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"Joan Rivers, comedienne, actress, jewelry monger, lives by the golden rule: Do unto others before they do unto you--and for God's sakes, do it funny! During the past two hundred years Joan has gained acclaim as an award-winning entertainment goddess. Joan is an international star (she can sneer in eight different languages) having performed all over the world, raising eyebrows, dropping names, and getting laughs. Her career in comedy began with a fantastic sense of self-loathing, but, after spending a couple of years looking at the human decrepitude around her, she figured, "Why stop here when there are so many other things to hate?" Here--uncensored and totally uninhibited--Joan says "F.U. to P.C." and says exactly what's on her mind...And HER mind is a terrible thing to waste. She proudly kicks the crap out of ugly children, dating rituals, funerals, and lousy restaurants. She nails First Ladies, closet cases, and hypocrites to the wall. She shows no mercy towards doctors, feminists, and historical figures. She even goes after Anne Frank, Stephen Hawking, and the plucky handicapped. Joan lets everyone--including herself--have it in this one hundred percent honest and unabashedly hilarious love letter to the hater in all of us. This is absolute Joan Rivers. You gotta love her. Even if she hates you"--… (more)
User reviews
There's nothing new under the sun, and that's certainly the case here. If you didn't like Joan before this book will not change your mind. OTOH, if you
I wasn’t always offended by her attacks – after all, she doesn’t leave anyone out, not even herself. And she makes a point of
At times, she tackled subjects that just would have best been left alone. I’m not one to find humor in making fun of, for instance, handicapped people.
Also, I do admit to wishing she hadn’t employed foul language so freely. (Although she quite rightly goes after hypocritical people like me who say “f-ing” but get all freaked out over people using the full “F word.”) But I did feel squirmily offended by her frequent gratuitous use of words that are not only crass and deprecatory but, in addition, sexist when referring to females: does she really have to call Anne Frank “that b*tch” or call other women the “c-word”?
It’s very interesting to me that so much of what is considered funny today involves sex and/or vulgarity. Certainly for years and years comedians made people laugh through witticisms like clever puns, or lampoons, or even insults, without resorting to raunchiness. Joan Rivers seems to think that her flagrant use of obscenity is funny in and of itself. And sometimes, it is in fact an essential part of the joke. Take this example by Rodney Dangerfeld, who gave his impression of a New York echo as:
"Helloooo!
Shut the f*ck up!"
But for the most part, I don’t find profanity inherently amusing. Maybe it is so to many people, but I sort of prefer more content to my social satire.