When Joan Rivers died last week at age 81, the world lost the rare comedy legend who never slowed down over the course of a five-decade career.
Just this past July, the caustic comic stopped by SiriusXM to discuss everything from her ’60s comedy peers to one-liners written on scraps of paper in her purse.
Rivers’ recollections of what the New York comedy scene was like when she started out are hilarious and even heartfelt — it’s one of the few times you catch her looking backward instead of forward.
Reminiscing about shows at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village, Rivers talks about a vibrant scene that included Bill Cosby, George Carlin, Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce — not to mention “Bobby Dylan running around with a scarf” and occasional appearances from Barbra Streisand (which she follows with barking dog noises).
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One of the few vintage comics she didn’t have kind words for was Jerry Lewis, who recently admitted to SiriusXM that he threatened to have goons beat her up after she bad-mouthed his telethon back in the day. Although Rivers said, “I don’t want my knees broken over Jerry Lewis,” she did mention catching a Lewis cameo on a recent episode of Walking Dead.
As for her tireless work ethic, Rivers even ripped open her purse and read off a few jokes she was carrying around — one-liners about everything from Easter to flatulence. Listen below.