The Lights WILL Be Dimmed For Joan Rivers- Page 11

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 9:43am

madbrian - for once, I completely and fully agree with your post. Well said and so true. But, no, some of the rebel rousers cannot accept that. They only believe in extremes. There is no center. There is no neutral.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 9:58am

There's no such thing as a "rebel rouser."

You mean "rabble rouser."

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 10:05am

rebel rouser...is that the same as an ultomato?

[Everlast85]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 10:17am

"everyone felt honored if she ever said anything nasty about them FOR THE SAKE OF COMEDY!"

Honored? The women in Cleveland that were raped, tortured, and imprisoned felt HONORED when she made a disgusting joke about them? They weren't public figures, they didn't ask to be famous, but she attacked them anyways.

I couldn't agree more with your thoughts, broadwayfever. People often forget the negative when someone passes.
Nope

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 10:31am

No one is "forgetting" the negative. I just think the positives far outweigh your lack of a sense of humor.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 11:12am

"THOSE GIRLS GOT TO LIVE RENT FREE FOR A DECADE!"

If you don't understand that her joke is a comment on the horrible-ness of their situation, I simply feel sorry for you. That's all.

[darreyl102]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 11:42am

@Everlast85- It was a joke. With laughter comes healing. It's a way to heal thru the pain. If you two actually think the things she said on stage were her true feelings, you and broadwayfever are both incredibly stupid and naïve. SMH.

Like i said, it's really sad that some people can't separate the stage persona and the person behind it.

Updated On: 9/10/14 at 11:42 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 11:51am

Joan's approach to the ugliness of the world--as Howard Stern explained more eloquently than I can in his eulogy for her Sunday--was to push and push and push and push, beyond the limits of what was considered tasteful or acceptable. So she would get to the shocking punch line--like the one above--and then go for ANOTHER punch line and ANOTHER punch line and ANOTHER punch line.

What Howard pointed out was that those subsequent punch lines were the ones that got her into trouble, and the one that he admired the most. Because she wasn't afraid. It's only by confronting the horrible-ness and laughing in its face, laughing DESPITE ourselves, that we truly defeat it.

So Joan didn't stop at "Those girls lived rent-free for 10 years." She went on:

"One of them has a book deal!"

"Neither are in a psych ward. I bet you within three years one of them will be on Dancing with the Stars."

That's not glorifying Ariel Castro--you're stupid if you think it is--it's skewering our society and media that turn tragedies into tragedy porn on 24-hour cable news.

Updated On: 9/10/14 at 11:51 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 11:54am

The PCA (Pearl Clutchers of America) will never view it like that. There's no fun in not being outraged so they refuse to try to see deeper than just the words.

[A Director]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 12:47pm

Joan Rivers wasn't the only one doing something about AIDS in 1984.

A legendary star of stage and screen, Elizabeth Taylor achieved equal fame for her humanitarian commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS which dates from 1984.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 12:54pm

^ I don't recall anyone here on this board disputing that fact.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 1:02pm

A Director - you need to go into the big Joan Rivers thread on the off-topic board, the one originally created by FindingNamo with the intention of trashing Joan, where PalJoey provides an in-depth look at Joan's involvement with AIDS beginning in 1983 (and possibly earlier).

[Will42]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 1:07pm

[Will42]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 1:08pm

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 1:25pm

Joan, Shirley MacLaine and Debbie Reynolds were the nationwide celebrities who were there for us before 1984.

But 1985 was Elizabeth's turning-point year. (Her daughter-in-law was diagnosed and Rock Hudson came forward and then died.)

I detail it all in Namo's thread on the Off Topic board, which is up to 26 pages now, so here is the link to my post about Joan/Shirley/Debbie and Liz in the years 1982 to 1985.

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1076065&boardname=off&page=6&boardid=2#4277615

[lovebwy]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 1:39pm

You GO Pal Joey.

You are right on the money in everything you said.

[Will42]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 4:27pm

[Will42]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 4:31pm

[South Florida]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 5:10pm

I can't think of any celebrity that I would mourn for. I don't know them.

[NoName3]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 6:37pm

Updated On: 9/10/14 at 06:37 PM

[A Director]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 10:31pm

So Joan didn't stop at "Those girls lived rent-free for 10 years." She went on:

"One of them has a book deal!"

"Neither are in a psych ward. I bet you within three years one of them will be on Dancing with the Stars."

That's not glorifying Ariel Castro--you're stupid if you think it is--it's skewering our society and media that turn tragedies into tragedy porn on 24-hour cable news.


Perhaps her jokes should have come with footnotes.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 10:33pm

Nah.

[broadwayfever]

Posted: 9/11/14 at 4:18am

@Darreyl - You forgot to mention how all those people felt...those that she attacked, that she made fun of, and those she bullied. Any person that endorses a genocide of any people will never have my respect. Karma is a...well you know the rest.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/11/14 at 5:44am

I bet you sit at home and cry a lot, don't you?

[whatever2]

Posted: 9/11/14 at 8:07am

^ literally.