pony up a $2 million advance. Two million dollars will buy a lot of boxes of wine.
However…the real question is, will the book talk about her assistants Jessica and Tiffany? More specifically, will Kathy address Jessica’s departure and talk about any of the behind the scenes stuff in their relationship? Or will she just use the book as a platform to hate on famous people who say dumb shit? Don’t get me wrong - I’d be happy with that, but I’d love it if Kathy’s assistants made it into the book. Team Griffin all the way!
Even though Jessica Zajicek left her job as Kathy Griffin’s assistant, let’s pause and look back at this hilarious moment when “Team Griffin” tried to do a bonding exercise.
Jessica Zajicek (pictured), who is Kathy Griffin’s first assistant and author of the Team Griffin blog for Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, has quit her job. Perez Hilton reported this morning that Jessica quit earlier this month, and he hinted that her reasons for doing so weren’t the most positive. He quotes an ‘insider’ who says, “Jessica had just had enough of Kathy. She put up with her for several years. She couldn’t take it anymore.”
As much as I love Kathy’s show and think she’s hilarious, I don’t doubt that her antics could probably get kind of old if you had to experience them instead of just watch them on TV. Still, I’m surprised to hear that Jessica would leave a job that allowed her to get drunk with her boss on national television.
What does this hold for Team Griffin? As the show’s not currently filming, it’s unclear whether Jessica’s leaving will be covered on the show or not. Will Princess Tiffany become the new first assistant? Will someone replace Jessica, giving Kathy the chance to have her own P.Diddy style “search for an assistant” reality show? The possibilities are endless.
I’m a huge fan of comedienne/rabblerouser Kathy Griffin and her very funny Bravo reality show, My Life on the D-List. Although Kathy and her hilarious adventures are the focus of the show, you get to spend a lot of time with supporting characters like Kathy’s mom, her boyfriend (although they broke up after the season taped), and, of course, her assistant, Jessica. Jessica (or in Kathy parlance, “Jessicaaaaah”) has a pretty sweet assisting gig: Kathy’s nice, low-maintenance, and even got Jessica her own assistant, Tiffany.
In the most recent season opener, Kathy was cohosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve special with Anderson Cooper and found out that Jessica and Tiffany had invented a drinking game where they had to take a shot every time Kathy called her cohost “Andy.” Kathy made sure to drop “Andy” as many times as possible, thus ensuring that her PAs were nice and hammered by the time the New Year arrived. She also helped get Jessica back to the hotel when she started to puke. Would your boss do that for you?
Jessica writes the Team Griffin blog on Bravo’s website. Check it out for more insider tidbits and some insight into the life of Kathy & Co.
Not many celebrities are up for sharing the spotlight with their assistant. Kathy Griffin, on the other hand, is no ordinary celebrity as she’s proven recently by not only including her assistant in her reality show, but visiting the girl’s hometown of Tracy, California.
Now, I’m from California and can tell you that Tracy, stand-up town that it might be, is no Beverly Hills. Getting there involves more than 30 minutes in the car, some blah California scenery, and it tends to be a lot warmer or colder there than most people would expect. What I’m saying is that Kathy’s decision requires commitment, and it’s refreshing to see her going out of her way to get to know her assistant, whom she affectionately refers to as Princess Tiffany.
To read more about Kathy Griffin’s trip to the land of Princess Tiffany, click here.
As I reported 
Although some gossip bloggers went back and forth about the status of Jessica Zajicek’s job as Kathy Griffin’s assistant, Jessica herself is confirming that 
Jessica Zajicek (pictured), who is Kathy Griffin’s first assistant and author of the 