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December 11, 1998/ 22 Kislev 5759, Vol. 51, No. 12
Funny lady still doing things her own way, after 30 years in business
DANE D'ANTUONO
Staff Writer
Known by some as the "queen of barbed one-liners," Joan Rivers says she is more than a comedienne. As a matter of fact, she views herself more as an actress than as the grand dame of comedy.
"I always wanted to be an actress," Rivers says in her chatty but distinctive tone. "I never wanted to be a comedienne. I wanted to be a performer."
And a performer she is. She's taken on many roles, including mother, talk show host, radio host, Broadway performer, and publisher. But most know her for her fast-talking brand of stand-up comedy.
She will bring some of her banter to Phoenix at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 17, in a performance with Don Rickles at the Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. Rivers spoke with Jewish News in a telephone interview this week.
Rivers says her earliest memories of making people laugh go back to childhood, to events that often occurred around the dinner table.
"My parents would laugh with me, not at me, and I immediately knew the power of laughter," says Rivers.
One of her first audiences was her father and a group of his friends - she was 9.
"We were all on a fishing trip, and we were sitting around at supper," recalls Rivers. "I was talking about something that happened that day, and everyone was listening to me and laughing. And I thought to myself, 'This is OK.' "
Rivers plans to cover a variety of topics at her Phoenix performance. Her latest obsession, and rightly so, is her daughter Melissa's up-and- coming wedding. Like so many other mothers of brides-to-be, she makes light of the joyous hassles of wedding planning. The comedienne will also chat about aging and dating when one is older.
Rivers will be sharing the stage with someone she describes as the "sweetest, dearest, nicest funniest man," Don Rickles.
Rickles is a sharp ad-libber who rose to stardom through stand-up comedy and television, keeping his audiences laughing while insulting them. Rivers, too, rose to
stardom through stand-up comedy, but her path was bumpy.
In her book "Bouncing Back - I've Survived Everything ... and I Mean Everything ... and You Can Too!," she writes that when she got started in the early '60s telling jokes in Greenwich Village coffee shops, insiders were telling her, "You can't say that, Joan. You're a woman."
"No woman said that when she had her baby, she screamed for 23 hours straight - and that was just during the conception," writes Rivers.
She admits that in those early days, she never listened to those insiders. "I always listened to the audiences, and I'm sure it held me back in a lot of things."
She says critics felt that such jokes entitled her to another line of work, "perhaps in a delicatessen."
During this time, her role model Lenny Bruce was doing outspoken comedy and getting raves. Bruce told her to stick with her own style.
She's been doing things her own way comedically for three decades, all the while taking on various business ventures - some failures and some successful.
However, Rivers' best success story is her relationship with her daughter. The pair are ultra-close and have faced such serious challenges as confronting their husband/father Edgar Rosenberg's suicide in the late '80s.
From the time of Melissa's birth, Rivers says she knew she wanted to emulate with her daughter the close relationship she had with her mother. How did she balance career and motherhood?
"I just blocked her out like a business client," Rivers explains. "You make time for a good client; you make time for your child."
She proudly says when Melissa was growing up, they made arrangements to have dinner around the table every night.
She boasts about having been a scout mother. One time, she even hosted a scout sleepover, albeit of the un-camping sort.
"The sleepover ended up in our backyard," Rivers laughs. "I wasn't about to take them where there were no toilets. Not on your life."
Tickets for her appearance at the Celebrity are $33-$45. Call 267-1600 or 503-5555.
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