RIP: Joan Rivers has passed away- Page 2

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/4/14 at 8:50pm

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.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 9/4/14 at 8:56pm

^^^As do I.

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...

[PattyO'Furniture]

Posted: 9/4/14 at 9:07pm

PalJoey, that video...

[lovebwy]

Posted: 9/4/14 at 9:54pm

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"

Rest in Peace.

[lovebwy]

Posted: 9/4/14 at 10:53pm

Joan talks about dying before going into surgery.

And laments that her grandson isn't gay!!!

A very sad, yet funny clip.
Joan talking about dying.

[darreyl102]

Posted: 9/4/14 at 11:24pm

Joan tells it like it is and puts Jessica Hahn in her place with Humor!
Joan Rivers vs. Jessica Hahn 1992

[SweetLips]

Posted: 9/5/14 at 12:43am

She made me laugh at things I knew I shouldn't.
She died healthy.
RIP

[lovebwy]

Posted: 9/5/14 at 12:59am

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.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 9/5/14 at 8:04pm

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.

[lovebwy]

Posted: 9/5/14 at 8:53pm

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




The Girl Most Likely To Updated On: 9/5/14 at 08:53 PM

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 12:40pm

I'm going through Instagram right now, looking at pictures of the crowd. I found the program and Audra McDonald is singing at her funeral. What a honor!

Updated On: 9/7/14 at 12:40 PM

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 12:55pm

The participation of the Broadway community at the service really makes me think they should have dimmed the lights. They really messed up on that one.

[Green_Flash]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 1:03pm

I agree with dreaming^^

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 1:17pm

She really loved the theater and as someone pointed out in the other thread, Kitty Carlisle Hart was given this honor and yet she wasn't an actress or creative. Joan contributed her time, money and talent (she did perform on Broadway) to the theater community. I saw her at the theater as an audience member-she looked like that was exactly where she belonged.

I'm sad that the theater big wigs are too afraid they'll offend someone to honor Joan in the community she loved the best-the THEATER.

I hope the musical planned happens. I know who I'd love to see play her (depending on the age and stuff).

[NoName3]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 1:46pm

dreaming, you are misinformed when you say "Kitty Carlisle Hart was given this honor and yet she wasn't an actress or creative." She had an extensive list of credits on Broadway, in films, television, radio, recordings and even the Metropolitan Opera. She had a lovely, classically trained mezzo voice and, after regional work in opera, starred in several musicals and operettas on Broadway beginning in the early 1930s. I had the pleasure of seeing her in her final Broadway role when she replaced Dina Merrill in the 1983 revival of On Your Toes. Her film work stretched from the 1930s classics Murder at the Vanities and the Marx Brothers' A Night at the Opera to Radio Days and Six Degrees of Separation. At the Met, she sang the trouser role Prince Orlofsky in two different runs of Die Fledermaus. A great lady and a fine singer and actress -- I'm just scratching the surface of her credits.

Updated On: 9/7/14 at 01:46 PM

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 2:03pm

Someone in the other thread quoted the tribute given to Hart when the lights were dimmed for her and it was comparable.

Edited to add quote Madbrian kindly provided in other thread: "Kitty Carlisle Hart was a tireless champion of the arts in New York state and nationally and a vital member of the Broadway family. This great woman of the theatre — tireless in her lifelong crusade for the advancement of the arts in the public sphere — touched so many lives through her work. We will miss her."

That seems very comparable, IMO. Updated On: 9/7/14 at 02:03 PM

[NoName3]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 2:21pm

I too support dimming the lights for Joan but that honor has nothing to do with your mistakenly claiming Kitty Carlisle "wasn't an actress" when in fact she had a decades-long performing career on Broadway and elsewhere that most actors would be thrilled to have had. And the lights being dimmed for her more in recognition for her work in promoting the arts in New York than for her Broadway stage work per se doesn't negate that career, regardless of whether you were aware of it.

Updated On: 9/7/14 at 02:21 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 2:25pm

It was beautiful. Audra sang “Smile”, abd Hugh Jackman sang “Quiet Please There’s a Lady Onstage.” Howard Stern came out after Audra and delivered a pitch-perfect eulogy, even though he wasn't on the program.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 2:26pm

The NYC Gay Men's Chorus started out with a beautiful version of "Sunday," followed by "Nothing Like a Dame" and "Hey Big Spender." The NYPD Pipe & Drums ended with "Amazing Grace" and "New York, New York"

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 2:34pm

That's lovely, PalJoey. I'm glad you got to go.

I still wish they'd give her the recognition.

At any rate, it was a lovely sendoff.

Updated On: 9/7/14 at 02:34 PM

[rjm516]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 3:14pm

She would have freaking loved that.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/7/14 at 5:05pm

Cindy Adams was surprisingly funny, as was Joan's best friend, Margie Stern.

But the shocker was Howard Stern. He made us laugh and grieve and be appropriately shocked along with him. He talked about Joan talking about her dry vagina--at Temple Emanu-El! And when he described Joan as his "dancing partner" in her appearances on his show, he actually made me cry.

And Hugh Jackman! When he started that song, I wondered, "How is he going to get everyone to stand and clap at a a funeral?" But he did--and after he left, the applause continued. And I realized we were all applauding for Joan.

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 9/8/14 at 3:57pm

I just wonder how long Joan would of kept working...She was amazing. She loved what she was doing. More then anything else, she was a fabulous Business Woman.

I admired her very much and I will miss her craziness. Not always liked what she said, but she always made me laugh. Bless you Joan.