At least she will finally be shutting up that annoying arrogance they call comedy.
"The Zio-owned press is awash with fecal laced praise for Joltin Joan Rivers who has now departed this plane via the down escalator.... The bigger the press and the limousine, the bigger the asshole. Sayonara Joan. This isn't speaking ill of the dead. This is speaking ill of the undead....
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Is that why I don't feel near the sadness I did a few weeks ago....
"Joan Rivers, comedy’s cutting force, dies at 81" by Joseph P. Kahn | Globe Staff September 05, 2014
Joan Rivers, whose snarky, politically incorrect, and often self-lacerating brand of humor made her a comedian both loved and feared by her many fans and show business peers, and whose five-decade career spanned every imaginable comedic vehicle, died Thursday at New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital. She was 81.
Her death was confirmed by her daughter, Melissa, although the cause has not been officially determined. A week ago, Ms. Rivers entered the hospital after losing consciousness while undergoing a surgical procedure at a Manhattan clinic. She reportedly had been placed in a medically induced coma days ago and was on life support since Tuesday.
After she had said some really rotten things.
Ms. Rivers proved to be remarkably versatile, from the stage and network talk shows to stand-up nightclub acts, movies, best-selling books, television reality shows, and red carpet fashion revues more cutting than a plastic surgeon’s scalpel.
As a female counterpart to prickly, pioneering comics such as Lenny Bruce and Don Rickles, she first garnered widespread attention in 1965 appearing alongside a kinder, gentler comedic legend: “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson. He delighted in her raspy, in-your-face humor, and made her his regular guest host for two memorable decades, catapulting Ms. Rivers to stardom — and eventually to a competing talk show of her own airing on the then-new Fox network. That ended her relationship with Carson and opened a personal wound that never fully healed.
“Can we talk?” quickly became Ms. Rivers’s signature opening line. And talk she did, in a gossipy, take-no-prisoners manner that shocked some, wounded others, and made millions laugh at her sheer brazenness, even as she admonished those she offended: “Oh, grow up!”
I never did. My impression was loud-mouthed bitch.
Pushing the comedic envelope became her stock in trade, much as her numerous cosmetic surgeries — she was brutally candid about those, too — sharpened her features as well as her tongue. There were few sacred cows in Ms. Rivers’s personal corral. She once said that Queen Elizabeth II dressed in “gowns by Helen Keller” and pronounced one of Tina Fey’s outfits a “decorative toilet seat cover.” She joked about 9/11 and the Holocaust. To many, she appeared nasty at times, even cruel, and abrasively insensitive to others’ personal tragedies.
If her barbs stung, though, especially where skins were thinnest, her targets also saw her exploit her own flaws and foibles for belly laughs. Even the darker personal chapters in her life became comic fodder for Ms. Rivers. Following the 1987 suicide of her husband and manager, Edgar Rosenberg, she recalled dining with the couple’s daughter. “I looked at the menu and said, ‘If Daddy were here to see these prices, he’d kill himself all over again.’ ”
He could't take her anymore, huh?
Asked in a 2010 Globe interview what she found shocking in today’s comedy, Ms. Rivers replied, “They’re still very shocked by my saying some people got money for 9/11 and are happy that their relatives died. But I tell them, don’t say anything. Next Thanksgiving, look around your table and think: If it was quick and fast and I got $5 million tax-free, which one would not be here next year?”
Why is this person being lauded? That is not funny at all. Must be an ethnic thing.
She continued, “I will do jokes about Hitler and Auschwitz half the time just to remind them that there was a Hitler and there was an Auschwitz.”
I have had enough reminding about the great man, thanks.
As news of her death spread Thursday, tributes continued to pour in, many posted on social media sites from younger female comedians who viewed Ms. Rivers as a trailblazer and role model.
Related: The TV sideline reporter: Fruitful or frivolous?
Amy Poehler tweeted, “Every woman in comedy is indebted to her. She was there at the beginning and funny to the end.”
“Watching Joan Rivers do stand-up at age 81 ,” wrote Lena Dunham, “was incredible: athletic, jaw-dropping, terrifying, essential. It never stopped. Neither will she.”
Even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel weighed in on her death, saying in a statement: “Joan Rivers brought laughter to millions around the world and was proud of her Jewish heritage and a vocal supporter of the State of Israel. We will miss her deeply and we send our heartfelt condolences to her family.”
Ooooooh! Oooooooh! Oooooooooooh!
Born Joan Alexandra Molinsky in Brooklyn, N.Y., she got an early taste of comedy along with her sister, Barbara, from their father, Meyer, a Jewish immigrant doctor from Russia who dabbled in comedic impressions. The family lived in Larchmont, N.Y....
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NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"What if Joan Rivers had hosted ‘The Tonight Show’? | September 06, 2014
As tributes pour in for Joan Rivers, who died at 81 this week, it's worth asking: What if Rivers had hosted “The Tonight Show” for 20 years? Rivers was a frequent guest on NBC’s influential late-night talk show during Johnny Carson’s long time at the helm, eventually becoming Carson’s permanent guest host. She left in 1986 for a new opportunity: to host her own show on the then-fledgling Fox network. After Carson’s protege became his competition, he never spoke to her again. The Fox show failed within a year. And when Carson stepped down in 1992, Jay Leno — who, like Carson, was funny, amiable, and non-threatening — spent two decades as the “Tonight Show” host. He never had Rivers as a guest.
Rivers might never have helmed “Tonight” anyway; she reportedly
left NBC in part because she was uncertain of her future at the
network. But her brand of edgy humor, her jaundiced approach with
celebrities, clearly resonated with audiences. (Some thought her Fox
show failed because she was too nice.) Rivers’s humor often focused on
how women related to men and each other. Her fixation on personal beauty
didn’t always please feminists, but it touched on real impulses and
insecurities. She talked about subjects that still are largely absent
from the clubby, male quarters of late night TV. If she had taken
Carson’s role, with its starmaking power and national attention, she
might have launched some different careers — and some fascinating
conversations.
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I see from the entertainment listings they are offering weekend tributes.
Oooooh! Ooooh!
