When I first heard that Kathy Griffin, the abrasive comic and former sitcom sidekick, had a reality show debuting this week, I groaned. Just what the world needs – yet another low-level Hollywood type with a camera crew and the same old dream of climbing a few rungs on the celebrity ladder. Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King have attempted to parody the same phenomenon in HBO’s “The Comeback,” a stunningly poor attempt to ask the question underlying all celeb-reality efforts: Have these people no shame?

In Kathy Griffin’s case, the answer is clear. As she would likely be the first to tell you, she has absolutely no shame. Her combination of crassness and candor makes this show surprisingly fun to watch. The key to the success of “My Life on the D-List,” which will air Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on Bravo, is Ms. Griffin’s self-awareness, a trait evidenced in its title.

“I am a D-list celebrity, I own it,” Ms. Griffin intones in the opening montage. “Living on the D-list,” she goes on to explain, “is: I have a job, and I’m sort of a celebrity, but it’s a job.”

The pleasure of this show is watching just how hard Ms. Griffin works. “I spend half my time trying to get my name up there,” she narrates, as the scene on screen shows her correcting a radio interviewer who mistakes her name for Griffith – “it’s Griffin. It’s Griff-in!” she fumes – “and the other half of my time trying to get my agents on the phone.”

And, it seems from watching the show’s first episode, a third half trying to get things for free. “I’m feeling like I might get a free belt out of this,” she says as she prepares to walk the press line at an obscure event. But fashion accessories are small potatoes: Ms. Griffin’s real goal is to get her fancy new home (“It’s an A-list house,” she declares) decorated for free.

How to do this? First, get a “gay visionary” decorator who “wants to make a name for himself in L.A.” and will therefore do the job for free (in Ms. Griffin’s case, said decorator will also move in with you). Second – and Ms. Griffin does break it down this way – “you arrange for lots of press to be at a certain event, preferably a charitable function. Celebrities come, press comes, next thing you know, you’re raising a lot of money for charity and maybe you got a free end table.”

In Ms. Griffin’s case, that “certain event” is a Toys for Tots fund-raiser she is throwing. And, as we see in a later scene, in Ms. Griffin’s world, that “free end table” can also be a free custom-designed leather sectional sofa. And since the success of this enterprise rests largely on Ms. Griffin’s ability to coax celebrities into attending her event, we are treated to glimpses of Ms. Griffin approaching much bigger stars and asking for their contact information.

Her victims include “Chicago’s” John C. Reilly and “Desperate Housewives'” Marcia Cross, but Ms. Griffin’s best interaction is with Rachel Bilson from “The O.C.,” who provides Ms. Griffin with her publicist’s number. “I was like, ‘I get it, Rachel,'” Ms. Griffin tells us. “I’m not supposed to call you.”

The two episodes I watched also feature Ms. Griffin getting Botox injections and preparing to host the E! Network’s red-carpet coverage of the Grammys. (In both comedy and facial appearance, Ms. Griffin seems to have found inspiration in Joan Rivers.) And they introduce the supporting cast: Ms. Griffin’s sweet, seemingly regular-guy, computer consultant husband, Matt, who yearns for a gastric bypass; her two gay best friends (“my best gays,” as she dubs them); her wine-drinking Midwestern parents; and her nonplussed assistant.

With the exception of Matt – who, in an eye-popping scene, adds weights to his pockets to meet the surgery’s minimum weight requirement – each of these supporting players could have come from reality television central casting.

In a strange way, the show doesn’t even belong to its star: Kathy Griffin does get off many funny lines, and just watching her over-plasticized face actually move is indeed fascinating. But, at a time when the summer’s best comedy series – HBO’s “Entourage” – details the cushy life of an A-list movie star, the best thing about “My Life on the D-List” isn’t really her life. It’s the D-list.