Joan Rivers is a very funny woman. But some of her comments cross the line, in my opinion. I know she is trying to portray herself, as all comedians do, as saying things that no one else dares to say. But in that race to the bottom, Joan is becoming an Olympic athlete.
On last night’s episode of Fashion Police, on E! Network, the special Academy Awards edition of the show, Joan made a crack about a dangerous place being the sharing of Whitney Houston’s bubble bath. Tasteless. I don’t like repeating it, but I want to make the point about Joan’s crossing the line.
I also noticed something very interesting a few weeks ago on the show. I don’t know who the man was, but he was a guest star on the show and made a very funny (albeit inappropriate) comment about what he had to do to get on his show, in terms of the casting couch. It was absolutely hilarious. Partly because it was so unexpected. A lot of Joan’s jokes take so long to set up that you almost know what she is going to say before she says it. Anyway, my main point with is that Joan was decidedly not amused. I suppose it might have been the editing, but I can’t see why they would make her look worse with editing, since she is the main star of the show. But then again, the Kardashians are the main stars of their show and they often look bad, and Kris Kardashian Jenner is one of the executive producers for her slate of shows, so anything is possible on Joan’s show. But what I took away from the exchange was that Joan does not like it when someone funnier than she is on her show. Or perhaps it depends on who it is, because I have noticed that when funny people like Sarah Silverman are one, Joan does seem genuinely impressed and glad to have them there. I find it all very interesting to think about! I need to get out more, apparently.
Another interesting tidbit that I thought of. When Kriss Kardashian Jenner was on Fashion Police as a guest, there was a point when Kris went to judge someone on their fashion, and Joan said, “On this show, I always go first.” And I heard Kris say, “Of course, Joan,” in a “Well, of course you would have that rule,” snarky kind of way. It was also quite funny.
Remember her on the Apprentice? She and her daughter did not acquit themselves well at all. Melissa came off the worst, but Joan was almost as bad. Melissa seemed actually psychotic on the Celebrity Apprentice, yelling when she was eliminated about vipers. She did not display a good deal of emotional intelligence. And Joan was constantly saying things like Annie Duke was worse than Hitler, Tasteless.
Which brings me to something she said on last night’s show about Jews. I know she herself is Jewish, but her comments in this area can be tasteless in the extreme. I can’t specifically remember what she said, but it referred to Jews being put in an oven. I think Joan can be very, very funny but a lot of her jokes are repetitive (like about Kim Kardashian and black guys), and some of them, like on the subject of the Holocaust, are absurd, unfunny, and obnoxious. Whether she is Jewish or not, the Holocaust was a global tragedy and there are some things that should not be joked about. At least, that is my opinion. What do you think?
