• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

RIP Joan Rivers - 81

Ethros said:
She'll always be the voice of Dot Matrix in Spaceballs to me :) RIP
Click to expand...

Me too.

And thanks for the reminder. I've been trying to remember what I knew her from besides he comedy (which I knew of but didn't follow), and her talk show from 1988 (which, again, I knew of, but never watched), and Spaceballs was it.
 
I was never a big Joan Rivers fan, going back to the '80s when she became the sole guest host for The Tonight Show, in place of others I thought were funnier like Garry Shandling, McLean Stevenson, Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby, David Brenner and so on. But after I watched her documentary A Piece of Work a few years ago, I was quite impressed with her work ethic and philosophy of comedy and performing. She paid her dues and earned her position through hard work, and it's hard not to respect that. RIP.
 
Her style was certainly ascebic. Either you liked it or you didn't. It never bothered me, but then again, I don't take offence to much. Either way, R.I.P. Joan.
 
Gil T.Azell said:
Ar-Pharazon said:
Gary Mitchell said:
You ever hear the old saying about if you can't say something nice, don't say anything? Mum's the word.


Rest in peace Ms. Rivers.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I never cared for her brand of humor, but still a loss for the entertainment world and her family.
Click to expand...

▲ This
didn't think she was funny, just mean.
Click to expand...

She was a hard-working comic early in her career. At some point in the 80s (maybe earlier) she realized she didn't have to be funny anymore, she could simply be cruel. And that's all she did for the last 30 years of her life. She wasn't funny, she was vicious, cruel, and just plain mean. Just one example was the interview she gave where she described singer Adele as the "woman who swallowed the whale who swallowed Jonah."

My sympathies to her family and fans. That said, I'm not one of them. She was an evil, mean-spirited, bitter old bitch, and the world is a better place without her.
 
I think it's a pity she died; she had a few good years left in her.

It took me years to warm to Joan Rivers, but warm to her I did. I guess a seventy-something comedienne who takes no prisoners is funnier than a fifty-something comedienne who takes no prisoners. Loved the "Audience With Joan Rivers" a few years back.

Given Rivers' willingness to be self-effacing, I'm not sure she'd take too much offence at anything said about her on this or any other site. By the same token, I think Transport For London's "tribute" would tickle her sense of humour (and make her wish that she had come up with it).
 
She was a generous, refined, gracious lady in her private life. As a professional she single handedly smashed the barrier that said that only men could do standup. She was funny and merciless against public figures but by far the biggest target of her caustic humour was herself. People who don't get her humour don't have the right to call her anything other than the very successful, consummate professional she was. What this poster is saying is malicious, mean-spirited and vile.
 
I think a lot of people my age have a perception of her that's based on the parody of herself she became in her later years, and don't have any real exposure to her heyday in the 60s. I thought she was a very talented comedian.

But it's hard to feel too bad for somebody who dies at 81. Statistically she got more time than the average human and she didn't suffer or have to deal with Alzheimers or any kind of dementia. She was still sharp and independent when she died which not all people her age can say.

Comedy has always been mean, Joan Rivers isn't exceptional in that regard. She certainly took a whole lot of insults herself, especially when she first got into plastic surgery. And if you voluntarily become a celebrity you're basically opening yourself up to jokes and criticism.

There was a documentary movie about here a couple years ago that cast her as kind of insecure about her reception. Like she perceived herself as fighting constantly against cultural rejection.
 
^^ Deckerd, I think you've confused her with Phyllis Diller, who actually was a generous, refined, gracious lady, and did single-handidly smash those barriers.
 
One of the best comedians ever (not just among women but period) and a great person.


A terrible loss for the world.
 
No she didn't. Ask any female standup comedian working today and they will say their inspiration was Joan Rivers. Up until then nobody thought a woman could do that. And since you clearly know nothing about Joan Rivers' private life you are not qualified to make judgement on it.
 
Deckerd said:
No she didn't. Ask any female standup comedian working today and they will say their inspiration was Joan Rivers. Up until then nobody thought a woman could do that. And since you clearly know nothing about Joan Rivers' private life you are not qualified to make judgement on it.
Click to expand...

You do seem to be fascinated with me, and care a great deal about what I think. Why? And what does that have to do with this thread that you keep derailing? Please keep things on topic - that would be Joan Rivers, in case you've forgotten.
 
Of course Joan Rivers was mean and nasty (in public). Duh. She was an insult comic, they're damn well SUPPOSED to be. :shrug:

The real nastiness here, though, is her 'fans' who are sending death threats to the clinic where she died. Bloody animals. :mad:
 
Deckerd said:
She was a generous, refined, gracious lady in her private life. As a professional she single handedly smashed the barrier that said that only men could do standup. She was funny and merciless against public figures but by far the biggest target of her caustic humour was herself. People who don't get her humour don't have the right to call her anything other than the very successful, consummate professional she was. What this poster is saying is malicious, mean-spirited and vile.
Click to expand...


Hear, hear!

I actually fear for a world with less and less people like Ms. Rivers in it. As more of the up and coming passive generations(Y and Stupids)simply follow the line and sheepishly bleat the feeble "That's racist" or "I'm offended!" retorts to any comment they can't understand or don't have the brain cells to realize might be irony or sarcasm, the more our society becomes one big homogenized PC work house.

Joan Rivers and artists like her challenge us and make us question WHY we think and feel the way we do. As such, they're VITAL in a free(such as it is)society and the loss of any of them diminishes us all.


Judging by the outrage she caused from the easily offended and quick-to-tow the PC-line brigade, Joan was one of the BEST and MOST important and as such, as an artist she will be HUGELY missed. Thankfully the PC nutters don't have the power or influence yet to remove her work, so her legacy is there in all its forms for us and generations to come to(hopefully)enjoy and be enlightened by it.


R.I.P. Joan.
 
Tulin said:
Hear, hear!

I actually fear for a world with less and less people like Ms. Rivers in it. As more of the up and coming passive generations(Y and Stupids)simply follow the line and sheepishly bleat the feeble "That's racist" or "I'm offended!" retorts to any comment they can't understand or don't have the brain cells to realize might be irony or sarcasm, the more our society becomes one big homogenized PC work house.

Joan Rivers and artists like her challenge us and make us question WHY we think and feel the way we do. As such, they're VITAL in a free(such as it is)society and the loss of any of them diminishes us all.


Judging by the outrage she caused from the easily offended and quick-to-tow the PC-line brigade, Joan was one of the BEST and MOST important and as such, as an artist she will be HUGELY missed. Thankfully the PC nutters don't have the power or influence yet to remove her work, so her legacy is there in all its forms for us and generations to come to(hopefully)enjoy and be enlightened by it.

R.I.P. Joan.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. Joan wasn't my cup'o'tea, but I was never offended by her style.

We really do need more like her, if only to keep those "PC nutters" honest.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top