Bibi pays tribute to Joan Rivers
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has paid tribute to legendary comedienne Joan Rivers, who passed away on Thursday.
The 81-year-old comic who broke barriers for women in comedy and on television and who was renowned for her acerbic comments about fellow celebrities, died a week after being rushed to Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Hospital after her heart stopped during throat surgery.
Doctors at the hospital put her in an induced coma from which she never awoke. In recent weeks, Rivers hit the headlines for her staunch defence of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in response to Hamas rocket fire.
“Joan Rivers brought laughter to millions around the world and was proud of her Jewish heritage and a vocal supporter of the State of Israel,” said Netanyahu today.
“We will miss her deeply and we send our heartfelt condolences to her family.”
Rivers’s daughter Melissa, who starred alongside her mother in a number of TV projects, said in a statement, “My mother’s greatest joy in life was to make people laugh,” her daughter, Melissa, said in a statement.
“Although that is difficult to do right now, I know her final wish would be that we return to laughing soon.” Rivers, who launched her career in the 1950s, was among a handful of female standup comics – Phyllis Diller was another — whose raunchy and blisteringly honest takes on married life broke barriers in the 1960s. Her gossipy trademark line, “Can we talk?,” was an invitation to truth telling about the high and mighty, but also no-holds-barred self-deprecation.
She was one of Johnny Carson’s favored guest hosts on The Tonight Show until she launched a failed attempt to compete with him in the 1980s.
The notion that a woman could carry 90 minutes by herself paved the way for others in the TV business. Rivers was a pioneer in reality programming, first in red carpet fashion commentary at Hollywood events (joined by her daughter) and then in a reality series about her loving but fraught relationship with her daughter. She hosted the show Fashion Police on the E! network.
While she was best known for her scathing attacks on fellow showbiz personalities, Rivers was never afraid of turning her sights on herself. In fact, ageing provided her with some of her best one-liners:
“I wish I had a twin, so I could know what I’d look like without plastic surgery.”
“I am definitely going to watch the Emmys this year! My makeup team is nominated for Best Special Effects.”
“A study says owning a dog makes you 10 years younger. My first thought was to rescue two more, but I don’t want to go through menopause again.”
“I must admit I am nervous about getting Alzheimer’s.Once it hits, I might tell my best joke and never know it.”
And turning to her own mortality, in her 2013 book I Hate Everyone… Starting with Me, she even outlined plans for her funeral.
“I want paparazzi and I want publicists making a scene!” she insisted. “I want it to be Hollywood all the way. I don’t want some rabbi rambling on; I want Meryl Streep crying, in five different accents. I don’t want a eulogy; I want Bobby Vinton to pick up my head and sing ‘Mr. Lonely.’ I want to look gorgeous, better dead than I do alive. I want to be buried in a Valentino gown and I want Harry Winston to make me a toe tag. And I want a wind machine so that even in the casket my hair is blowing just like Beyonce’s.”
Joan Rivers, RIP.