New feature alert! We’ll be looking back on some of the greatest interviews from The Daily archives, and there’s no better start than a redux of our chat with the late and great Joan Rivers when we chatted with her in 2011. Still can’t believe she’s not a part of our world, but her funny will live on. Read on…
JOAN KNOWS BEST: February 2011
The legendary Joan Rivers needs no introduction. She’s witty, acid-tongued, and wicked- no wonder fashionistas everywhere love and fear her! With her new reality show, Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, on WE tv and her turn on E!’s Fashion Police, the 77-year-old shows no signs of slowing down. The Daily got her on the phone to say, “Can we talk?” Warning: not for the easily offended! BY EDDIE ROCHE
Is this Miss Rivers?
Hi! Hi! Hi! How are you?
Great. So, the documentary on you, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, was beyond.
Thank you so much. People keep coming up to me to tell me they love it.
Were you upset you didn’t get a best documentary Oscar nomination?
Furious! A head of a documentary board in England told me that we wouldn’t get an Oscar nomination because it’s not socially significant enough. What the f**k do you want? It’s about ageism, survival, being a woman. It should have been nominated. It’s on DVD now.
It’s good to see you back on E!’s Fashion Police.
I do everything on Fashion Police as if I’m sitting on a sofa next to a friend. It’s what I’d say to a friend. That’s the fun of it. When Helena Bonham Carter comes down the carpet in two different shoes- that’s when you know there is a God!
Do you miss commenting on the red carpet?
Not at all! Going back to the red carpet was the first deal they offered us, but we said no. You can’t say anything on the red carpet now. You can’t make any remarks because the press agents won’t let you have the next guest. Everybody is dressed now by stylists, so the fun has really gone out of it. Boring! Boring! When a person doesn’t know whose jewelry they’re wearing?! When every dress looks the same? It’s time to move forward. I loved the good old days when Demi Moore wore bike pants. And what’s her name who was married to Alec Baldwin made her own dress for the Oscars. And Mira Sorvino looked like she was covering a toilet can in that big puffy dress… Those were the great days.
Have you ever had any actors confront you about things you’ve said about them?
Oh, yes! The smart ones laugh about it. Sarah Jessica Parker will laugh. I love her because she has fun with fashion. She gets it. Julia Roberts will say, “Say it to my face!” Those are the ones you just adore.
Let’s talk fashion. Who are your favorite designers?
Whoever gives things to me for free.
Where will we find you front row during Fashion Week?
I go to very few. I go to Elie Tahari because he’s a friend. I go to Dennis Basso. I think his clothing is wonderful. Marc Jacobs because I knew his dad. It’s always a friendship thing because you waste so much time from one to the other.
Hold up! How did you know Marc Jacobs’s dad?
Marc Jacobs’s dad was my first agent at William Morris. He died very young.
Tell me what Marc Jacobs was like as a baby!
How bad could Marc Jacobs be as a baby? He was an adorable baby. I knew his mother. If I had known Marc was going to turn into Marc, I would have been a lot nicer to this little rotten kid.
And what’s the Tahari connection? Did I hear you’re friends with his PR director, Scott Currie?
Scott’s the best. I think he’s one of the great publicists. Anybody that gets Scott gets 100 percent attention. The loyalty and devotion, you can’t buy it. He’s always got such great ideas. I’ll come to him with something and he’ll say, “This is what you should do, and this is what you should do!” And then you go, “I never thought of that!” He’s amazingly creative and loyal to his brands. And he’s one of the funniest men I know. We go away every Christmas together. You just laugh. He gets it. He’s a quintessential New Yorker. He lives in the city and uses it and enjoys it.
So you know Scott’s ex-client, Glenda Bailey?
Now, who is she?
She’s the editor and chief of Harper’s Bazaar.
She’s nice. I’ve sat with her at events, and she’s been very pleasant. My life is comedy and isn’t what their lives are about. What they take seriously, I find hilarious.
Let’s talk about models today. I’m sure you have a few words about them.
I think they are very brave to walk in this shoes. Anyone wearing those 12-inch heels and walking is a miracle. It’s really like the last scene in Helen Keller [The Miracle Worker].
What would you feed the models?
I would feed them banana cream pie from Joe Allen.
You’ve gone on record as saying that you love fur. Why do you love it so much?
Fur makes women look beautiful. You take an ugly face, and you put it next to a soft piece of fox, and that faces looks almost f**kable.
How does Joan Rivers want to be remembered?
I want to be remembered as the mother on the hit show Joan Knows Best?, who also did the Fashion Police on E!, and whose concerts sell out!
A FEW YEARS LATER…
After our interview came out, I saw Joan backstage at a show and had a copy of The Daily in my hand and showed her the issue with the interview. I was nervous, because if she didn’t like it…I would have been slapped down. Joan didn’t mince words. The outcome? She was beyond thrilled with the story, and couldn’t have been kinder to me. My friend Dan was backstage and offered to take a photo of us. I don’t normally do that, but I went for it that day. Recently, another friend of mine who worked with Joan closely for many years told me that this is a very rare photo of Miss Rivers with food (almost) in her mouth, and clearly in her hands. Food is boring when you have so much to say.
My favorite memory of her was at the Dennis Basso show a few seasons ago, when she was supposed to sit next to Joan Collins and she absolutely balked at the idea. I’m not sure what her personal gripe was, but she had no desire to sit with the other Joan. When people think of fashion show drama, this was a rare moment of the real thing. I overheard Joan (Rivers) say, ‘That photo op will look like two old ladies sitting together at a fashion show! No, no, no, no…” She was something else, and she was certainly never an old lady. I witnessed firsthand how gracious she was to everybody that came her way. Unless your name was Joan Collins. She knew best.—Eddie Roche, The Daily‘s deputy editor
