Joan Rivers

[TPFKA@W]

I absolutely never could stand the wretched hag, I think she is evil and downright nasty. My head could not wrap around her particular brand of "humor". I thought she ought to have been tarred, feathered, and run out of town for her recent "jokes" regarding the women held hostage in Ohio, and what she said about children of Gaza.

Personally if the plastic-faced old bitch dies I will do a happy dance.

[wesw]

well I did not like her either, but I won t do a happy dance while her family mourns her loss.

wow...

[Daisy]

I'd leave it a week for the happy dance (I mean she's no Maggie Thatcher)... But I wouldn't mourn the bitter old bag either.

[Lord Jim]

@W, I'm sensing a lot of ambivalence towards Rivers in your post. Could you please clarify your attitude about her?

[TPFKA@W]

Yes, I hate it when I just can't get my feelings expressed clearly. I will try to for more clairity: I don't like her and think she is a right cunt. If she had been on fire I wouldn't waste piss on her.

She likely won't die though because Satan is afraid she will take over hell.

Hope that clears things up Jim.

[TPFKA@W]

Oh, and her talentless, horse-faced daughter will have no career when Mamma goes off life support.


That I threw in for the new poster.

[RayThom]

I consider myself somewhat of a humorist. But I know full well that what is funny to some people may not be funny to others. Most humor is based on personal experiences and/or influenced by what those around us found humorous and funny during our development years.

I know a woman who thinks Lucile Ball is/was the funniest woman on the planet. However, I found her brand of physical comedy to be way over-the-top, and it always left me cold. I personally find "cutting edge" humor to be some the funniest out there. The more abstract and conceptual, the better. And any humor that takes a poke at the human condition is the best. As soon as I hear a comedian cracks wise about something, and then someone quickly screams "too soon," then that's when I know it's truly funny.

The worse thing a listener can do with humor is to generalize too much about who says it. Once they do that then focus and understanding is lost and, for them, what was said either becomes a rally point for censure, or quickly dissolves into the ether. Yet, for others, it can becomes a comedy standard and bellwether. As Johnny Carson would say about comedy, "If you buy the premise -- you buy the bit." Unfortunately, too many are too tight with their "humor purses" and "buy" very little. And they are poorer for it. Comedy is not pretty, yet I fully buy into this premise... warts and all.

And about the "hate" word. Hate robs us emotionally and takes too much energy to constantly remember when we hate someone. I don't have time for hate. I always substitute the hate word with the term "strongly dislike." I hate no man... or woman. Now, Joan Rivers I like. I wish her a speedy recovery if that is at all possible at this time.

[TPFKA@W]

Hating how I can't express myself warrents a dissertation on what hate does to one?

Where is the eyeroll thing when you need it?

[MajGenl.Meade]

You can't find it?

[Lord Jim]

I hadn't heard about either her "jokes" about the Cleveland kidnapping, or her comments about the civilians killed in Gaza, so I looked them up...

Wow...

On the Cleveland kidnapping, she actually doubled down:

Joan Rivers Refuses To Apologize For Cleveland Kidnapping Victims Joke

Queen of tasteless jokes Joan Rivers has outdone herself, comparing accommodations in her daughter's guest room to those the Cleveland women kidnapped by Ariel Castro experienced when they were held captive and raped for 10 years.

Rivers' remarks on the "Today" show on April 22, that "those women in the basement in Cleveland had more space" than when she was staying with her daughter, have unsurprisingly offended the kidnapped victims Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, whose lawyers want an apology from the 80-year-old "Fashion Police" co-host.

But Rivers, being who she is, refuses to apologize under the guise that it's comedy:

"I'm a comedienne. I know what those girls went through. [how the hell is that possible?] It was a little, stupid joke," she said in an interview with local Cleveland paper The Plain Dealer. "There is nothing to apologize for. I made a joke. That's what I do. Calm down. Calm f--king down. I'm a comedienne. They're free, so let's move on.''

And after insisting that the newspaper stop writing about her "stupidity'' and shift the focus toward government leaders, Rivers went on to emphasize her lack of sensitivity. "They got to live rent free for more than a decade," she told TMZ.

Again, Rivers told TMZ she will not apologize for her remarks. "One of them has a book deal. Neither are in a psych ward. They're okay," she said. "I bet you within 3 years one of them will be on 'Dancing with the Stars.'"

You stay classy, Joan Rivers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/2 ... 06222.html

I think what's happened with Rivers is that she's pushing the envelope further and further in order to try and keep herself in the public eye...

There's a line between humor that is tasteless, or un-PC, and humor that is heartless and gratuitously cruel to genuine victims, and Rivers has clearly crossed it...

Rivers also has become extremely defensive and thin skinned (well I guess when your skin's been stretched as much as hers, it's bound to become thin); a few months ago she walked off the set during an interview with a CNN host when she was asked some pretty mild questions regarding criticisms that have been made about her.

At the time I thought it was just a publicity stunt, (she was promoting a book) but it fits in with her reactions to criticism about her Cleveland kidnapping jokes and her comments about civilian deaths in Gaza. In the Gaza case she also refused to apologize, but claimed she was taken out of context. However when you look at what she said, it's hard to imagine a "context" that would make it acceptable. (And I say this as a person who blames Hamas entirely for the civilian deaths in Gaza in the latest conflict.):

"When you declare war, you declare war," Rivers said. "They started it. We now don't count who's dead. You're dead. You deserve to be dead. You started it. You started it. Don't you dare make me feel sad about that."...

"You were told to get out, you don't get out, then you know you're an idiot, and at least the ones that were killed were the ones with very low IQs," Rivers said.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/07/showbiz/j ... rael-gaza/

But there's one thing that does "sadden" her about this...the way the media is treating her:

Rivers posted what she called an "accurate clarification" of her comments on her Facebook page Thursday afternoon, but it was not an apology. Instead, she said she was "saddened and disappointed" that her words were "totally taken out of context" by the media.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/07/showbiz/j ... rael-gaza/

So she's not saddened that innocent people have been killed, (which makes her a bigger hardass than even Benjamin Netanyahu) but she has enough self-pity to resent the way she believes she has been treated by the press...

I think it's safe to say that this is not a person over-brimming with attractive qualities...

I will however give Rivers credit for one thing. After seeing on the news the kind of schedule she keeps, I sure hope I have her energy level when I'm 81...

[rubato]

The thing about television is that no one makes you watch it.

Yrs,
Rubato

[TPFKA@W]

I remember back when she would sit in for Carson. Even in my youth I never thought her funny, just tasteless and mean.
Don Rickles did the insult comedy without becoming as hateful as Rivers was. I never thought he was all that funny, but I would check his carotid for a pulse if he dropped over in front of me.

[Lord Jim]

(We must be thinking alike, @W, I was in the process of posting the same comparison that you posted:)

When I was growing up, (and for a long time after that) I always pretty much thought of Rivers as a sort of female Don Rickles...

But that's really unfair to Rickles; on his worst day he would never say some of callous heartless things Rivers has said recently...

[Crackpot]

Not to mention Rickes is known to come out after the show and apologize profusely to the people he insulted.

[Big RR]

Actually back in the days of her Carson substituting, I did like her and her brand of humor; in a world where people kiss the asses of "celebrities", I enjoyed seeing her take them down a few pegs. Mean? At times. Tasteless? A lot of the time. But I found it funny. And unlike Rickles, she usually was making fun of pompous assholes and not just someone sitting in the audience with a big nose or other apparent "defect". The other thing I liked about her is she didn't cop out at the end like Rickles and try to somehow get the audience with him with an "only joking" apology (like Crackpot mentioned); it was refreshing (at the time) to see that as well.

However, like any other kind of humor after a while the jokes wear thin (can you imagine Steve Martin still running around yelling "Excuuuuuuuuuse me"?). But rather than change, she kept pushing the envelope to stay in the public eye and turned into the idiot she has become. It's been quite some time since I really laughed at anything she said.

However, I don't wish her any ill, nor will I do any sort of happy dance when she is gone. Like rubato suggested, I don't watch her because my TV has a channel selector and an on-off switch.

[TPFKA@W]

Actually I have not seen her on TV, other than passing, in many years. What I have seen were her recent swan dives off the cliff of taste and reason where she was then seen in the news. Had these recent remarks not made the news my reaction would have been a big *yawn* over her impending demise. But if Itmakes anyone feel morally superior to offer useless advice about changing TV channels so be it.

[Lord Jim]

Actually I have not seen her on TV, other than passing, in many years.

Ditto...

And unlike Rickles, she usually was making fun of pompous assholes

Rickles did a lot of that too...

Francis Albert was a frequent target...

And he would also frequently insult other celebrities that were sitting with him on the same late night show, which also gave them a fair chance to hit back...

[Big RR]

Morally superior? Indeed not; just my way of looking at things. Take it for what it's worth (or not).

Useless advice? Well, that's up to the listener/reader as well.

Not much more to say, but perhaps you will find another retort that is similarly useful (or not).

Rickles did a lot of that too...

Francis Albert was a frequent target...

And he would also frequently insult other celebrities that were sitting with him on the same late night show, which also gave them a fair chance to hit back...

On Carson (and other TV shows) and roasts, I agree, but I saw him a couple of times live, and in those shows he picked on the audience; indeed, I think many people went to see him in the hopes of being on the receiving end.

I only saw Joan Rivers live once, but her show was different and full of stories about celebrities and insults hurled at their behavior.

[TPFKA@W]

Yes well to me it looks like an attempt to display superiority, moral or otherwise. *see how smart I am, I just change the channel,too bad poor you could not come up with that on your own, good thing I am here to point that out to you and anyone else reading the thread*. OTOH perhaps I am over estimating you and Rubato and you simply had nothing more worthwhile to add.

[Joe Guy]

Joan River's will be dead soon enough for all of those who want that - which is very weird.

In the meantime, her daughter is walking around with a long face.