Jack Terry

Host

The Legacy of Joan Rivers

Sep 5, 2014·12 visitors

Anthony Alberts

Cohost

Stage· 45 messages

Sep 5, 2014

Join Jack and Anthony as the tawk about this trailblazing comic and the effect she had on the world of comedy, fashion and entertainment in general.

Jack Terry · 4:00 PM

What's going on Tony?

Anthony Alberts · 4:00 PM

Hey Jack, how are you?

Jack Terry · 4:00 PM

I'm good, I'm good, but I was wondering: Can we tawk?

Anthony Alberts · 4:01 PM

Ahhhh, the immortal words of Joan River, God rest her soul.

Jack Terry · 4:01 PM

She was quite the entertainer, and such an influence on so many different people in the world of entertainment.

Anthony Alberts · 4:02 PM

It's sad to say but I've learned so much more about her in the last two days than i have the whole time I was alive.

Jack Terry · 4:02 PM

I think a lot of people have, and I think it is certainly a generational thing.

Anthony Alberts · 4:03 PM

Very much so. People younger than us, your nephews age for instance, they probably know her 9if they even do at all) from the Oscars.

Jack Terry · 4:04 PM

That is certainly true. her work for the pre-show to the Golden Globes and then the Oscars is part of what made Joan Rivers have a huge rebirth in her career and people's awareness about her.

Anthony Alberts · 4:04 PM

Not to mention what it did for establishing E Television as a network of consequence.

Jack Terry · 4:05 PM

Definitely. At the time she started doing the red carpet show, the only pre-Oscar option was Barbara Walters and her tearfests!

Anthony Alberts · 4:05 PM

Yup, and people wanted to see the glamour and the glitz that was happening on the red carpet, just like they always had.

Jack Terry · 4:06 PM

I think what helped to make her popular was that she wasn't there to kiss up to the celebrities. Anytime she gushed about a person, you could tell it was because she sincerely felt that way.

Anthony Alberts · 4:07 PM

That's probably why a lot of celebrities felt comfortable talking to her, even with her "bitchy" reputation.

Jack Terry · 4:07 PM

She told it like it is. In an industry that many people contend is fake and you have to always wonder what somebody wants from you, she was a breath of fresh air.

Anthony Alberts · 4:07 PM

Yeah, but one with an acerbic bite.

Jack Terry · 4:08 PM

True. And don't forget she also helped the TV Guide network become something to watch when she switched to them for three years.

Anthony Alberts · 4:08 PM

That was actually one of the first example of scheduled programming that they ran over the channel listings and not paid advertising.

Jack Terry · 4:09 PM

When I scheduled this tawk Tony, one of the points i was thinking about making was how she was one of only a couple of female comics getting her start at the time.

Anthony Alberts · 4:09 PM

Joan Rivers and Phyllis Diller.

Jack Terry · 4:10 PM

Those were them. At the time, even though there were comedic actresses working on film and the early days of television, they were just about the only two doing stand up comedy.

Anthony Alberts · 4:11 PM

Well, it was seen as a rough and tumble men's world. The nightclubs in Vegas may be swanky and nice, but most of the rooms that they would work on the road

Anthony Alberts · 4:11 PM

were small, dirty places, back rooms of bars, and not populated with lots f women in the audience, making it very uncomfortable.

Jack Terry · 4:12 PM

Exactly, she was a trailblazer. But like you said about learning so much more about her, did you know she actually started off as an actress in NYC?

Anthony Alberts · 4:12 PM

No. I thought mostly a comic and a bit of a writer (but even that i wasn't sure about.)

Jack Terry · 4:13 PM

Yup, she was an actress in late 1950's. In fact one of her first plays, a show that ran Off-Braodway for 6 weeks called "Driftwood" starred someone who went on to become even more famous than Joan Rivers. Any guesses?

Anthony Alberts · 4:14 PM

Not a clue in the world.

Jack Terry · 4:14 PM

Barbara Streisand!

Anthony Alberts · 4:14 PM

Get out! Such a small world.

Jack Terry · 4:14 PM

She started doing comedy clubs in the early 60's, then did the tonight with jack Paar before bein g one of Johnny Carson's first guests.

Anthony Alberts · 4:15 PM

That was a relationship/friendship that lasted a long time and ended ugly.

Jack Terry · 4:15 PM

Ugly is an understatement. To her last days she regretted how it went down and that they never spoke again.

Anthony Alberts · 4:16 PM

Not to tawk bad of the dead, but over the years she has certainly changed her story about how it happened.

Jack Terry · 4:16 PM

I'm sure there was some fudging of the truth, if for no other reason to make herself feel better. But it must have been a tough situation for her at the time.

Anthony Alberts · 4:17 PM

Young upstart network, staging an assault against one of the most iconic television personalities, and her being the first woman in the that position? Piece of cake.

Jack Terry · 4:18 PM

A lot was riding on her and you have to know that, even though it was the 80's, I'm sure there was gender bias behind the scenes, with the network doing things without her knowledge.

Anthony Alberts · 4:18 PM

It was another professional relationship/friendship of hers that made me realize how much of a writer she was.

Jack Terry · 4:19 PM

She wrote for many shows, including Candid Camera, the Tonight Show, and even narrated a segment on the Electric Company.

Anthony Alberts · 4:19 PM

And at the same time she was doing that she also wrote a movie about a man who gets pregnant. You know who?

Jack Terry · 4:20 PM

The only movie from that time that I can think of is "Rabbit Test" with Billy Crystal.

Anthony Alberts · 4:20 PM

That's the movie! She wrote it specifically for him.

Jack Terry · 4:21 PM

I never knew that. Just goes to show there was a lot more to Joan Rivers than just a lot of plastic surgery and a bitchy mouth.

Anthony Alberts · 4:21 PM

Joan, we hardly knew ya.

Jack Terry · 4:21 PM

Tony as always thanks for the tawk.

Anthony Alberts · 4:21 PM

Anytime Jack, tawk to you soon.