By Byron Kermon

Working for taboo-smashing comedienne Kathy Griffin looks like the most fun you can have without breaking any laws. Her Emmy-winning reality show, My Life on the D-List, shows her at play with a coterie of three assistants who never seem to stop laughing. The only man in the giggle-prone group, tour manager Tom Vize, comes to Hollywood via Fenton, Mo., and Vianney High (class of ’87). But Vize isn’t just one of “the help”; as dedicated viewers of D-List know, he lives on the lower level of Griffin’s L.A. manse.

You played in a band when you lived here, right? What was its name?
The Nukes. Back in the early ’90s everybody in St. Louis knew us. We were big fish in a little pond. We played the Landing every week. I played bass. We were at Kennedy’s a lot. And the Frosty Factory, Cicero’s, Blueberry Hill, all that stuff. That was like a billion years ago.

How long have you lived at Kathy’s place?
It’s been over a year now, since last August.

On the show you gave up your room for her mom [after the passing of Kathy’s father]. Has that changed at all?
Yeah, after a couple days Kathy’s mom got bored over here. It’s not as exciting over here as it is her place, I guess, so she went back, and now she’s partying a lot. Now I’m back in my room.

Is living with her the nonstop adventure of hilarity that we imagine it to be?
All I do, all day long, is laugh. Kathy’s not the funniest one in the house, though, actually. [Griffin’s assistant] Tiffany is the one who gives me the giggles all the time. She starts giggling, and then everybody just starts giggling, and then the dogs join in. Kathy’s kind of a D-lister in her own house.

Is this the best job you’ve ever had?
By far. No, wait—working the lunch shift a couple years ago, at a T.G.I. Friday’s in Woodland Hills, Calif., was better. [Laughs] Nah. This is by far the best. I’m looking out right now from my workplace, and I see the Hollywood sign right there.

Do you get tired of the presence of the TV cameras? Like, do they try to follow you into the bathroom and stuff?
What I want is for the cameras to follow me into the bathroom, but they won’t do it for some reason. [Laughs] I’m like, “Yes, finally! Cameras in the bathroom!” I’ve been waiting my whole life for that. No, it’s not such a big deal necessarily for me, but for Kathy—they’re looking at Kathy all day long. It amazes me that she has the energy to do this because not only is she traveling around doing her performances two hours a night, but when she gets off she still has to be “on”—it’s like 10 hours a day that she has to be on-camera. I don’t know how she does it.

You know everyone who watches D-List is jealous that you get to spend so much time with Kathy.
One of my friends told me that Kathy is that absolutely hilarious girl in high school that everybody wants to sit next to in the cafeteria. And that is so true.

How did you get your job working for Kathy?
It was just a friend-of-a-friend type of thing, the way everything’s done in Hollywood.

As tour manager, what sorts of things do you do?
I go on the road with her and make sure everything gets done, but again, like I said, all the groundwork is in place before we go on the road. I just make sure that A to B to C happens, and then hopefully, make sure that she’s healthy, because she travels around and she’s doing shows every night, and that gets real tiring for her. She’s talking, like, two, three hours a night straight so sometimes health problems happen.

Have you ever had to act as security for Kathy?
That’s part of my job, but the fact that you have to ask probably means that I’m not doing so great. Anybody could go right through me like a paper bag if they wanted to, so hopefully it’s just old women who want to get to her, because I could maybe stop an old woman. Maybe. An infirm, old lady.

Tell me what your typical day is like. When do you get up, what kinds of stuff do you do?
The workday starts around 10-ish. I usually feed the dogs and then run around doing stuff that needs to be done. Every day is different, something new. Basically, I just feed the dogs. I go and get more dog food.

So you’re like a go-fer.
Yes. Even though in my own mind I’m above it, I am not above it.

Do you serve as her driver, too?
No, she wants to drive herself—especially after a show, she’s kind of like jacked-up. So if we have to drive from, like, Atlanta to Nashville, or some long run, that’s fun; it’s like 2 in the morning, and we have the radio on, and we’re just joking around in the middle of nowhere. I love that part of my job.

What were you doing before you became her tour manager?
Everything. I worked at the Jimmy Kimmel Show for a little bit, and of course,  I worked as a waiter, like everybody else in this town. For Kimmel, I was a TV watcher-researcher.

Was he cool to work with?
I never actually did meet him. But that isn’t so unusual in the business, really.

Do Kathy’s dogs like you better than her, now?
That’s a sore subject with her. When I go downstairs, Chance will come and follow me, and just kind of lay in the bed next to me. Yeah, she’s jealous of that, because I think Chance has really taken a liking to me. Well, it’s because Chance, for so many years, didn’t have football on TV. That’s all I do is watch football. He’s a guy. [Kathy’s other dog] Pom Pom doesn’t like anybody. She just hates everybody equally.