ML - Michigan Avenue

2014 - Issue 3 - May/June

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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well." Like, Fifty Shades of Beige isn't going to do as well as Fifty Shades of Grey. So we said, "Let's just do a diary about everything that annoys me during the day." I have a whole section on "I'm so bored now w it h t he cold homeless people." You're wearing 60 sweaters in the summer! How do you t hink t he comedy world ha s changed since you were coming up? Good question. It's changed in that I'm allowed to say a lot more; comedy's a lot rougher, and a lot more real. When I was pregnant with Melissa on The Ed Sullivan Show, I couldn't even say "pregnant"—I was seven months pregnant—and I had to say, "So, Mr. Sullivan, you're going to hear the pitter-patter of little feet." So it's changed tremendously, and I think that's wonderful. Do you find that the way audiences react to you has changed over the years? I n t hose days I wa s considered ver y w ild a nd outspoken, and now I'm considered very outspo- ken—it's just that what they consider outspoken has changed, what you're allowed to discuss has changed. Last night I was onstage talking about the tragedy in New York of 7-Eleven, and then f ina lly someone sa id, "9/11," a nd I sa id, "No, I mean 7-Eleven, because on 9/11 the firefighters had gone in and they'd run out of Snapple, and I went in to get some a nd t hey weren't t here." [Laughs] Maybe I couldn't do that a couple years ago, but ever yt hing—ever yt hing—is allowed to be funny. That's how I get through life, and that's how I think people have to get through life. Do you pay attention to what other comics are doing? No. Years ago a Vegas mafia g uy said to me, "Run your own race—wear blinders like a horse," and I truly believe that was the smartest piece of advice I got. That, and "Stay out of the desert." Or to keep your knees intact. Who else makes you laugh these days? All the younger comics. Little Britain they tried to bring over here and it just didn't work, and they're brilliant. Go look them up. Nick K roll, A nthony Jeselnik... there are so many young, good comics coming up, and of course, my God, listen to Chris Rock. Robin Williams—still bril- liant. Cosby, you've got to give him credit—he does that fatherly thing, and it's beautiful to watch the perfection in his act. Mel Brooks—any- thing. I will walk behind him and carry the train. You've been a n advoc ate for c auses like God's L ove We Deliver, The Americ a n Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Guide Dogs for the Blind.... Why do you think it's important to give back? Well, they give kickbacks. If I give them $10, I get a buck back. No, I'm really into these causes. With God's Love We Deliver, I had so ma ny gay friends, and they were dying in those days of "gay pneumonia"—it wasn't ca lled A I DS yet— a nd nobody ca red, a nd t hey bega n to br ing meals around on bicycles in New York. I've been involved with them forever and ever and ever. Guide Dogs for the Blind—you give a blind per- son a dog, and he gets around without help, and you're giving them a life, and a friend. And when t he dog dies, a mea l—you ca n't beat t hat. [Laughs] I'm also very big in any animal kind of thing, any animal rescue. All my dogs are res- cues. I'm very big into that. Looking back on your career, what are you proudest of? T hat I'm st ill here —a nd I'm tot a lly releva nt. I just switched agencies, and they went to look at who watches me, who my core group is, and 22 years old is the average age. How about that one? And of course it goes all the way up and all the way out. Whatever I'm doing, I'm of the moment, and I'm so proud of that. I'm not doing Wendell Willkie jokes. Is there anything yet that you feel like you haven't accomplished that you want to? Ever y t hing. I wa nt to go back to Broadway; I have yet to w in a n Academy Awa rd... ever y- thing, everything, everything. Every day I get up and say, "I want, I want." I want a late night show; I want a late, late, late, late night show where we would call it Nobody's Watching, Who Gives a F---, Let's Have Fun. And I'd like to put it on at 3 in the morning—people would Tivo it. It's a different world now. Nobody watches in real time. What do you want your legacy to be? You want to know something? Vincent van Gogh didn't sell a picture during his life. I don't care about my legacy. "That she was a good person, and she had exquisite taste, and she deser ved that fur coat." And I beautify America with beads and trinkets on QVC. [Laughs] MA " Years ago a Vegas mafia guy said to me, 'Run your own race—wear blinders like a horse,' and that was the smartest advice I got." —JOAN RIVERS Rivers with Sarah Silverman on an episode of In Bed with Joan. PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF INBEDWITHJOAN.COM 132 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 128-133_MA_FEAT_CS_May/June_14.indd 132 4/14/14 1:34 PM

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