I may have more to say about Joan Rivers. I may not. What is there to say (other than: if you want to know what drove her, what gave her joy and what drove her –hint, it wasn’t praise, it was fear– check out the documentary A Piece of Work) that everyone doesn’t already know? Not sure if any other contemporary comedian, or artist, put it all out there with such aplomb. Her life was her work and vice versa: she was never not “on” and she truly went out the way she wanted: working, pushing, not resting, never satisfied.
For me, this clip was a revelation, and it serves (better than some random clip from her stand-up career, no matter how consistently satisfying, groundbreaking and hilarious so much of it was) to summarize everything about her, her profession and her persona.
It’s all in here: a life; a vocation, a curious obsession distilled into 2 minutes: the humor, the sadness, the fear, the drive, the loneliness, the courage, the ambition, the absurdity. (also: Louis CK is a genius). R.I.P. Joan, you were always beautiful in all the important ways.
