As you may or may not know, I consume documentaries about comedy and standup specials quite ravenously. I love learning about the lives of comedians, how they develop their sets, how they improvise with the audience, and how they revitalize their work. Fascinating stuff. So, of course I had to watch this documentary about Joan Rivers, because she is, literally, the face of comedy that will not quit. And learning more about that philosophy of hers was honestly kind of painful.
I do admire Rivers’ stamina. She’s insecure like all other comedians, but she also refuses to believe that she’s irrelevant, even if she complains about it all the time. But even with all of these admirable qualities, I couldn’t find myself respecting her any more after watching this eye-opening movie. The style of the filming itself took a backseat to allow her big famous personality to come out, and that’s exactly what it did. But instead of being charmed by her determination and inspired by her longevity, I quickly felt sorry for her. It was basically a 90-minute pity party about a comedian who just won’t retire. She was probably delighted to get her face on the screen and in theaters, though, even if it wasn’t necessarily a flattering portrayal.
Joan Rivers is obsessed with being famous, even at age 76. Desperate, even. After a career of Jewish Mother jokes and plastic surgeries, she’s basically pigeonholed herself into this little niche of whiny comedy that just isn’t funny anymore. Early on, when no one (and no women in particular) were talking about what she was talking about, she was brilliant. Ahead of the game. Revolutionary. But now she really is the irrelevant beast she’s feared for so long, and she’s trying pathetically hard to reverse nature. The plastic surgeries are just a physical manifestation of that—she’s literally a whore to Hollywood. She’ll do any commercial, book any cruise, attach her name to anything just to get her name said by people. She lives for recognition and having fans, and she takes insult when people tell her that she paved the way for other female comedians, because she thinks the past tense “paved” is wrong. She’s still paving, or so she thinks. She refuses to go out with dignity, even though she may have lost that a long time ago.
I was fascinated to learn that her true love is acting—and yet she hardly acts anymore because her face is so contorted and twisted and BRANDED that she can’t possibly be cast as anyone other than herself. That leads me to think that all the plastic surgery pigeonholed her into comedy, which carried her for a really long time. But it’s so sad that she insists on getting so much face time everywhere, when her peers like Carol Burnett and Cloris Leachman are only working occasionally, enjoying the fruits of a long and successful career while taking on a comedic acting role here or there. At least she seems to be enjoying herself, though. It does keep her young on the inside. The outside is a whole different beast.
stef aside 