And this:
Bruce Vilanch
Los Angeles, CA ·
everybody I know in show business has a story about joan because joan knew everybody in show business, and everybody not in show business has a picture of themselves with joan because she didn't mind posing with anybody who might be a member of her audience, which was pretty much everybody except maybe elizabeth taylor, who just didn't dig her for some reason. joan was fearless and unapologetic and funny, but you knew that. you maybe didn't know that, as near as I can tell, she was the first mainstream celebrity to do an AIDS fund-raiser. it was in the early 80s, before rock hudson brought the disease out of the closet. she did it because her hairdresser was sick and she was shocked that there were no systems in place to help him. people, and government, were terrified about what this thing was. not joan. now she's starring in that old joke, asking god why he took her when she was looking so good, and god replying "frankly, joanie, i didn't recognize you."