Although Joan Rivers made specific funeral requests in her book, “I Hate Everyone … Starting With Me,” what she received was even better. Howard Stern delivered her eulogy, Broadway singer/actress Audra McDonald sang “Smile” and bagpipers played “New York, New York” at her funeral Sunday. It was a Hollywood affair, just as she had asked for. Stars like Rosie O’Donnell, Whoopi Goldberg and longtime friend Kathy Griffin attended, along with many others from fashion designers to news anchors. The guests came to send Joan off in the only way they knew how: in style.
The comedian was born Joan Alexandra Molinsky and died Thursday, September 4, at the age of 81 due to cardiac arrest during a routine throat procedure. Tweets have talked about how she was 81 years old and it was her time, but that’s where people have it wrong. She may not have looked 81 on the outside, but she wasn’t exactly 81 on the inside either.
If James Brown was considered the hardest-working man in show business, then Joan was the hardest-working woman, not only in show business, but probably ever. Her dream was to become an actress, but later she realized she could find more work in comedy.
In 1965 she made her debut on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson and by the end of the show he told her she was going to be a star. Later she would become a permanent guest host replacement for Carson, and in 1986 Joan went to Fox to start her own show, “The Late Show with Joan Rivers.” Carson never spoke to again and blackballed her from NBC. Rivers did not make an appearance on “The Tonight Show” until 2014 when she came on Jimmy Fallon’s first show.
Rivers won daytime Emmy for her show “The Joan Rivers Show,” which ran from 1989 to 1993. She coined the line “Who are you wearing?” starting a fashion designer revolution, giving her a 20-year-long career at E! Network and leading to the show “Fashion Police.” She may be gone, but if you look to the stars, she’s there, just as Johnny Carson first said she would be.
