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that; you can't step over it and keep going, and that's what Second City taught me: "Live in the moment; be in the moment." What were your experiences of the city when you weren't onstage? What did you enjoy about Chicago? Let me tell you what I enjoyed and [still] enjoy, all right? I love Chicago because the women look g reat. I love it when women go out in evening gowns and Uggs. I love that they embrace the cold weather. It's a sophisticated, great city. I'm tired of you people—tired of you people—saying, "Well, we're not New York." F- - - New York. You're a g reat cit y, so shut up, a nd you got a beach. A nd your ha ir ca n a lways look w ind- tousled. [Laughs] I hope you have enough limo services there. I worry about you. Do you have a ny par t icularly favorite places in Chicago? Michiga n Avenue at Chr ist mas—a lot of stars. I love that. What was the pa rk where t hey had t he big old at r ium? L incoln Pa rk. T hey tore down the atrium; it was amazing because it was like we were back in Victorian times. I just love all t he br idges going across t he r iver, a nd I love t hat you t u r n t he water g reen on St. Pat 's. I'm crazy for Chicago. I'm look- ing for a rich, old Jewish man who lives in Chicago and wants to have fun. E xact ly. W hen you were g rowing up, who did you watch who made you want to be a performer? Moses. He wa s so sma r t —he didn't even have the tablets or anything yet. [Laughs] As a mentor, my dad was a doctor, a nd he would ma ke house calls. Remember those kinds of doc- tors? On Sundays, he'd make a house call and we would listen to the radio in the car while they went upstairs, so I grew up on the old Jack Benny Show and the Fred Allen Show—I grew up on radio comedians because that's what we heard in the car, and they were always so good, and so smart, and so clever. My first theater experience, and not comedic, was my aunt tak- ing me to see Paul Robeson in Othello a nd going backst age a nd smelling those costumes, and I knew: "This is it. This is it. How do I move in?" I've always loved the the- ater. Still I go backstage and say hello to anybody, and I'm in awe, I'm in awe that they allow you to go into—I always call it "the temple." Comedy especially was such a boys' club back then. What made you think you could break through that glass ceiling yourself? Comedy is a ver y ma sculine profession, a nd don't give me this "boys' club, girls' club." My old standby line is "If Eva Braun had 10 minutes, they'd put her onstage and say, 'She has learned a nd cha nged,'" a s long a s she didn't say t he n-word. She could say the c-word, the a-word, the p-word—can't say the n-word. It's not a boys' club; it 's just a ver y ma sculine [world]. Look at t he women that are in it: Ellen DeGeneres, lesbian. Rosie O'Donnell, lesbia n. Paula Poundstone, lesbian. Jane Lynch, lesbian.… Seriously, it's not a boys' club, a nd it wa sn't t hen. It just didn't appeal to women, and when I started in the '60s, if you were pretty, you were a singer. You didn't want to stand onstage and make a fool of your- self. Women [ had to be] ver y st rong a nd not at t ract ive to be considered f unny. Tina Fey's cha nged t hat ; Sa ra h Silver ma n now looks so gorgeous. It's changed a lot now—they'll accept funnier women. Phyllis Diller in private life was a very good-looking woman who only wore cou- ture, and then she'd go onstage and have to look ridiculous for people to laugh at her. In t he early '80s you were on top of t he world: You were hosting SNL, you had that great gig hosting The Tonight Show, you had a Grammy-nominated album on the charts…. What was that time of your career like, to be on top of everything? In all fairness, you don't think you're ever top dog, ever. Even Meryl Streep gets turned down— she wa nted desperately to play L incoln… a nd then Daniel Day-Lewis just whisked it away from her. Ever ybody's career, seriously—you never think you're on top, and those that think they're on top are the first ones to fall, because there are no laurels to rest on. You're exactly as good as your last movie, as your last set of numbers. In t he '8 0s, I was work ing t he way I'm work ing now—I a lways work ever y day. Now I have a ref lexolog ist t hat sit s t here a nd does my feet , and I get a masseuse to work on my back, but I still am thinking. In '86 you were banned from The Tonight Show, and that ban just ended when you were invited to come back for Jimmy Fallon's first show. Rivers with daughter Melissa, an executive producer on all three of her mother's current series. 130 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 128-133_MA_FEAT_CS_May/June_14.indd 130 4/14/14 1:34 PM