So Long Joanie

How lucky was Joan Rivers to live so long that there are generations of people who have no idea of the influence she had over entertainment. One day at work, a long time ago, a much younger colleague called her “a joke”. It wasn’t meant as a compliment.  To him, Rivers was just a raspy old broad who took cheap shots at celebrities. But she used to be much more than that. 

Joan Rivers was the first woman to host her own late-night talk show. That came after she had worked for years under the wing of the king of late-night, Johnny Carson, as his protege and only ever official fill-in. Sadly, the leap from NBC to Fox wasn’t handled with finesse and she drew the permanent ire of Carson. When her own show tanked in the ratings, her husband/manager Edgar killed himself. Her life has not been without drama.

Rivers has never stopped working. Industrious and resourceful, she worked the clubs and ballrooms as a comic and if people cooled on her comedy she designed jewelry and sold millions worth on the shopping channel QVC and on Canada’s Shopping Channel. She wrote books, recorded CDs and DVDs, and of course, meowed about the good, the bad and the ugly on the red carpet for E! Howard Stern loved her and she’d come on his show and tell the truth about anything he asked, whether or not it made her look good. Most recently, she was on to talk about her new book and Howard asked her about her falling out with comic David Brenner, who died in March. Rivers pulled no punches. She said she loved Brenner but he was lazy and greedy. In the late 80s she agreed to go on tour specifically at his request because he was broke. Half way through the tour he told her he wanted more money. She was already paying him two-and-a-half times the going rate for an opener on a US tour.  She said no and he never talked to her again.

She never apologized for her jokes. They were off colour, politically incorrect and often fall-down funny. Unlike that hack Lisa Lampanelli who thinks pointing out a stereotype passes for comedy, Rivers was original. If you hated her, she didn’t care. She talked openly about her plastic surgery and was uncommonly generous to her friends. And a stupid little day-surgery to remove the rasp in her voice is what took her out. A true legend. I love this (edited) quote from Louis CK, who tweeted after hearing the news.  “I never saw someone attack a stage with so much energy. She was a controlled lightning bolt. She was a prolific and unpredictable, joyful joke writer. She loved comedy. She loved the audience. She was a great actress and should have done that more. She loved living and working. She was kind. She was real. She was brave. She was funny and you just wanted to be around her.”