Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014

Subject: Obit: Is Joan RIvers smiling? She can't tell.
From: Mrrzy
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 12:02 PM

She was a force to be contended with - and although I found her humor mostly mean-spirited I admired her spunk and that line in a recent commercial. Knock'm dead, darlin'.

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 02:46 PM

I frequently got a kick out of some utterance of hers, pretty much the same as I have gotten from Don Rickles. Truth be told, however, it is not the kind of humo(u)r I enjoy.

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: Ed T
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 02:53 PM

Saw her live a few years ago, she was edgy but funny. People in the crowd seemed to bebin tune with her humour, even when they were the target...likely because she was so funny.

Humour is very often at someones expense, she seemed to know that wellt and played that card very well-being a workhorse when others much younger retired.

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: Jeri
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 03:13 PM

I sometimes thought she went "too far". I think it was a lesson on how we can be upset on behalf of someone else who isn't even close to being upset. I posted this link in the other thread, might as well post it here, too: Kathy Griffin writes about Joan Rivers:

But she was a trailblazer in another way too. As her stardom grew, and her brand of no-holds-barred humor set her apart, it was not unheard of for celebrities — the more level-headed ones, at least — to consider it something of a badge of honor to get razzed by Joan. Fat jokes about Elizabeth Taylor (so fat, she stands in front of the microwave and yells, "Hurry up! Hurry up!") didn't stop that friendship. I'd heard that Cher once said to Joan, who used to joke about Cher but had left her alone for a while, "What's the matter? I'm not hot enough anymore to be in the act?" I thought the story might be apocryphal, but when I asked Cher myself if she'd said that, she said, "Absolutely." Who doesn't want to be referenced by Joan Rivers?

People (me included) sometimes saw here as going over the edge. The more I think about it now, the more I think she knew that edge better than anyone. To be as good as she was for as long, you have to live there.

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: robomatic
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 03:15 PM

My reaction is pretty much the same as Ebbie's, I wouldn't personally go to see her perform, but she had guts and character, made a good interview and her movie "A Piece of Work" showed these qualities. She's worth seeing if only as an example of "Work Ethic". Like Don Rickles she had some acting chops.

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 04:42 PM

She was a very funny lady and paved the way for other female comediennes. It often targeted other stars but she also targeted herself too despite her own tragedies. But she was at her funniest back in the day when celebreties like Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger, Cher etc. were in the spotlight. She recently appeared on the Jonathan Ross show in the UK and I found that her scathing wit was a bit tiresome especially as women can be funny enough without the need to take a pot shot at anyone.

However, I will still miss her.

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: gnu
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 06:08 PM

RIP and thanks for all the laughs. As for your critics... you died with a lot more cash than they will ever have. Good on ya.

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: Ed T
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 07:56 PM

I saw a touching tv episode on her career, where she candidly talked about the suicide death of her husband, who seemed to blame himself for a downside in her career (he was involved in helping to manage it during the talk show period, including the Johnny Carson period)). She certainly kept little inside about the personal side of her life, and even built some of it into her stand up acts, which possibly relieved the related stress.

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: pdq
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 08:22 PM

I think the public was unusually rough on Joan Rivers because she was looked upon as an adult.

Most comics such as Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Richard Pryor, Sam Kinison, Whoopi Goldberg, George Carlin, Woody Allen (etc.,etc.) are seen as aging juveniles and so they can get away with anything.

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: Ed T
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 08:56 PM

Rivers was tame, compared to some if the young comedians, especially some of the USA black comedians found online. But, her edgy side was more evident, because she catered to an older crowd and used a more traditional medium. It just seemed odd to some that an old gal was saying these nasty things.

I suspect her style of humour will go down in comedy history as being influential, as with folks like Lenny Bruce and Red Foxx, especially as society changes and edgy humour becomes more mainstream.

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: Fossil
Date: 07 Sep 14 - 02:23 AM

As I get further into my seventieth decade on earth, I often remember a Riversism:

"Oh, yes! Even if I'm old, I still have a very active sex life... (one, two...)

... But I just wish I could interest someone else in it as well!"

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: Jeri
Date: 07 Sep 14 - 10:54 AM

Because Mary Gauthier posted about this on Facebook, I had to go find it: Joan Rivers does Fashion Police on Miss Folk America (The whole film looks hilarious.)

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Sep 14 - 04:36 PM

I loved her comment on housework: I hate housework, you get up, change the bedclothes, wash the dishes and six monthths later you have todo it all again. my kindaa woman.

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: Ed T
Date: 07 Sep 14 - 05:29 PM

When Michael Jackson was accused of inappropriate actions with young boys, Rivers stated she felt partially to blame, "I advised him to play it safe-by only having relationships with 28 year olds, she said. How was I to know he would then find 20, eight year olds, "she added.

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Sep 14 - 08:51 AM

A deeply unpleasant woman.

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Sep 14 - 08:58 PM

Yet another lionised showbiz brainless wonder, admired only by those of similarly destitute intellect.

Subject: RE: Obit: Joan Rivers 1933-2014
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Sep 14 - 10:06 PM

Perhaps her style didn't travel well. She was very popular here, and not just among the lowest common denominator that is suggested.

SRS