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Oscars 2000: Q & A with Joan Rivers
Monday, March 27, 2000 By Marylynn Uricchio, Post-Gazette Seen Editor
Joan Rivers is a comedian, author, actor, playwright, screenwriter, movie director, TV and radio talk show host, businesswoman with two successful product lines on QVC and the co-host with her daughter Melissa of E! Academy Awards Live Pre-Show, which aired last night. Rivers will be at the Westin William Penn Friday for "An Intimate Evening With Joan Rivers," a gala benefit for the Pittsburgh Public Theater. Call 412-316-8200, Ext. 724 for tickets.
Q. Have there been repercussions from your uninhibited Oscar coverage?
A. We did it initially just as a lark for me to get out to California and work with Melissa, and it's turned into this institution. The ratings are sky high, and the only one who's really angry with us is Kathy Bates. My attitude, truly, is we have never said anything you haven't said to your girlfriend when your sitting next to her on the couch.
Q. What do you think of this trend toward bare dressing?
A. I think if you work out in the gym everyday and you starve yourself and live on a lettuce leaf, flaunt it.
Q. Who do you think is funny?
A. The same people we all do. Jim Carrey is brilliant. Lily Tomlin is brilliant. Robin Williams is brilliant. Chris Rock is brilliant. It goes on and on. The wit of Bill Maher. I don't know where he gets those lines from. I get so jealous when I listen to his monologues. I think dammit, why didn't I think of that.
Q. You're already rich and famous, so what drives you?
A. Trust me, I'm not rich. I'm well off and I've done everything I've wanted to do and I've gone every place I've wanted to go, and since my husband's suicide I totally indulge myself. I have two ideas for documentaries I'm dying to do, I want to go back to Broadway, I just finished a script, I have yet to do a major motion picture with a good part, I would love to be on a series third man down so I have none of the responsibilities but I could get out to California and see Melissa. It's the most fun in the world, what I do. That's my joy, and I'm so lucky I can do what I love. I have a psychologist I go to on and off, and I was going to see her this morning and I said this is a waste, I'm so happy.
Q. You've sold $160 million of your jewelry on QVC, and you recently launched a skin care line, Joan Rivers Results. Do you design and use this stuff?
A. I'm not a substitute teacher. I am there every day. I love that business. Yes, I use them. That's why our business is 10 years old and it's going gangbusters. Nobody is going to buy a piece of jewelry from you for the second time because they like you. They're going to buy it once, and if it's not good they're never going to buy it again. And now the skin care, which I waited to bring out, is a fabulous product. That's all I use.
Q. What is it that women like about you?
A. I think they like me, truly, because I tell the truth. They may not always agree with me, but at least I have an opinion, and they know it's from my heart. I've never, ever pandered to an audience in my nightclub act, or my concert or whatever they call it now. I've never said oh, you're the most wonderful audience in the world when they stank.
Q. You've endured such public failure and tragedy. What advice can you give?
A. I'm one of those bags you knock down and it comes back up. One, it gets better. It's going to get better. Two, move on, do not get weighed down in what has happened. Move on. Always move ahead. And get help. Don't be one of those people who say I can do it myself. Do it the easy way. Life is tough enough.
Q. Did you ever make up with Johnny Carson?
A. We never did, and it makes me terribly sad. I called him before I left, I did everything so honorably and he said I didn't call. His son died and I wrote him a letter and I never heard and you think, God! Finally, from this distance, I think he never thought as a woman I would leave him. Cosby left, Brenner left, Letterman left, it never got him. It hurts me in my heart because he gave me my start, I met my husband through him and I think wouldn't it be nice to sit down and say do you remember so and so and get hysterical, you know, old friends, and it's terribly sad. God knows my door is open.
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