Joan Rivers was the kind of person who seemed like she would live forever. That’s because her whole life and career revolved around never stopping — never retiring from show business and never giving up.
Her career was marred by grief and disappointment, like the failure of her 1986 talk show, “The Late Show with Joan Rivers”; the suicide of her husband, Edgar; and the public demise of her friendship with Johnny Carson. But Rivers constantly found ways to pick herself up, and remained just as biting and relevant as ever up until her passing Sept. 4 at the age of 81.
I’m writing about Rivers’ death, when in fact I could’ve been writing an interview with Rivers herself. For me, what’s so surreal about her passing is that I was scheduled to interview Rivers only two weeks before she died, in conjunction with her scheduled Aug. 29 appearance at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank.
Due to some scheduling conflicts, Rivers and I had to cancel our interview.
I was disappointed, but not devastated — after all, Rivers was the type of person who would live forever. I would get another opportunity to interview her.
Two weeks later, she died.
Sometimes life works in strange ways, and I’m not sure that anything quite this strange has happened to me before.
Instead of feeling heartbroken that I didn’t get the chance to interview Rivers, I feel something else — something that I can only describe as awe — in light of the fact that I’m able to feel this connected to her, even if we never got to meet in person.
Rivers was such an inspiration to me that I even wrote about her in my college admissions essay for New York University. The question was, if you could spend a day with anyone at any place, who would you choose and where?
I wrote that I would spend the day with Joan Rivers in Disney World. She works so hard to make others laugh — though her own life has been so filled with tragedy — that I thought she deserved a day of fun for herself.
I got accepted based on that essay, so I can truly say that I wouldn’t be where I am today without her.
It’s a shame that I never got the chance to show Rivers my gratitude for all that she has done. Thank you for getting me into college. Thank you for making me laugh, and teaching me how to dress better. Thank you for standing up to all the challenges that have come your way, and proving that life goes on.
Rivers has been quoted as saying, “Life is so much fun. It’s one big movie!” As I look back in awe at the way she played a role in my life, I can agree that life really is one big movie. It’s filled with twists and turns, and sometimes it doesn’t make sense, and sometimes it’s a tear-jerker. And, like any good movie, life can be amazingly, outrageously entertaining.
Thank you, Joan, for keeping me entertained.