Kathy Griffins former "main gay" dishes on the falling out; her divorceHe says the friendship didn’t end over one specific argument. Instead, it was what he calls “a blossoming lack of kindness and gratitude” on her part. “Kathy is the sun in her world and everyone else is planets revolving around her. But she’s a brilliant comedian. No one is funnier. She has created a niche for herself, the world that she wants to live in, and I applaud that. I want to live in a world that has a little more kindness.”
“I play an actual gay guy on a show and I’m actually gay! A practicing homosexual who’s not ashamed of it,” says Tony Tripoli. Wearing a tight, long-sleeved black shirt and jeans, with his hair perfectly spiked, the handsome and muscular Tripoli looks great and is upbeat and ready to talk—about everything.
It shouldn’t really be a surprise that Tripoli is able to hold his own on the new nightly soap opera Fashion House, headlined by formidable blondes Bo Derek and Morgan Fairchild. Here’s a guy who spent a decade as one of the best friends of that formidable redhead Kathy Griffin, and was regularly featured on her show My Life on the D-List.
Tripoli, 36, was one of Griffin’s “best gays,” along with his best friend and roommate, Dennis Hensley, author of the popular book Screening Party. But it’s been more than a year since this once tightest of trios has even spoken to each other. But the exposure on D-List led to the Fashion House gig, which casts him as Hans, a gay fashion designer who works for Derek’s character, an evil fashion-label owner.
“It’s huge to think about these gay and questioning youths flipping through the dial and to be able to see themselves in television shows,” says Tripoli. “That’s great and profoundly impactful.”
When we meet for a chat at the Abbey, a place he refers to as “the Bermuda Triangle of self-esteem,” Tripoli is just two days removed from wrapping a hectic summer shooting schedule for the show in San Diego.
“Once the show airs, I’m hoping I can walk in here with a little bit more of an attitude,” he jokes. “I can’t wait to have an entourage. That’s my plan for 2007, to be totally insufferable. … If we weren’t needy freaks, we wouldn’t be in this industry!”
Tripoli has never spoken publicly about why he and Hensley fell out with Griffin, and says he never planned to. But the tart-tongued comedian, who made headlines over the summer by saying on Larry King Live that she split from her husband Matt Moline because he stole more than $72,000 from her, also gave the impression, Tripoli says, that he and Hensley had been less than loyal friends.
“There’s no way to talk about it that won’t make her look bad,” Tripoli says. “ She wasn’t talking about us and I wasn’t talking about her. She’s chosen to start talking, and mentioned in the press that Dennis and I dumped her in her hour of need. I think it’s remarkable that after a decade of friendship and loyalty, unparalleled in a town like this—it is incredibly sad and painful that she would say to the press that we abandoned her.”
On the topic of Griffin, Tripoli wants to set a few things straight: The friendship did not end because of—nor was it ever affected by—money, as he and Dennis were never paid for appearing on D-List and never asked to be. He added that Griffin stopped speaking with him and Hensley before the first season of D-List even began airing on Bravo. The situation with her husband had occurred on the third day of taping of the first season in November 2004, and Tripoli says the situation had essentially been sorted out with divorce papers filed and a “post-nup” agreement to proceed with the show as though all were well.
But all was not well. Tripoli remembers getting a tearful call from Griffin the night she discovered some of her money was missing. “I got a call from her, crying, and I had only seen her cry twice before,” he says. “She was crying and said, ‘How fast can you get here?’ I thought that one of the dogs died. Matt came home and the four of us sat there and talked about everything. There were contractual obligations to do a season for Bravo. I’m proud of how we stepped up. I didn’t even tell my own mother.”
He says the friendship didn’t end over one specific argument. Instead, it was what he calls “a blossoming lack of kindness and gratitude” on her part. “Kathy is the sun in her world and everyone else is planets revolving around her. But she’s a brilliant comedian. No one is funnier. She has created a niche for herself, the world that she wants to live in, and I applaud that. I want to live in a world that has a little more kindness.”
One friendship that has endured is the one between Tripoli and Hensley. Their chemistry was apparent the first time they met at a party, among a group of people watching a Vanessa Williams biography on the television. Both were annoyed by her speaking voice, which they decided was just a bit too self-important.
“I made a rude remark, he agreed, and we just knew in that moment we were best friends who hadn’t met yet,” Tripoli says. “It’s one of the greatest gifts of my life. We really have a brotherhood, this incredible closeness. I think I’m at my absolute best and funniest when I’m with Hensley.”
With the Sept. 5 debut of Fashion House, it’s a whole new world for Tripoli, who has already completed his work on the show. He filmed 65 one-hour episodes, “which meant a lot of round-trips from Los Angeles to San Diego. We made like three seasons worth of a regular show.”
And making it more challenging was that the shows were not shot by episode. Scenes were shot out of order according to location.
“You really had to keep track,” he says. “Has this person lied to me yet? Are you pregnant yet? You had to come in every day with your lines learned and be ready to go.”
He says working with Bo Derek was a great experience, and she has invited him to visit her and her boyfriend, actor John Corbett (Sex in the City, Northern Exposure), at her ranch. But before they began working, Tripoli was a little concerned about working with the actress, who is a staunch Republican.
“I wondered, am I going to spend the entire summer with this woman who thinks I’ll burn in hell forever?” Tripoli says. “I was a little nervous. We’re best friends on the show and I wanted it to ring true. But I’m a little ashamed that I went into it being a little nervous about that, it was really unfair. She was immensely kind and hysterically funny. I loved cracking her up in the middle of her close-ups. People are allowed to have their politics. She’s a wonderful human being and a wonderful person. She’s more beautiful now than she was in 10. Can you believe that was 25 years ago?”
As for Fairchild, Tripoli could not have been more impressed.
“It’s criminal, criminal that they would have a gay man on the show and never let him have a scene with Morgan Fairchild,” Tripoli laughs. “There should be litigation! There should be litigation!”
They didn’t get to share scenes, but they did share some time on the set, including her first day, when word got to her that Tripoli was dying to meet her.
“She said, ‘You don’t let that boy leave today until he meets me!’ It’s sorta like I was the Make-A-Wish kid and my dying wish was to meet her. She said, ‘Sit, darling, and let’s talk.’”
When he started to gush, Fairchild said, “Oh please, darling. I’ve been playing this same bitch for 40 years. I can certainly do it for another summer!”
As for the future, Tripoli is looking for his next acting gig and is also dabbling in stand-up. He made his debut at the Laugh Factory in late August.
“It’s another avenue to explore, and honey, I got stories to tell. I just worked with Morgan Fairchild and Bo Derek. I used to sing on cruise ships. There’s enough to fill an act.”
But ultimately, he has bigger ambitions.
“I want to be the gay Oprah! I want to dictate how everyone’s house looks and how they dress. Oprah does a show on bras and now women everywhere are wearing those bras. I wish Logo would give me a talk show, I would love it!”
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