Anonymous wrote:

Look at any list of top rated comedians- past and present - and Rivers name is rarely mentioned.

Prove it.

Google is your friend - try it.

To 8:03 - read the list, thought the jokes were funny. And didn't see a racist one.

Her holocaust jokes remind us of the atrocities --- and it's a good thing since generations younger than me don't really seem to have a real grasp of it. So, while shocking and certainly not PC, the jokes serve a purpose by keeping the topic alive.

You just don't get her comedy. But many of us do...including her peers in the comedy world who adored her.

Ps - just because a person tells a crass/racist/whatever joke doesn't mean they personally are crass/racist/whatever. You need to learn to separate the jokes from the person.

I didn't get her humor, but I feel genuinely sad about her death. She clearly loved and cherished her daughter, and had many friends who speak to her kindness, generosity, and authenticity. And she achieved the kind of success that opened up opportunities for other women. She deserves all of the outpouring of appreciation we've seen, and then some.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/04/25/joan-rivers-controversial-comments/8141327/

These are examples of how she went too far and showed her true self. Not funny: racist and ugly.

Anonymous wrote:OP, nowadays everyone feels like they have to fall all over themselves expressing grief in an instance like this because there are Facebook pages to fill and a gazillion television stations and Internet sites with airtime and cyberspace to fill. No more room for thoughtful, quiet stoicism and respect in 2014. Rather, unleash the hysterical tears and wallowing and moaning - people are watching to see if your reaction is "good enough"!

Yeah. I have sympathy and understanding for the Queen when all that public hysteria over Diana was going on and everyone accused her of being a cold bitch because the royal family wasn't sobbing over Diana in public.

I dislike this over-emotional society too.

OP, nowadays everyone feels like they have to fall all over themselves expressing grief in an instance like this because there are Facebook pages to fill and a gazillion television stations and Internet sites with airtime and cyberspace to fill. No more room for thoughtful, quiet stoicism and respect in 2014. Rather, unleash the hysterical tears and wallowing and moaning - people are watching to see if your reaction is "good enough"!

she was an icon. She was a ground breaker. Sure, a lot of her jokes fell flat but sometimes she was totally funny.

A few days after 9/11, she asked a friend if he would like to join her for lunch at "Windows on the Ground." Come on, that is super funny black humor.

Look at any list of top rated comedians- past and present - and Rivers name is rarely mentioned.

Prove it.

The PPs who are forcing this to be a debate about whether Joan Rivers deserves to be mourned are assholes. No respect and not even funny while you're at it.

Joan Rivers was instrumental in enabling women to break into stand-up comedy. This was a very long time ago.

For the past three decades no one would have rated her as anywhere close to exceptional and the only way she got attention was to say outrageous, offensive and often insensitive things.

In some ways she reminds me of Ann Coulter who gets attention and has a limited following in the context of politics by making outrageous and inflammatory comments. Rivers did the same thing in the world of comedy.

Look at any list of top rated comedians- past and present - and Rivers name is rarely mentioned.

Those are just jokes. Comics aren't supposed to be PC. They are supposed to say incredibly ridiculous things.

I don't want to live in a world where comics have to censor their jokes.

Anonymous wrote:Well, pp, let's agree to disagree. But please understand that tons of us...including practically all comics...thought she was hilarious. And she did graduate phi beta kappa from an ivy.

PS - I also think Kathy Griffin and Sarah Silverman are hilarious. I'm guessing you think they are stupid racists, right? Because you can't understand their comedy.

Fair enough, I understand there are many opinions on comedy in the world and that's fine.

I love Kathy Griffin. Silverman...eh.

Count me among those who fail to see Joan River's humor:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/24/joan-rivers-kidnapping-victims_n_5206222.html

Actually, count me among those who are mystified that some people defend these sort of vile comments ostensibly under the guise of humor.

Well, pp, let's agree to disagree. But please understand that tons of us...including practically all comics...thought she was hilarious. And she did graduate phi beta kappa from an ivy.

PS - I also think Kathy Griffin and Sarah Silverman are hilarious. I'm guessing you think they are stupid racists, right? Because you can't understand their comedy.

Anonymous wrote:People who are too stupid to understand that comics are supposed to push the envelope and that their onstage persona is not the complete picture of their personal identity scare me. She was a comedian, people!! The majority of the celebs she skewered LOVED her. It was an act.

I am not sure you and I agree on what it means to "push the envelope". Intelligent, good-humored satire and snark is always welcome. But that wasn't Joan Rivers' act.