I don't know why other people don't see it that way!!
I do actually care about comedy and have spent a long time dissecting it from every angle. I think that thread's great too. Except for when the Disruptor tries to, I don't know what he's trying to do. I definitely salute Joan's longevity.
I hope you won't mind that while I recognized the satire in your initial posts imitating Rivers' one-liners, I also found yours funny as hell! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and all that...
I was a kid when I first saw Joan Rivers. I watched her host Saturday Night Live in 1983. I thought who IS this lady? She was sharp, brassy, bold and most of all hysterical.
From then on watching her when she guest hosted The Tonight Show became an EVENT for me. To see Boy George, Elvira, Cher, Elton John- it warmed my gay 13 year old heart. Listening to Joan chat was like hanging out with an old friend.
Then, she announced her FOX deal. She went away for many months. When she came back, she looked different. She was different. Her FOX show was just never as good as her Tonight Show hosting gigs. Maybe it was the veteran Tonight Show producers who'd made the difference... I do not know.
I've watched her go up and down over the years, and I very much admire the fact that she was able to claw her way back from the depths of her husband's suicide in 1987- she lived long enough to see herself become a legend. I was so glad she finally got back on The Tonight Show when Jimmy Fallon took over.
Anyway, Joan was an absolutely brilliant comedian in the early 80s. That is how I will always remember her. And as she said of herself often, to me she was "The Queen of the gays"
The way she went was something of a blessing. She went to sleep for her procedure and simply never woke up. No sadness or heartbreak or guilt. She worked the night before she died. She'd been welcomed back to David Letterman and to the Tonight Show. She'd just kicked off three controversies (by my count) in the weeks before.
I will miss knowing she's out there. That's for sure.
I just posted this in that other chat room but thought I'd post it here too since I'll never repeat it again....
....One of my very first jobs was bartending in a restaurant in Los Angeles. One afternoon Joan Rivers passed me and I asked her if they were ever going to rerun a TV movie she had written titled THE GIRL MOST LIKELY TO which I immensely enjoyed. She went ballistic and shouted "Write those sons of bitches! Write those sons of bitches!". Apparently the network was holding back the movie and waiting for the film distribution of the star Stockyard Channing's film debut starring role in the movie THE FORTUNE which irritated Rivers no end.
As I thanked her I mentioned I had reservations to see her the next week at Ye Little Club. Without missing a beat she said, "Write down this name." I said it was an easy enough name to remember and she started hitting me on the arm demanding I write it down. I did, said goodbye and as instructed mentioned the man's name at the club's door. I was given a ring side table, sent a complimentary bottle of champagne, was told that Ms. Rivers had taken care of the check and at evening's end was told Joan would like to see me in her dressing room. When I knocked on her door she greeted me and introduced me to Florence Henderson and Roddy McDowall. As they stood she invited me to sit down next to her at her vanity table and chat. She asked me all these questions about myself and when I told her I grew up in Manhattan she nodded and said she somehow knew I was a New Yorker from the get go (I'm sure my accent was a tip off too). Anyways for a young kid I was totally taken with this celebrity's sincere kindness and have never forgotten how gracious a person she was. She shall be terribly missed.
What a very lovely story Demitri. Thank you for sharing it. As the days go on, with anecdotes like yours, it's increasingly clear that Joan was a caring and generous person. The brash and loud side of her we saw on television was only one aspect of her personality.
Your story made me tear up! You're lucky to have had that experience. Cherish it.
EDIT****
For those interested, Joan's movie The Girl Most Likely To is on Youtube. Link below
joined:7/22/03
Posted: 9/4/14 at 08:50pm