RIP Joan Rivers

Well, it's been a while...

And Gene Wilder was Letterman.

 

Betty White and Lily Tomlin should make the list.

 

My ex-girlfriend saw her perform in NYC back in February and said she was just a crass as ever...and just as hysterical.

One of my favorite stories I've ever heard her tell was when she was doing a show at some club in The Village. She was bombing fantastically and, unbeknownst to her, Lenny Bruce had snuck into the back of the club to watch her set. After a horrendous set where she did 20 minutes and got hardly a laugh she stomped back to her dressing room flustered and shell-shocked. When she got there she found a note taped to the mirror:

"Joan - You're right. They're wrong. - Lenny Bruce."

 

I remember her as the guest host on the Tonight Show when I was a kid, but otherwise hadn't watched any of her work in more than 30-second clips since then until recently. I got married a few months ago, and my wife lives on the E! channel.

Caught an episode of "Fashion Police" a few weeks back and was amazed at how quick Rivers still was, riffing repeatedly in what you could tell was not a rehearsed fashion.

 

I remember her more for stand up comedy and the late-night stuff.
"Can we talk?"

I got really tired of her over the last few years. Now people will get to look back at the ground she broke. She's well thought of for that, and for being funny as hell.

Ball, Burnett, Rivers. Everyone else - Everyone else - falls in line behind them. Rivers - as a standup - is in a class all by herself.


Also, I had no idea she disliked Will Ferrell.

 

Not related to Rivers' talents per se, but Gilbert Gottfried's set at the Joan Rivers roast a few years back is tremendous. He talks about how he nailed her early in his career and he holds nothing back.

 

Now Carson can really tell her to go to h-e-double-hockey-sticks.

 

Does this mean Elvis got out?
(For those that don't get the reference, check out this song, the Joan Rivers reference is from1:23-1:30)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knc9LKjukSQ

 

you youngsters forget about Jackie "Moms" Mabley. She started during stand-up in the '20s and was considered to be the 'funniest woman in the world'. She made $10K @ week during stand-up at Harlem's Apollo Theater back in the '50s. She appeared quite often on the Ed Sullivan Show, The Mervin Griffin Show, The David Frost Show and the Smother Brothers. Comic legends like Bill Cosby, Phyllis Diller, Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg and Eddie Murphy all said they were influenced by her. Whoopie Goldberg produced a documentary about her than ran on HBO about 10 months ago.

 

Agree. Rosanne is more of an act. Joan Rivers on Carson, Letterman, Stern whoever, would just always be a funny interview.