Coming Up in the World: D-Lister Brings Her A-Game

"I never thought I'd get divorced," she says, "and I never thought I'd get divorced on TV."

But all in all, she's "having a ball." She'd like to create a small Kathy Griffin empire, with a late-night talk show and comedy specials and a whole lot more money. Why not? And after multiple excursions to the land of plastic surgery, she says she is done with that for good. Overhauling her looks didn't make her any happier -- she didn't turn into Jennifer Aniston, she says, so what was the point?

"I'm off the junk," she says, lifting up a heavy layer of bangs and wriggling her eyebrows as proof. On cue, her brow wrinkles and folds, accordion-like.

But she's got a show to do on this night, and a long drive to get there, and you are not invited for the ride. Pre-showtime is when she figures out her material, poring the headlines for material. She believes in unscripted stand-up.

It's a packed house at the Landmark Theater in Richmond. The crowd ranges from stocky women with brush cuts and mom-jeans to butch boys in muscle tees to glammed-up 20-somethings in peep-toes and skinny jeans. Griffin runs onstage, and her rabid fans are on their feet, clapping and woo-hooing.

Griffin takes aim at Sarah Palin, giving her the double bird for good measure.

"I won my second Emmy," she tells the audience to wild applause. "Just the [revenge] factor is huge." Or not so much, she says, adding that she was only up against "Extreme Makeover," "Antiques Roadshow" and "Intervention."

You realize that she's using the exact same material with them that she used with you earlier in the day. That you were, in effect, her dress rehearsal.

As the night wears on, all her stream-of-consciousness riffing ventures further out onto the comedic ledge. Offensiveness is her stock in trade; she doesn't want to alienate the hands that feed her. So she throws out a zinger about Michelle Obama, just to see.

She pauses. Cocks an eyebrow. Waits. The crowd roars its approval.

"I test the audience," she says, "to see if you'll go down in flames with me."

She bolts offstage just as abruptly as she began, leaving her fans cheering. And just a bit shell-shocked.

"It's the best 60 bucks I've ever spent," says concertgoer Kendell Lykens, 23. "She might be on the D-list."

Pause.

"But she charges A-list prices."