Photographer: Mike Ruiz.

If you're wondering just why Kathy Griffin released a Christmas album, have no fear: apart from the title and a joke explaining it, there's no holiday humor on SUCKIN' IT FOR THE HOLIDAYS at all. In fact, it's tied to a place and time -- the summer of 2009, when Kathy gave this concert in front of an enthusiastic New Jersey crowd. The Garden State also provides Kathy with her best material here via an extended set on Bravo's "Real Housewives" series, where she lays into the craziness from coast to coast, with a special dose of venom reserved for Kelly Bensimon. Apart from that, SUCKIN' IT FOR THE HOLIDAYS covers standard Team Griffin territory -- Kathy's mom Maggie, the horror of Donald Trump, the true nature of Oprah and Gayle's relationship -- and if it all seems a bit familiar, it nevertheless is comforting in its familiarity... and that sense of comfort is what all holiday albums provide, even a fake holiday album like this.