Joan Rivers died today and I mourn her passing. She could be irreverent, she could be annoying, she could be tasteless. She was painfully honest while uproariously and politically incorrect. It's not a big deal today but in her day, it was groundbreaking.
Her stints on the "Tonight Show" are probably my earliest memories of her. At least, that's where she hit it big.
"When I started out, a pretty girl did not go into comedy. If you saw a pretty girl walk into a nightclub, she was automatically a singer. Comedy was all white, older men. It was Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Bob Hope, Shelley Berman, Red Skelton ... even Amos and Andy were white men, which is hilarious if you think about it." The Hollywood Reporter 12/06/12
We watched her evolve along with her face into the unapologetic woman who once admitted to developing bulimia after her husband's suicide because it gave her control over something when everything in her world seemed uncontrollable. buliamiaddict.com 4/06/13
Her husband left her broke. Her relationship with Johnny soured when she left to do her own show on another network. He never spoke to her again. She hung on, climbed out of the hole she was in and went on with her life. She had a daughter to raise and a career to rebuild and debts to pay.
She did it all with flair. I have to say, I still laughed at her Fashion Police antics and her red carpet "Who are you wearing?" interviews, her jewelry line she personally hawked on the shopping networks, her book signings and ongoing stand up appearances. She must have had an iron will. She will she be missed.
