RIP Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers has passed away. She was truly an original, amazing comedian. Rest in peace.

Sad to hear, I liked her.

Working right up until the end. She was the Bob Hope of female comedians.

She was a semi-loathsome creature and wildly unfunny. I’m sure her family are upset.

A woman full of fearless energy. A toast in your honor, Joan.

Probably the last of that generation of comics of her type, with the notable exception of Don Rickles, who stopped working many years ago. Bob Newhart is too nice to be in that company.

This was my take on her too. I was genuinely surprised to see how much coverage her passing generated. In the 80s when she was on Carson she had kind of a self-deprecating neurotic female world view that she tried to turn into comedy but as the years rolled by she seemed to get more and more mean spirited to the point where every time she was on TV she was running someone down (My wife watches a fuck ton of E! so I saw Joan Rivers more than a normal dude should).

Whether one likes her or not she broke into comedy when women were unheard of (except for Phyllis Diller). I think her attitude did change after her husband committed suicide so I can understand the comments and a bit of her “bitter persona” as she grew older.

I liked her when she first started and I will remember that about her.

She didn’t really do comedy recently, did she? She was snippy celebrity gossip, red carpet coverage I thought. She was funny back in the day but like most comedians she didn’t age well. It didn’t help that plastic surgery made her look weird.

I do admire her for hanging on and working up until the end. That’s the way to go out I think. I’m sure she had a lot of fans. She will be missed.

Shame. I laughed my ass off at her role in an episode of Louis CK’s show.

I can’t say i was a fan either.

She didn’t seem like a comedian as much as an actor putting on an over the top Angry Old Woman persona. Sometimes the comments she made in that persona were funny, most of the time not.

Maybe it is a generational thing though as i don’t like most of the older style comedians at all.

Joan Rivers, the comedian, was long ago replaced by “Joan Rivers”, the cartoon character.
Say what you will about her material or persona, she was an icon, and her death marks the end of an era.

Yup, that sums her up. She had her moments back in the day, but had long since passed into a sad parody of herself (we still have Shatner).

She did break into the all male late night talk show ranks, however briefly. Carson viewed it as a stab in the back since he pretty much made her by inviting her constantly on to his show.

In the early years she was fantastic for breaking so many barriers and taboos. She always had an amazing amount of energy. But I never really found her genuinely funny, mostly annoying like Kathy Griffin. I wanted to find her funny because she so desperately wanted to be liked. But too often she was maddening in her unfunny criticisms of people (note: I never liked Don Rickles humor either - but he didn’t have the hurdles in life Joan did). If she could have come back from the heart failure of this procedure her humor would have been so much more amazing I think. With a new perspective on comedy life where looks and how wrinkle-free your face is no longer matter. with it not being the source material for all her jokes. That would have been nice. Still sad she had to pass as she seemed almost immortal.

I believe her last interview can be paraphrased as “Palestinians deserve to be dead”.

Nice legacy.

Love her or hate her, her standing as a legend in the world of comedy is assured. She hung out with the likes of Lenny Bruce and George Carlin…and held her own. An amazing talent.