On Thursday, Joan Rivers died at the age of 81. What she accomplished in those 81 years — blazing the way for female comedians, starring in multiple television shows, cultivating red-carpet interviews, and working as guest host of The Tonight Show, among many other accomplishments — is astounding.
7 moments that show how funny Joan Rivers was
Alex Abad-Santos is a senior correspondent who explains what society obsesses over, from Marvel and movies to fitness and skin care. He came to Vox in 2014. Prior to that, he worked at The Atlantic.
But what Joan Rivers really loved, her greatest joy in life, was making people laugh. She did it so well.
In this appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, Rivers made fun of herself but also jabbed at society’s expectations of women simultaneously.
Rivers became a household name after appearing on The Tonight Show. Here’s one of her early appearances shortly after her daughter Melissa was born.
She also wasn’t afraid to joke about her age and appearance.
Nor was she afraid to appear with the famed metal band GWAR.
She also was fearless in discussing her plastic surgery, as in this clip, where she talks about having 10,000-mile tuneups on her neck.
Joan was also great off camera and on Twitter.
I love World Cup soccer! They play the game the same way Rihanna is working her way through show business: kicking balls!
— Joan Rivers (@Joan_Rivers) June 28, 2014 Before she died, Joan had one final interview as part of her YouTube series, In Bed with Joan. Her last interview in that series was with Bianca Del Rio, a salty drag queen and winner of RuPaul's Drag Race.
There’s something absolutely perfect about the fact that Rivers’s last interview was with a clownish drag queen and featured the two discussing how drag queens urinate and what a bitch Raquel Welch was. RIP, Ms. Rivers.
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