10 years after Joan Rivers’ death, the red carpet she pioneered is a pitiful mess

It doesn’t seem possible that it’s been a decade. I remember her death being such a surprise because she was healthy and still working her butt off. She loved the business.

She was a pig.

R1 I agree. I couldn't believe it when the news that day was 'breaking' on all the cable news channels that she had died.

I loved Joan. I miss here style. While she had a tough talking exterior and lots of plastic surgery, she had class. She ran with a high society crowd in LA and New York. Real Society stuff where she might be the only person on "show biz". Example, in 2003 she went on a painting vacation in the south of France with friends and met the then Prince, and now King Charles and Camilla. They stayed friends until Joan died. She ran in higher circles than almost anyone else in comedy I would imagine. And when it came to Fashion, Joan counted. She was the real deal. She knew it well. She was great friends with the designers. She could walk the walk. At the end of the day, Joan was a nice, mouthy incredibly creative funny girl from New York. Daughter of a doctor, she went to good schools and college. She then turned out to make smart and brave career choices. And became a bit of an Empire. Joan was a classy broad.

Joan also did a lot of charity work that she didn’t publicly speak about, unlike so many celebrities today.

Because of her documentary, in which she was filmed working for one of her favorite charities 'God's Love, We Deliver' (she delivered Thanksgiving dinners to those who were shut-ins), I have kept this as one of my charities in memory of her - to thank her for all the laughs she gave me. I'm choosy about what I donate to, but I'm glad to donate to them each year.

She did many great things, but I always thought her stint on the red carpet was overrated.

And people forget that towards the end, many stars started avoided her because of shit she had said about them on the after shows. She insulted Kathy Bates one time, that she visibly snubbed Rivers on the next red carpet, and Joan yelled out to throw a Ring Ding at her to get her to come back. I also remember her being vicious to Gillian Anderson and Jack Lemmon for no reason. (Although in her documentary, she says that Lemmon walked out of her one of her early stand-up shows because he thought Rivers act was disgusting.)

She's also responsible for making the red carpet a cottage industry and taking all the fun out of it for many years. Award shows became country club galas in Greenwich CT. Thankfully that era has largely passed and celebrities are a little more comfortable being unique again.

[quote] Joan was a classy broad.

She was many things.

But classy, she was absolutely not.

Trump and the Russians killed her.

That "Fat Ozempic nasty ugly pig Bitch Osbourne whore" killed my favorite show, Fashion Police.

Fuck dat Fat whore

Fashion Police was 'must see TV' - when it was good, it was fantastic.

The best bit was Starlet or Streetwalker. That really hit too close to home as it was impossible to usually tell them apart.

What r11 said.

Rivers had a superb eye for identifying glamour, that mystifying undefinable thing in those who had it and walked the Red Carpet.

I respected her opinions because even if she mercilessly ridiculed a somebody about their stardom, if she thought they nailed it and looked gorgeous, she'd say so. Angelina Jolie is a prominent example of that.

Of course, what everybody really tuned in to "Fashion Police" for, including me, was her caustic, mean remarks. Still, she usually was right.

Fashion Police was always interesting to me because at the end of the day, shouldn't they have been bashing the designers instead of the actress/actor who decided to wear dress/suit/whatever?

Joan stopped being fun in the 1980s and mostly became a mean, vicious old witch who relentlessly attacked people who couldn't answer back, but was extremely careful to always kiss the behinds of the truly powerful, just in case. Yes, she still made a hilarious joke from time to time and proved to be a very strong and determined person when she rebuilt both her life and career, after her useless husband Edgar left her bankrupt and unemployed in 1987, but she was an insufferable, neurotic and bitter cunt most of the time.

As for Fashion Police, I have never understood why people considered Joan an authority on etiquette and good taste. She was always ridiculously overdressed for every occasion, which someone truly sophisticated never does. Moreover, her panelists were utterly worthless bottom feeders who contributed to defenestrate people who, unlike them, are actually successful.

I can't believe she was only 81 when she died.

And she was right - Kathy Griffin stole her act.

Kathy Griffin stole Sandra Bernhardt’s act as well. Sandra said Bravo came to her first with the idea of the D-list but found the concept insulting

[quote] Moreover, her panelists were utterly worthless bottom feeders who contributed to defenestrate people who, unlike them, are actually successful.

I'm not arguing your characterization of Fashion Police panelists, although, I don't share it. Yeah, there's a pecking order in show business.

Which brings me to the top of the pecking order, as momentary as those are even for "A List " celebrities.

Those "actually successful" people are submitting to, welcoming, wanting to be in a position to make it to the Red Carpet.

When that opportunity arrives, they, along with a stylist, make volitional choices what will drape their bodies and will be shown on my living room TV. They're expressing themselves through their appearance.

But, that ain't a one-way street, it's a two-ways one, where I get to react to what they're expressing.

If enjoying Fashion Police was a shallow, meaningless, empty consuming of trash TV, I'll own that.

On the red carpet, there has never been anyone better than Joan.

I was a Joan fan back when she was subbing for Carson and I loved her, sadly, short lived talk show. Her comedy album 'What becomes a semi Legend Most' is classic Joan and I saw her on Broadway in Broadway Bound which proved she was a fine actress. It was sad to see her become nasty and bitter later in life because she seemed like a genuinely good person. But, for me, she just went so low she was no longer funny.

Republicunt, someone who had everything, & everything wasn't enough.

[quote]the red carpet she pioneered is a pitiful mess

Just as I imagine Joan (Without Me You're Nothing) would like it.

I hated that bitch!

She needed her writers. Everyone conveniently forgets what a disaster she was when she was on the Red Carpet herself. Not knowing celebrities, mispronouncing names, not knowing movies or TV shows. Even on DL we were suggesting she was either in the middle of some kind of a breakdown or at the beginning stages of dementia. When she got her writers back for the studio show, she treated them like shit.

I miss Joan’s jokes and reads. She was so fucking funny yo. Joan was the GOAT of red carpet fashion and commentary.

She called out Barack as gay years ago. And here we are, a pile of gays, thinking he had a thing for Susan Rice.

pretty good source material for a film bio...

R26 When did she call Barack gay. She was obviously making a joke. She didn’t “call him out” if she did you big dummy.

R28 —I don’t know if she was necessarily joking here. She sounded rather stern about it, if she was joking:

R29 Bruh, if you don’t realize she is joking then something is wrong with YOU.

She was really done dirty by her late husband Edgar, who left her in a shitload of debt, and by Johnny Carson.

R30, you are such an obnoxious sock puppet.

R32 Running up that Hill by Kate Bush.

R31, Carson didn't do her dirty. FAFO. She even admitted she made a mistake about the way she handled the Carson job in his PBS bio.

Her long time manager said she was just saying anything she could to get people to talk about her. You had to ignore everything she said because it was simple provocation. It was all she had left. Very sad, really.

R35 😆 Right it’s so obvious. Joan was no dummy. She was from the old school. There is no such thing as bad press. I never forget when she roasted Rihanna’s ass when Ciara was a guest on fashion police. Joan was pure comedy all the time. I miss her.

[quote]It was sad to see her become nasty and bitter later in life because she seemed like a genuinely good person. But, for me, she just went so low she was no longer funny.

It seems like there are many people who don't understand Joan Molinsky the person was playing 'Joan Rivers' the comedienne. As with every performing artist making a living in pop culture (music, movies, theater, etc) you change with the times to stay relevant and employed. Comedy in the 2000s was not the same as comedy in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s...and Joan Rivers the comedienne changed with it. She would never had lasted and remained at the top of her game in 2014 if she was still doing the same comedy she did on The Tonight Show in 1984.

Her shtick was mean-spirited in her later years, but the woman really was super kind to her fans. She's not quite a Dolly Parton but she did many, many good things for people without needing a press release. A friend of mine met her multiple times throughout her career and she ended up remembering him after a couple meetings, addressing him by name and asking about his family/husband. I miss Joan.

None of the Fashion Police panel, including Joan, was incisive re: fashion. The panel needed someone like Naomi Campbell.

Joan was good friends with Cindy Adams and Judge Judy.

If she were alive, she'd be supporting Trump.

R39 I like to think she wouldn’t have supported him after the insurrection. Actually I’m sure of it.

Stop speaking for the dead. She knew Trump before he completely fucked up our country. She would have been destroying the clown, his bitch wife and fugly kids had she lived long enough. I would bet on that.

R41 agreed. Let’s not forget The Clintons were good friends with Trump at one time. Joan was a stupid ass Republican thot for sure but I don’t she would have been fucking with him after January 6.

I’ve had drinks with Joan twice at SoHo House LA through a mutual friend. Granted we didn’t have long, deep conversations but she was very pleasant, and most importantly not fake. I recognized her as a true New Yorker. I remember her perfume and her calling my friend “my angel” a bunch of times. I think deep down she was just a nice Jewish girl.

[quote] Her shtick was mean-spirited in her later years

From 2000 - 2014, which successful comedian didn't have a mean-spirited shtick ?

R43 Joan had a reputation of being a very generous tipper to limo drivers who took her to JFK, as well as being one of the few celebrities that would engage in conversations with drivers.

While briefly and lightly entertaining in the way she did Red Carpet coverage, she participated in the vulgar merchandising and monetization of such events and this hasn't turned out well. If "the red carpet she pioneered is a pitiful mess" she is partly to blame. Otherwise I liked a lot of her career and talents.

She was basically DL in verbal form - so we should all love her.

She could be funny and entertaining but , if by nothing else, pontificating and making fun publicly at other people clothes is the opposite of “classy”.

I agree that she was sort of DL in verbal form but this is an anonymous forum.

Before Miss Taylor got involved in the AIDS crisis due to her buddy Rock, there were 2 wonderful funny, mean& brilliant female entertainers who got involved in raising $$$$ for the AIDS crisis.

Joan Rivers and Bette Midler, of course. They picked on me at an AIDS fundraiser in the village in the late 80's because I was wearing an "original Perry Ellis suit"

I absolutely loved Joan, but while she enjoyed jokingly ridiculing others (Elizabeth Taylor, Bo Derek, Princess Anne…), she could be thin skinned when she or Melissa were criticized.

I will never EVER forget this. Joan was entertainment personified. She read that blonde Becky frau to filth. New Yorkers stand up. Joan gave no fucks and was always real.