Whether you were a fan of Joan Rivers or not, her career spanned 5 decades. Will you have a longer career than her? The vast majority of people won't. Will you be as active at age 81 as Joan was? The vast majority of people aren't. Joan's career was longer than my life so far. As a little kid I remember sneaking through my parents room to get closer to the living room TV (when I was supposed to be in bed) so that I could hear her guest hosting on The Tonight Show. My parents didn't want me hearing her...which is probably why I wanted so desperately to hear her.
If you are not a fan of political correctness, you should have been a fan of Joan's. She attacked everyone. There were absolutely times when Joan would say things I didn't like. Although, there were also many times when Joan's words bit so hard on people I disliked that I found it simple to forgive her past "offenses". Joan was an equal opportunity offender...a trait that is lacking in everyone today.
I must admit that I also quite enjoyed the fact that she swore in her private act...just because that, too, pisses so many people off. As if hearing a "bad word" from a female comedian was the worst thing to ever happen to them. Pfft.
Rather than immersing myself in more depressing and maddening news headlines for tonight, I thought I'd watch some Joan Rivers clips on YouTube. I've already watched so many great ones tonight that I thought I'd go ahead and post some of them here...some for you...and some for me.
I hope all of these clips and full-length shows will stay available on YouTube forever. Although, that isn't very likely. Watch them now, while they're still available.
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If I ever knew in the past that Joan Rivers was a guest on the Carol Burnett Show, I'd forgotten all about it. Even though, as a small child I was allowed to watch The Carol Burnett Show. Joan appears at 2:10 into this video and performs about 7-minutes of stand-up on Carol's show:
This clip is from "Joan & Melissa - Joan knows best?" that aired on WEtv. ("Joan knows best?" was one of my "guilty pleasures". I loved that show.) This clip is from 2012. I remember watching this scene and I KNEW it was a total ruse by Rivers and Burnett...although, several stupid "journalists" didn't know it was a ruse and actually wrote stories about the "feud" between Joan & Carol. Classic.
I'm almost certain that this is the last time Joan & Johnny appeared together on the Tonight Show. This clip is from 1986. It was in 1986 that Joan's late night show "The Late Show with Joan Rivers" premiered on FOX. When Joan called Johnny to tell him about her new show, he hung up on her...twice. Joan & Johnny never spoke again. I still love Johnny Carson but, I think that was a childish and, eventually, cruel move on his part. As a side note, I'm writing this blog post from Johnny's "hometown" of Norfolk, NE and I drive by Johnny's "boyhood home" many times throughout the course of a year. (It's on a main thoroughfare in town...I'm not stalking his old house.)
Once again...I don't remember Joan on The Carol Burnett Show. This is the complete show. Vincent Price is another guest-star on this show.
This is a practical joke that Johnny Carson played on Joan where he tricked her into believing that she was meeting Margaret Thatcher. According to Johnny, at this time in their relationship Joan and Johnny "had known each other for about 17 years". Reagan was president. Times were good in the USA.
Here is a 50-minute "head-shrinking" interview with New Zealand clinical psychologist Dr. Pamela Connolly that was uploaded to YouTube in June of 2012. It is described as "Funny, fascinating, intriguing & sometimes sad. If you love Joan, it's all here." (I have not yet watched this episode, therefore, I have nothing more to add. I'll watch it when I'm finished writing this post.)
(UPDATE: Now that I've watched this...holy cow...I don't think you'll find much humor in it. At least, I didn't. However, there is some. This was filmed when Joan was 74-years-old and I found this to be a very raw and in-depth interview...throughout. I truly got the feeling I was sitting-in on a therapy session. I'm not really comfortable with that. But, that's my problem. I'd certainly recommend this video to anyone who would like to get the feeling that they "know" Joan better. I saw a lot of similarities between her and I. That's what made me uncomfortable. Now, to cheer up, I'm going to go watch this.)
And, finally, I'll include this episode of Joan's web series called "In Bed With Joan" which was shot from a small room in Melissa's house. (If you don't know, Melissa is Joan's daughter.) Due to the size, cost (free), and set-up of the room, all of the guests "come out of the closet" (literally) upon introduction. This is probably the most "clean" episode I've seen of this show (although, I've not seen ALL episodes of the show...yet). I won't say that this is my favorite episode of the show...but, for my "audience", it's probably the most "safe" episode I could post. This episode was uploaded to YouTube one month ago (August 5, 2014).
If you'd like to see more clips of Joan Rivers go to YouTube and search her name. There are thousands of other clips available.
Thank you for a lifetime of laughs, Joan. Your humor has been a part of my life...and I'll miss your humor for the remainder of it. May you "rest in laughter".
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