Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers |
|
Born | Joan Alexandra Molinsky June 8, 1933 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
Died | September 4, 2014 (aged 81) Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Cardiac arrest[1] |
Nationality | American |
Ethnicity | Jewish[2] |
Alma mater | Connecticut College Columbia University |
Occupation | Actress, comedian, writer, producer, television host |
Years active | 1959–2014 |
Home town | Larchmont, New York, U.S. |
Television | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson That Show with Joan Rivers The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers The Joan Rivers Show Can We Shop? Fashion Police (host) Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? |
Religion | Judaism |
Spouse(s) | James Sanger (m. 1955; annulled 1955) Edgar Rosenberg (m. 1965; wid.1987) |
Children | Melissa Warburg Rosenberg |
|
Emmy Awards |
Outstanding Talk Show Host 1990: The Joan Rivers Show |
Website |
www.joanrivers.com |
Joan Alexandra Rosenberg[3] (
néeMolinsky; June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known by her stage name
Joan Rivers, was an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and television host, best known for her stand-up comedy, for co-hosting the
E! celebrity fashion show
Fashion Police, and for starring in the reality series
Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? alongside her daughter
Melissa Rivers.
Rivers first came to prominence in 1965 as a guest on
The Tonight Show, a pioneering late-night program with interviews and comedy, hosted by
Johnny Carson, whom she acknowledged as her mentor. The show established her particular comic style, poking fun at celebrities, but also at herself, often joking about her extensive plastic surgery. When she launched a rival program,
The Late Show, Carson never spoke to her again. She went on to host a successful daytime slot,
The Joan Rivers Show, which won her a
Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Her
satiricalstyle of humor, however, by focusing on the personal lives of celebrities and public figures, was sometimes criticized. She also authored 12 best-selling
memoir and humor books, and provided comic material for stage and television. As an actress, Rivers was nominated for the
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 1994 for her performance in the title role in
Sally Marr...and her escorts.
[4]
Early life and education
Rivers was born Joan Alexandra Molinsky in
Brooklyn, New York in 1933.
[6][7][8]She was the younger daughter of
Russian Jewish immigrants Beatrice (née Grushman; January 6, 1906 – October 1975) and Meyer C. Molinsky (December 7, 1900 – January 1985).
[8] Her elder sister, Mrs. Barbara Waxler, died on June 3, 2013, aged 82.
[9][2][10] Rivers was raised in Brooklyn, where she attended the Adelphi Academy, and her family later moved to
Larchmont, New York.
[8] She attended
Connecticut College between 1950 and 1952, and graduated
Phi Beta Kappa from
Barnard College in 1954 with a
Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature and
anthropology.
[7][8][11] Before entering show business, Rivers worked at various jobs such as a tour guide at
Rockefeller Center,
[12] a writer/proofreader at an advertising agency
[12] and a fashion consultant at
Bond Clothing Stores.
[8][13] During this period, agent Tony Rivers advised her to change her name, so she chose Joan Rivers as her
stage name.
[14]
Career
1950s–1960s
By 1965, Rivers had a stint on
Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. She also made her first appearance on
The Tonight Show with new host
Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965.
[18] During the same decade, Rivers made other appearances on
The Tonight Show as well as
The Ed Sullivan Show, while hosting the first of several talk shows. She wrote material for the puppet
Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in
The Swimmer (1968), starring
Burt Lancaster. A year later, she had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show,
That Show with Joan Rivers; Johnny Carson was her first guest.
[19] In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums,
The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album[20] and
Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories.
[21]
1970s
By the 1970s, Rivers was appearing on various television comedy and variety shows, including
The Carol Burnett Show and a semi-regular stint on
Hollywood Squares. From 1972 to 1976, she narrated
The Adventures of Letterman, an animated segment for
The Electric Company. In 1973, Rivers wrote the TV movie
The Girl Most Likely to..., a black comedy starring
Stockard Channing. In 1978, Rivers wrote and directed the film
Rabbit Test, starring her friend
Billy Crystal. During the same decade, she was the opening act for singers
Helen Reddy,
Robert Goulet,
Mac Davis and
Sergio Franchi on the
Las Vegas Strip.
[citation needed]
1980s–1990s
Rivers spoke of her primary
Tonight Show life as having been "Johnny Carson's daughter," a reference to his longtime mentoring of her and, during the 1980s, establishing her as his regular guest host by August 1983. She also hosted an episode of
Saturday Night Live, on April 9, 1983.
[22] In the same period, she released a best-selling comedy album on
Geffen Records,
What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most? The album reached No. 22 on the U.S.
Billboard 200 and was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.
[23]
During the 1980s, she continued doing stand-up shows along with appearing on various television shows. In February 1983, she became the first female comedian to ever perform at
Carnegie Hall.
[24] Later that year, she did stand-up on the United Kingdom's TV show
An Audience With Joan Rivers.
[25]
In 1984, Rivers published a best-selling humor book, The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abramowitz, a mock memoir of her brassy, loose comedy character. A television special based on the character, a mock tribute called Joan Rivers and Friends Salute Heidi Abramowitz, was not successful with the public.
The decade was controversial for Rivers. She sued
female impersonator Frank Marino for $5,000,000 in 1986, after discovering he was using her real stand-up material in the impersonation of her that he included in his popular Las Vegas act. The two comics reconciled and even appeared together on television in later years.
[26]
Also in 1986 came the move that cost Rivers her longtime friendship with Carson, who had first hired her as a
Tonight Show writer. The soon-to-launch
Fox Television Network announced that it was giving her a late night talk show,
The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, making Rivers the first woman to have her own talk show on a major network.
[27][28]
The new network planned to broadcast the show 11 p.m. to 12 a.m.
Eastern Time, making her a Carson competitor. Carson learned of the show from Fox and not from Rivers. In the documentary,
Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, Rivers said she only called Carson to discuss the matter after learning he may have already heard about it and that he immediately hung up on her. In the same interview, she said that she later came to believe that maybe she should have asked for his blessing before taking the job. Rivers was banned from appearing on the
Tonight Show, a decision respected by Carson's first two successors
Jay Leno and
Conan O'Brien. After the release of his 2013 biography on Johnny Carson, Carson's manager Harry Bushkin revealed that he never received a call from Rivers' husband Edgar concerning the move to Fox, contrary to what Edgar had told Rivers.
[29] Rivers did not appear on the
Tonight Show again until February 17, 2014, when she made a brief appearance on new host
Jimmy Fallon's first episode.
[30] On March 27, 2014, Rivers returned for an interview.
Shortly after Carson's death in 2005, Rivers said that he had never spoken to her again. In 2008, during an interview with Dr.
Pamela Connolly on television's
Shrink Rap, Rivers claimed she did call Carson, but he hung up on her at once and repeated the gesture when she called again.
The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers turned out to be flecked by tragedy. When Rivers challenged Fox executives, who wanted to fire her husband
Edgar Rosenberg as the show's producer, the network fired them both. On May 15, 1987, three months later, Rosenberg committed suicide in Philadelphia; Rivers blamed the tragedy on his "humiliation" by Fox.
[31] Fox attempted to continue the show with a new name (
The Late Show) and rotating guest hosts. A year after the
Late Show debacle, Rivers was a guest on TV's
Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special. By 1989, she tried another daytime TV talk show,
The Joan Rivers Show,
[32] which ran for five years and won her a
Daytime Emmy in 1990 for Outstanding Talk Show Host.
[33] In 1994, Rivers and daughter
Melissa first hosted the
E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the
Golden Globe Awards.
[34]Beginning in 1995, they hosted the annual
E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the
Academy Awards.
[34] Beginning in 1997, Rivers hosted her own radio show on
WOR in
New York City. Rivers also appeared as one of the center square occupants on the 1986–89 version of
The Hollywood Squares, hosted by John Davidson.
In 1994, influenced by the "dirty comedy" of
Lenny Bruce, Rivers co-wrote and starred in a play about Bruce's mother
Sally Marr, who was also a
stand-up comicand influenced her son's development as a comic. After 27 previews, "Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts," a play "suggested by the life of Sally Marr" ran on Broadway for 50 performances in May and June 1994.
[35] Rivers was nominated for a
Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actress in a Play and a
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for playing Sally Marr.
[36]
2000s–2010s
By 2003, Rivers had left her
E! red-carpet show for a three-year contract (valued at $6–8 million) to cover award shows' red carpet events for the
TV Guide Channel.
[37]
Rivers appeared in three episodes of the TV show
Nip/Tuck during its
second,
third and
seventh season, playing herself.
[38][39][40] Rivers appeared regularly on television's
The Shopping Channel (in Canada) and
QVC(in both the United States and the UK), promoting her own line of jewelry under brand name "The Joan Rivers Collection". She was also a guest speaker at the opening of the American Operating Room Nurses' 2000 San Francisco Conference. Both Joan and Melissa Rivers were frequent guests on
Howard Stern's radio show, and Joan Rivers often appeared as a guest on UK panel show
8 Out of 10 Cats.
In January 2008, Rivers became one of 20 hijackers to take control of the
Big Brother house in the UK for one day in spin-off TV show
Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack. On June 24, 2008, Rivers appeared on NBC-TV’s show
Celebrity Family Feud and competed with her daughter against
Ice-T and
Coco.
Rivers and daughter Melissa were contestants in 2009 on the second
Celebrity Apprentice. Throughout the season, each celebrity raised money for a charity of his or her choice; Rivers selected God's Love We Deliver.
[citation needed] After a
falling out with poker player
Annie Duke, following Melissa's on-air firing (elimination) by Donald Trump, Rivers left the
green room telling
Clint Black and
Jesse Jamesthat she would not be in the next morning. Rivers later returned to the show and on May 3, 2009, she became a finalist in the series. The other finalist was Duke.
[42][43] On the season finale, which aired live on May 10, Rivers was announced the winner and hired to be the 2009 Celebrity Apprentice.
In 2011, Rivers appeared in a commercial for
Go Daddy, which debuted during the broadcast of
Super Bowl XLV.
[44] She made two appearances on Live at the Apollo, once as a comedian and once as a guest host.
Joan and her daughter premiered the new show
Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? on
WE tv. The series follows Joan moving to California to be closer to her family. She moves in with daughter Melissa while searching for a home of her own. WE tv then ordered a new season consisting of 10 episodes, which premiered in January 2012. In 2011, Rivers was featured as herself in Season 2 of
Louis C.K.'s self-titled show
Louie, where she performed on-stage. Beginning September 10, 2010, Rivers co-hosted the
E! show
Fashion Police, along with
Giuliana Rancic,
Kelly Osbourne, and
George Kotsiopoulos commenting on the dos and don'ts of celebrity fashion. The show started as a half-hour program but expanded to one hour on March 9, 2012. On August 7, 2012, Rivers showed up in
Burbank, California to protest that the warehouse club
Costco would not sell her
New York Times best-selling book,
I Hate Everyone ... Starting with Me. She handcuffed herself to a person's shopping cart and shouted through a
megaphone. The police were called to the scene and she left without incident; no arrests were made.
[45] On March 5, 2013, she launched a new online talk show on
YouTube, called
In Bed with Joan, in which each week she had a different celebrity guest who "came out of the closet", and they talked about various topics. The show took place in Rivers' bedroom, in Melissa's home in
Malibu, California.
[citation needed]
Style of humor
During her 55-year career as a comedian, her tough-talking style of satirical humor was both praised and criticized as being truthful, yet too personal, too gossipy, and very often abrasive. Nonetheless, with her ability to “tell it like it is,” she became a pioneer of contemporary stand-up comedy. Commenting about her style, she told biographer Gerald Nachman, “Maybe I started it. We're a very gossipy culture. All we want to know now is private lives.”[48]:619
However, her style of humor, which often relied on making jokes about her own life and
satirizing the lives of celebrities and public figures, was sometimes criticized as insensitive. Her jokes about
Elizabeth Taylor and
Adele's weight, for instance, were often commented on, although Rivers would never apologize for her humor.
[49][50] Rivers, who was Jewish, was also criticized for making jokes about
the Holocaust and later explained, "This is the way I remind people about the Holocaust. I do it through humor", adding, "my husband lost his entire family in the Holocaust."
[51] Her joke about the victims of the
Ariel Castro kidnappings, similarly came under criticism, but she again refused to apologize,
[52] stating, "I know what those girls went through. It was a little stupid joke."
[53]
Rivers accepted such criticism as part of her using social
satire as a form of humor: "I've learned to have absolutely no regrets about any jokes I've ever done ... You can tune me out, you can click me off, it's OK. I am not going to bow to
political correctness. But you do have to learn, if you want to be a satirist, you can't be part of the party."
[54]
Rivers states that seeing
Lenny Bruce perform at a local club while she was in college influenced her developing style:
He was an epiphany. Lenny told the truth. It was a total affirmation for me that I was on the right track long before anyone said it to me. He supplied the revelation that personal truth can be the foundation of comedy, that outrageousness can be cleansing and healthy. It went off inside me like an enormous flash.[48]:608
Comedian
Bill Cosby, who was credited with first suggesting to Johnny Carson that he make her a co-host, described Rivers as “an intelligent girl without being a weirdo . . . a human being, not a kook.”
[48]:596 Others, including
Time magazine, once compared her humor to
Woody Allen's style, of “how to be neurotic about practically everything,” while noting that “her style and femininity make her something special.” Rivers likewise compared herself to Allen, stating: “He was a writer, which I basically was . . . and talking about things that affected our generation that nobody else talked about.”
[48]:596
Her style of comedy was also compared to Johnny Carson's, as being in many ways starkly contrasting, and one of the reasons he made her co-host. Critic
Michael Pollan compared their style:
Where Carson is scrupulously polite, Rivers is bitchy; where he is low-key, she is overheated; where he is Midwest, Waspy and proper, she is urban, ethnic and gossipy. Carson conducts interviews as if he were at the country club; Rivers does hers at the kitchen table.[55]
In her personal life, however, fewer of those neurotic or intense character traits which viewers see on screen, are displayed. Ralph Schoenstein, who dated her and worked with her on her humor books, states, “She has no airs. She doesn't stand on ceremony. The woman has absolutely no pretense. She'll tell you everything immediately. Joan isn't cool—she's completely open. It's all grist. It's her old thing--'Can we talk?'”[48]:623
According to biographer Victoria Price, Rivers' humor was notable for taking aim at and overturning what had been considered acceptable female behavior. By her bravura, she broke through long-standing taboos in humor, which paved the way for other women, including
Roseanne Barr,
Ellen DeGeneres, and
Rosie O'Donnell.
[56]
Personal life
Rivers' first marriage was in 1955 to James Sanger, the son of a
Bond Clothing Stores merchandise manager.
[8][58] The marriage lasted six months
[8][59] and was annulled on the basis that Sanger did not want children and had not informed Rivers before the wedding.
[60] Her second marriage was on July 15, 1965,
[61] to
Edgar Rosenberg, who committed suicide in 1987. Their only child, Melissa Warburg Rosenberg (now known as
Melissa Rivers), was born on January 20, 1968. Joan had one grandson, Melissa's son Cooper (born Edgar Cooper Endicott in 2000),
[62] who was featured with his mother and grandmother in the
WE tvseries
Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?[63]
In her book
Bouncing Back (1997) Rivers described how she developed
bulimia nervosa and contemplated suicide. Eventually, she recovered with counseling and the support of her family.
In 2002, Rivers told the
Montreal Mirror that she was a
Republican.
[64] However, on a 2013 episode of
Celebrity Wife Swap, Rivers stated that she was a
Democrat. Then, on January 28, 2014, during a conversation with Reza Farahan, she announced that she was in fact a Republican.
[65]
In a June 5, 2012, interview with
Howard Stern, Rivers said she had several extramarital affairs when married to Rosenberg. According to Rivers, she had a one-night sexual encounter with actor
Robert Mitchum in the 1960s after an appearance together on
The Tonight Show. She also had an extended affair with actor
Gabriel Dell during the out-of-town and Broadway productions of her 1971 play
Fun City, for which Rivers told Stern she "left Edgar over" for several weeks.
[70]
Rivers was open about her multiple cosmetic surgeries and was a patient of plastic surgeon
Steven Hoefflin, beginning in 1983. Her first procedure, an
eye lift, was performed in 1965 as an attempt to further her career.
[71]
Illness and death
On August 28, 2014, Rivers experienced serious complications and stopped breathing during a procedure on her vocal cords, at a clinic in
Yorkville, Manhattan.
[72][73] She was taken to
Mount Sinai Hospital and was put into a medically
induced coma after reportedly suffering
cardiac arrest.
[72] On August 29, her daughter, Melissa, publicly stated that Joan was "resting comfortably" in the hospital.
[74] On August 30, it was reported that Rivers had been put on
life support.
[75] Reports initially stated that Rivers' family might face ending her life support if her condition did not improve.
[76] However, on September 1, 2014, an unnamed source told
Entertainment Tonight that Rivers' physicians at Mount Sinai Hospital had started the process of trying to bring her out of the coma the previous day.
[77] Prior to that, there had been no further medical updates beyond her daughter's statement.
[78]
On September 3, Melissa issued a brief statement that Rivers had been moved from
Mount Sinai Hospital's
intensive care unit into a private room, without any comment concerning Rivers's condition or
prognosis.
[78] The following day, she announced via another statement that Rivers had died at 13:17
EDT.
[79][80]
On September 5, New York City
medical examiner's office spokeswoman Julie Bolcer advised media that an autopsy had been completed, but that it had failed to conclusively identify the cause of Rivers' death. More testing had been ordered.
[81]
Books
- Having a Baby Can Be a Scream. J.P. Tarcher. 1974. (Self-Help/Humor)
- The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abromowitz. Doubleday. 1984. ISBN 978-0385293594. (Humor)
- Enter Talking. Dell Publishing Co. 1986. ISBN 978-0440122449.(Autobiography)
- Still Talking. Random House. 1991. ISBN 978-0394579917. (Autobiography)
- Jewelry by Joan Rivers. Abbeville Press. 1995. ISBN 978-1558598089. (Non-Fiction)
- Bouncing Back: I've Survived Everything ... and I Mean Everything ... and You Can Too!. HarperTorch. 1997. ISBN 978-0061096013.
- From Mother to Daughter: Thoughts and Advice on Life, Love and Marriage. Birch Lane Pr;. 1998. ISBN 978-1559724937. (Self-Help)
- Don't Count the Candles: Just Keep the Fire Lit!. HarperCollins. 1999.ISBN 978-0060183837. (Self-Help)
- Murder at the Academy Awards (R): A Red Carpet Murder Mystery. Pocket. 2009. ISBN 1416599371. (Fiction)
- Men Are Stupid...And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery. 2009. ISBN 141659924X. (Non-Fiction)
- I Hate Everyone...Starting with Me. Berkley Trade. 2012. ISBN 978-0425255896. (Humor)
- Diary of a Mad Diva. Berkley Publishing Group. 2014. ISBN 978-0425269022. (Humor)
Filmography
Films
Television
Theater work
Awards and nominations
Note: Emmy nominations for Outstanding Writing – Special Class shared with Toem Perew and Hester Mundis.
Honors
References
- ^ Joan Rivers' cardiac arrest investigated by New York health department,The Guardian, September 5, 2014.
- ^ a b Pfefferman, Naomi (December 27, 2007). "Joan Rivers’ ‘Life’—audacious, as always". Jewish Journal. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
- ^ Goldman, Shalom. "Joan Rivers". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
- ^ http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/6717/Sally-Marrand-Her-Escorts accessed 9/4/14.
- ^ "Joan Rivers dead at age 81". Big News Network.com. September 4, 2014. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
- ^ "Joan Rivers Biography – Facts, Birthday, Life Story". The Biography Channel. Retrieved June 16, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Cathy Lynn Grossman, Joan Rivers’ gift: Wicked humor with a Jewish touch, The Washington Post, September 4, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Joan Rivers, a Comic Stiletto Quick to Skewer, Is Dead at 81".The New York Times. September 4, 2014.
- ^ "Barbara Waxler Obituary". legacy.com/. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
- ^ "Joan Rivers profile". Filmreference.com. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
- ^ Rivers, Joan (1986). Autobiography: Enter Talking. New York: Delacorte Press, First Printing.
- ^ a b Autobiography: Bouncing Back (1997), HarperCollins, pp. 74–75.
- ^ Riley, Sam G. (1995) Biographical Dictionary of American Newspaper Columnists, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 265; ISBN 978-0-313-29192-0.
- ^ Sochen, June (1998). "From Sophie Tucker to Barbra Streisand: Jewish Women Entertainers as Reformers". Talking Back: Images of Jewish Women in American Popular Culture. Ed. Joyce Antler. Brandeis series in American Jewish history, culture, and life. Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press Published by University Press of New England. pp. 68–84.
- ^ Enter Talking, pp. 85–96 and last photo insert page before p. 183.
- ^ Enter Talking, p. 230.
- ^ Enter Talking, pp. 233–239.
- ^ Enter Talking, pp. 359–373.
- ^ a b "The Joan Rivers Show". Imdb.com. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
- ^ "The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album". Retrieved September 5, 2014.
- ^ "Joan Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories". Retrieved September 5, 2014.
- ^ "Saturday Night Live". Imdb.com. April 9, 1983. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
- ^ "Grammy Awards". Metrolyrics.com. February 28, 1984. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
- ^ "Joan Rivers at Carnegie Hall", Columbia Spectator, February 9, 1983.
- ^ video: "AN AUDIENCE WITH JOAN RIVERS (1983)"
- ^ Frank Marino discusses lawsuit
- ^ Comic Genius: Portraits of Funny People, Chronicle Books (2013) p. 197.
- ^ King, Norman (1993). Arsenio Hall. New York: William Morrow & Co., pp. 47–48.
- ^ Horgan, Richard Horgan (October 16, 2013). "BOOKS, FISHBOWLLA: Heeeere’s Henry! ‘Bombastic Bushkin’ Recounts Joan Rivers-Edgar Trickery".Media Bistro.
- ^ "Joan Rivers Returns To ‘Tonight Show’ After Decades-Long Ban". Variety. February 17, 2014. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
- ^ Joanne Kaufman, Alan Carter, [1] "Rocked by Tragedy and Failure, Joan Rivers Comes Back with a New Show and a New Life", People, February 19, 1990.
- ^ "The Joan Rivers Show". Imdb.com. May 25, 2001. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
- ^ TV Guide Guide to TV. Barnes and Noble. 2004. p. 331. ISBN 0-7607-5634-1.
- ^ a b Bouncing Back!, p. 207.
- ^ Scheck, Frank (May 16, 1994). "`Sally Marr' Ranks High Only With Joan Rivers Fans". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
- ^ "Awards: Sally Marr...and her escorts". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
- ^ "Entertainment & the Arts | TV briefs: Rivers duo may leave E! for TV Guide Channel | Seattle Times Newspaper". Community.seattletimes.nwsource.com. June 25, 2004. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
- ^ "Nip/Tuck Episode: "Joan Rivers"". TV Guide. Lions Gate Entertainment. October 5, 2004. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
- ^ "Nip/Tuck Episode: "Ben White"". TV Guide. Lions Gate Entertainment. November 1, 2005. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
- ^ "Nip/Tuck Episode: "Hiro Yoshimura"". TV Guide. Lions Gate Entertainment. March 3, 2010. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
- ^ "San Francisco". Magic Theatre. Retrieved April 29, 2009.[dead link]
- ^ Catlin, Roger (April 27, 2009). "'Celebrity Apprentice': Rivers Run".Hartford Courant. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
- ^ "Rivers defends daughter on 'Celebrity Apprentice'". Associated Press. April 27, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
- ^ Weiss, Shari (February 7, 2011). "Joan Rivers Go Daddy Super Bowl commerical [sic]: Is that really the 77-year-old comedienne's body?". New York Daily News. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
- ^ Abbey, Jennifer. "Joan Rivers Chains Herself to Costco Shopping Cart in Protest". ABC News. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
- ^ Joan Rivers 'remains on life support' five days after heart and lung failure, comedienne's daughter Melissa Rivers confirms, independent.co.uk; accessed September 4, 2014.
- ^ Pearson, Jennifer (August 27, 2014). "LeAnn Rimes makes tasteless rape joke to Joan Rivers about losing her virginity during couple's interview with Eddie Cibrian". The Daily Mail.
- ^ a b c d e Nachman, Gerald. Seriously Funny, Pantheon (2003).
- ^ "Joan Rivers Calls Adele 'Chubby', Says the Singer Should 'Lose Weight'".US Magazine.
- ^ "Joan Rivers sticks to 'fat' Adele comments after singer demands apology: 'She should just calm down — or lose weight!'". New York Daily News.
- ^ "Leave Joan Rivers alone! Holocaust remark part of her lifelong comedic style". M&C. March 1, 2013.
- ^ "Ohio women held captive seek Joan Rivers' apology". Yahoo! News.
- ^ "Joan Rivers Refuses To Apologize For Cleveland Kidnapping Victims Joke". Huffington Post. April 24, 2014.
- ^ "Joan Rivers Interview: Her 6 best one-liners". Hollywood Reporter. June 12, 2013.
- ^ Timberg, Bernard. Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show, University of Texas Press (2002) p. 132.
- ^ Price, Victoria, ed. St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, vol. 4, St. James Press (2000) pp. 219–220.
- ^ "Joan Rivers being brought out of induced coma, family to sue doctors".The Jerusalem Post. September 1, 2014.
- ^ Enter Talking, pp. 67–71.
- ^ Enter Talking, fourth page of photo inserts between pp. 182–183.
- ^ Enter Talking, p. 70.
- ^ Enter Talking epilogue, p. 375.
- ^ Fink, Mitchell (December 2, 2000). "Stars To Swell Cathedral For Mottola Wedding". New York Daily News (Articles.nydailynews.com). Retrieved November 25, 2011.
- ^ "Joan Rivers is a nice person – really". The Miami Herald. June 24, 2010.
- ^ Hays, Matthew (2002). "Can she talk". Montreal Mirror. Archived from the original on November 16, 2002. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
- ^ Rivers, Joan. "In Bed With Joan".
- ^ a b c Robbie Couch, Joan Rivers Didn't Just Tell Jokes. She Fought For AIDS Patients And Suicide Prevention, Too, The Huffington Post, September 04, 2014
- ^ AHF mourns Joan Rivers: “Her heart was as big as her mouth was tart.”, AIDS Health Foundation, September 04, 2014
- ^ Danya Bacchus, Joan Rivers Considered "Joan of Arc" for HIV/AIDS Community, KNSD, September 5, 2014
- ^ American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: Board of Directors
- ^ "Joan Rivers on Howard Stern Show". Sirius Radio. June 5, 2012.
- ^ Kron, Joan (July 2005). "Nip/Talk". Allure (Condé Nast). Retrieved January 11, 2011.
- ^ a b "Joan Rivers 'resting comfortably' after health scare". BBC News. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
- ^ "Joan Rivers In Medically-Induced Coma After Going Into Cardiac Arrest".CBS Local. CBS News. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
- ^ D'Zurilla, Christie (August 28, 2014). "Joan Rivers is 'resting comfortably' in hospital, Melissa Rivers says". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
- ^ McShane, Larry (August 30, 2014). "Joan Rivers on life support, family members stand vigil". New York Daily News. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
- ^ Bucktin, Christopher (August 30, 2014). "Joan Rivers on life support as family 'face agony over switching off machine'". Daily Mirror. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
- ^ Update on Joan Rivers' declining health, msn.com; accessed September 4, 2014.
- ^ a b Alan Duke, Daughter: Joan Rivers leaves ICU, 'kept comfortable' in private room, CNN, September 3, 2014.
- ^ Corliss, Richard (September 4, 2014). "Remembering Joan Rivers: As If She'd Let Us Forget Her". Time. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
- ^ Message, MelissaRivers.com; accessed September 4, 2014.
- ^ {[cite news|authors=Duke, Alan and Hanna, Jason|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/05/showbiz/joan-rivers/index.html?hpt=hp_t2%7Cwork=CNN%7Cdate=September 5, 2014|title=Joan Rivers autopsy inconclusive, medical examiner's office says}}
- ^ "Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story". Imdb.com. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
- ^ "E! True Hollywood Story: Joan Rivers". Imdb.com. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
- ^ "''Season 2 Episode 16''". Tv.com. September 8, 2007. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
- ^ "Fun City". Ibdb.com. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
- ^ "Broadway Bound – Replacements". Ibdb.com. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
- ^ "Joan Rivers". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
- ^ "Joan Rivers gets Walk of Fame star". Rome News-Tribune. July 26, 1989. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
- ^ "Awards for Joan Rivers". Internet Movie Database. "Walk of Fame 1989 Won Star on the Walk of Fame Television At 7030 Hollywood Blvd."
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