At 80, Joan Rivers unapologetic about her edgy comedy
Joan Rivers sits down with AOL.com and says she feels "sad" for people who can't laugh at her jokes. And at 80, she isn't about to apologize for her polarizing humor.
Joan Rivers has been making us all laugh most memorably since she first appeared on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" in 1965. Since then, the legendary comedienne has been non-stop with her in-your-face brand of comedy and unbelievable savvy for superstar style.
But at 80 years old, Rivers, sitting along side daughter Melissa, tells AOL.com's Brian Balthazar she's tired of being asked if she'll retire. "I love what I do. People ask, 'When are you going to retire?' Retire? I am retired! I was retired from the day I was born! I love what I'm doing! This is playing to me!"
Juggling more work than stars half her age, Rivers hosts E!'s hit show "Fashion Police" on Friday nights and she's teamed up with Melissa for her WE tv reality show "Joan and Melissa: Joan Knows Best". Yet Joan says she tells Balthazar there hasn't been the a-ha moment where she feels like a huge success. "Never, nev-er!" says Joan. What keeps her going? "Mortgage, school payments..." Melissa adds, "My mom always said find something that you love to do and eventually people will pay you to do it."
Joan's living proof of her mantra but she says there's something even more important about her craft even if it is, at times, considered racy or going too far. She says she rarely apologizes for her humor because, "We are here to make you laugh about everything. That is our 'job'" says Joan. "Life is tough, life is sad, life is full of disappointments and losses. And if you don't laugh through them, then I'm sorry for you. Because then you're going to have it five times as hard as anybody that laughs."
Wise words from a woman who's kept us laughing through the good and the bad. Be sure to catch Joan and Melissa for the season premiere of "Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best" Saturday at 10pm on WE tv. Also Friday nights, catch Joan and her "Joan Rangers" on "Fashion Police" Friday nights at 9pm on E!.
