At first look, she didn’t fit the image of the stereotypical do-gooder. She was a fast talker whose jokes denigrated everyone, including herself, with a brazen outspokenness. Her dress and manner were flashy, her delivery brassy. She was nervy. And this pro in complete control left her audiences rolling in the aisles.
But behind the pushiness that propelled her to stardom she had a soft spot for nonprofit organizations, so she threw her financial support and considerable comedic talent behind certain charities — and she made everyone laugh as they opened their wallets.
She was Joan Rivers, and she was a frequent celebrity guest at fundraisers throughout Long Island, especially on the East End. She treasured one particular spot — Fire Island. As she told TV personality and talk show host Dick Cavett, “It’s lovely and it’s very quiet … And the nice thing is, nothing ever happens there.”
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“CAN WE TALK?”
How did this trailblazing dynamo, born to Russian immigrants in Brooklyn in 1933, discover her comedic talent? Joan Alexandra Molinsky was likely inspired by her physician father, who did funny impersonations of his patients. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Barnard College with an English degree and the dream of becoming an actress. By day, she worked at Lord & Taylor’s publicity department and as an office temp, and by night she took small parts in off-Broadway productions. She haunted small, grimy clubs in Greenwich Village and gravitated toward stand-up, but fame eluded her at first, and she was often fired. But her tenacity and work ethic bolstered her confidence onstage.
Joan Rivers would later tell Cavett, “I never thought I’d make it big time, never thought it would happen… I was just so driven that I couldn’t do anything else.” After spending time improvising in Chicago’s Second City troupe, in 1961 she returned to New York City and immersed herself in the early days of live TV, gaining experience as a gag writer for Candid Camera, doing stand-up on the quintessential variety show hosted by Ed Sullivan, honing her comedy chops, and finessing her irreverent delivery. As The New York Times put it, “She was known for a wit that some critics saw as comic genius and others dismissed as downright nasty.”
In 1968, she got what would prove to be her big break, when she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Three years later, after a string of appearances, The King of Late Night asked her to be the show’s permanent guest host. For more than two decades, she helmed the show when Carson was away.
Joan Rivers described how she approached humor as ripping everything bare, then demanding of the audience with her favorite catchphrase, “Oh, come on. Can we talk?”
In 1986, with The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, she became the first woman to have her own late-night talk show on a major network, and won a Daytime Emmy award.
“WHAT IF I’M NOT FUNNY?”
The talent that couldn’t be restrained found fame for Joan Rivers — but she never forgot the years of struggle. She recalled doing a benefit in the 1970s with Richard Pryor, Lily Tomlin and a few others: “We went out to dinner, and we could all pick up the bill. We had known each other in the village when we were broke.”
Despite her successes, she was insecure about her career. As she told Cavett, “I wake up at night and say, ’What if I’m not funny in the morning?’”
She became even more popular in the mid-1990s by creating and hosting Live from the Red Carpet for the E! Network, using her razor-sharp wit for eight years to turn celebrity entrances at pre-show premieres into star-studded events. She followed that up in 2010 by anchoring Fashion Police, deciding who sizzled and who fizzled.
On Long Island, Joan Rivers lent her support to charities through appearances at benefits, including auctions and galas at Stopping AIDS Together in Bellport, and on Fire Island at Hooray for Hollywood, a benefit for God’s Love We Deliver; she was an important benefactor of the organization.
As she told ABC Eyewitness News in 2011, “I think this teaches you what Thanksgiving is really all about. I know it sounds corny but by giving to other people, you sit down at your table and you realize how lucky you are.”
Joan Rivers died at 81 in 2014.
