Tag Archive for 'kathy griffin'

Kathy Griffin Is Not Looking for A Second Assistant

Published on August 3, 2010 in Celebrity Assistant Soapbox. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Last night, I stopped by Kathy Griffin’s book signing at the Borders in Columbus Circle. It was a total madhouse, and Kathy came out in a yellow party dress and insanely high heels to wave at her public. She did take a couple of questions before starting the reading, and one woman in the audience asked if Kathy needed a new assistant. Tiffany, Kathy’s assistant, wasn’t there that night, and Kathy explained that Tiffany was in her hometown going to a wedding. (“She’s the only person from her high school who doesn’t have, like, twelve kids,” quoth Kathy.) As you may remember, Kathy used to have two assistants, Jessica Zajicek and Tiffany Rinehart. When Jessica quit, Tiffany became assistant numero uno, but she’s currently doing the job alone. So, will Woman In the Audience get her wish? Kathy’s response:

No. You can send in an application, but Tiffany will burn it.

And there you have it – for the meantime, Team Griffin is staying as is.

sta’s year in review

Published on December 31, 2009 in Week in Review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

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 tag of 2009 was “Office Politics.”

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 popular celebrity of 2009, after Kathy Griffin of course, was Christian Bale. His former assistant Harrison Cheung’s tell-all to the Mirror and the story about Bale’s wife being the former assistant to Winona Ryder made him a popular guy on STA. The gratuitous hot photos probably didn’t hurt his ranking, either.

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 for my own personal favorites, my new favorite tag is “Post Ideas from My Mom.” My mom is a regular reader of the site and occasionally sends me links to things she thinks I should write about here. Lots of them end up on the site, such as this story about a secretary who got fired for eating the boss’ sandwich and this post about a Texas office who adopted a cat as their mascot.

Thanks for a great 2009, and I look forward to an even better 2010.

jessica zajicek/kathy griffin update

Published on June 10, 2009 in Celebrity Assistant Soapbox. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

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.

jessica zajicek has left the ‘d-list’

Published on April 17, 2009 in Celebrity Assistant Soapbox. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

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.

blog we recommend: team griffin

Published on June 17, 2008 in Celebrity Assistant Soapbox. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

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.

hero of the week: kathy griffin

Published on February 21, 2008 in Celebrity Assistant Soapbox and Heroes. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

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.