Kathy Griffin Sounds Off on Donald Trump, Dating Younger Guys and the Wage Gap While on Her 80-City Stand-Up Tour

The comedy great is traveling the country her 80-city Like a Boss

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Published on November 11, 2015 09:00 PM

Kathy Griffin‘s on top of her game – but that’s not good enough for her.

The comedy queen is halfway to an EGOT and is currently traveling the U.S. on her 80-city Like a Boss tour (she’ll perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall Thursday as part of the NY Comedy Festival), but at 55, she’s just getting started.

“I have more energy than I ever have, and I love it,” she tells PEOPLE.

“I have two Emmys and a Grammy, but I still want to get that call from Ryan Murphy saying, ‘I have a part for you.’ I still wanna get that call from Lee Daniels saying, ‘You’re in Precious 2 or Precious 3‘!” she adds. “I’ve had three series with my name in the title, but you’re not reading about me inking a $40 million deal like Jon Stewart and guys that are my age. So the struggle continues, but I want to think that those things are still in my future.”

PEOPLE caught up with the fearless comic in between tour stops. Here are just a few of the subjects on which she sounded off.

She Loves Her Fellow Female Comedians, But ”They Just have a Different Story”
I’m one of only five women in the history of Carnegie to play Carnegie Hall as a stand-up of comic. So, I have this like big bug up my butt about sexism in stand-up comedy and being 55 years old and kind of being in a club of one. Like there’s nobody else in my, I call it, my weight class.

I know all the other girls. I love the all the other girls, but you know, they just have a very different story. I love that Lena Dunham was on the cover of Vogue. That’s f—– amazing. I love that Amy Schumer is on the cover of Elle. That’s f—– amazing. That’s not my story. My story is I m trying to get on the cover of Popular Mechanics.

No Subject or Celebrity (See: Donald Trump, Caitlyn Jenner) Is Off-Limits When It Comes to Her Routine
I’m kind of getting more fearless, which could be good or bad thing in our increasingly politically correct environment of “words that are trigger warnings” and Jerry Seinfeld writing that essay about how he doesn’t want to play colleges anymore because people are getting über-sensitive. It’s just making me worse. I’m going to hit the stage on Carnegie just me, a bottle of water and a notepad, and I don’t know what the hell I’m going to say, but you know it’ll be offensive.

If we’re in a world where Donald Trump might be president, and I’ve met him several times, I’m not just going to talk about Trump like a Random Joe. I like to talk about my personal experiences. I didn’t know Donald Trump was that crazy when I appeared on The Apprentice one time. I thought he was just a guy who put up some buildings and was riding on his dad’s coattails. I didn’t think he’d really run for president. I thought it was kind of a joke.

Even if these people are my friends, they all know they’re all fair game: Kris Jenner has said, “Can you please stop making fun of my family?” And, I said, “Absolutely not. Let me tell you, honey, it’s Caitlyn’s world and we’re all just living in it.”

She Thanks Paris Hilton for Her ”Bangin’ Bikini Bod”
There’s a scene in My Life on the D-List where Paris Hilton and I walk through a pool, and she looks perfect in her bikini, and I swear to you I had not been in a bikini for 15 years. But, we ran to the gift shop of the hotel, got a bikini just for the joke, and ever since then, I don’t know what happened, but I actually have to thank Paris Hilton.

I’ve been like half naked running around in bikinis in Hawaii not giving a s—. Something happened where I just went, “Who cares!? I’m not a bikini model. I can look however the hell I want.” I work out everyday. I have a banging bikini bod, and I have Paris Hilton to thank. Even when I did the bucket challenge I did it naked. I don’t give a s— anymore.

She Doesn’t Care What You Think About Her Dating a Younger Man
Jane Fonda said there’s this thing that’s called the “F— Me 50′.” I have very strong case of the “F—Me 50’s.” My boyfriend is 36, and that’s all there to it. Life is short: Have fun. Bang a younger guy.

She’s a Fan of Taylor Swift and Jennifer Lawrence for Taking Charge of Their Careers
I think it’s great that [Jennifer Lawrence wrote an essay slamming the gender wage gap]. I think the important thing people need to remember is it would be to say like, “Oh, she’s already a millionaire.” It’s not that. It’s that when you learn what these male executives are getting in comparison to the people doing the real world. It’s all relative, and it really does trickle down.

When you want to talk about trickle-down economics, you need someone as powerful as Taylor Swift. Yes, I make fun of Taylor Swift in my act, but she is a 25 year old woman, as Jennifer Lawrence is a 20-something, and you need those women who have the juice and the power that, frankly, I don’t have, to be loud and proud and demand it. I fully support those women fighting for the wage gap. We have to close it. It’s ridiculous, and I experience it every single day. If you think I make what my 54 year old male counterpart make? Not even close.

I support these women doing it. Hopefully we all benefit, [from] stand-up comics to women like my mom who worked in the office of a hospital for 20 years.