Happy Birthday comedian Joan Rivers (1933–2014)

Born: Joan Alexandra Molinsky
June 8, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Died: September 4, 2014 (age 81) in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Married to: Edgar Rosenberg (15 July 1965 – 14 August 1987) (his death) (1 child)

QUOTES:

[on young female comics]: They all come up to me and say, “Without you, I couldn’t be here, the barriers you broke down.” I say, “Get the f*** away from me. I still could take every one of you with one hand behind my back. Outta here. Talk like that at my funeral, but not till then”.

[June 29, 2008] One of the reasons I am so happy – there’s lots happening again. Four times in my life, I woke up and the diary was empty. That’s the worst feeling in the world. My Broadway show and my talk show were canceled on the same Friday. And I went that night to see Barbra Streisand, whom I’d started with, perform for 20,000 people at Madison Square Garden. That was a very bad night. Now I’m doing a pilot, I have two books coming, I have my play, I’m in a series that they’ve shot and they hope will be successful, I’m doing stand-up and I’ve got my jewelry company. At this age, to be wanted – you are fighting every single step of the way.

I was just interviewed for a documentary [Making Trouble (2007)] on my least favorite subject – women comedians and how we’ve all been kept out. These two women came to my house, very serious, and asked, “How long did it take for you to get into the room?”. I said, “Let me tell you something: if Adolf Hitler had four good jokes, he’d be in the room.” It has to do with funny. Then they talked about how women help each other. I said, “I hate to tell you, but if it was between Sarah Silverman and me for a job? I’ll kill her and she’ll kill me. There’s no sisterhood in comedy”.

There is not one female comic who was beautiful as a little girl. Tell me one funny woman who was ever beautiful. Gwyneth Paltrow, stop, please, stop, I can’t stand it. Angelina Jolie? Men don’t want you funny. It’s all about coping when you’re not being the pretty girl, and you’re not being the first one asked to dance, and the bottle spins and lands on you and Stuart Wein doesn’t want to kiss you.

One of the earliest jokes I did about my husband was that I was the one who really caused Edgar’s suicide, because, while we were making love, I took the bag off my head.

My husband wanted to be cremated. I told him I’d scatter his ashes at [the department store] Neiman Marcus – that way, I’d visit him every day.