The great Joan Rivers’ legacy has been recapped flawlessly in the week following her death.
There was debate about whether her true funeral wishes were going to be honored, but according to the accounts of celebrities who attended in Manhattan on Sunday, it was the kind of star-studded extravaganza Joan would have wanted.
Veteran Broadway performer Hugh Jackman told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show last night that he performed “Quiet Please, There’s A Lady On Stage” during Joan’s funeral service. Apparently Joan wanted Jackman to perform it ever since she saw him in The Boy from Oz on Broadway in 2004.
“It was amazing,” he said. “I must admit: I’ve been to several funerals, and I’ve always kind of felt for the person who has to sing. I’ve always said, ‘Oh, how do you do that?'”
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Comedienne Margaret Cho documented her experience attending Joan’s funeral on her blog, calling it the “saddest day.” She wrote that one of the funeral’s more memorable moments was a loud, crass joke delivered by Howard Stern:
In the morose silence Howard Stern said, “Joan Rivers had a dry pussy.”
At first, the words just hung there, as no one knew exactly what to do. Of course I started laughing hysterically, and everyone else, remembering who we were there to honor, followed suit. Howard Stern actually choked back tears as he continued – “Joan’s pussy was so dry it was like a sponge – so that when she got in the bathtub – whooooosh – all the water would get absorbed in there! Joan said that if Whitney Houston had as dry a pussy as Joan’s, she would still be alive today…”
It was so wrong but so right at the same time. So Joan. So great. RIP my friend.
During the service, Joan’s daughter Melissa delivered an appropriately hilarious eulogy, describing her mother as a “true creative genius” and “late with the rent.”
Cho joined Jane Lynch, Lily Tomlin, Regis Philbin, Ryan Seacrest and Don Rickles on a tribute special episode of “Larry King Now” this week. The full episode is now available on Hulu.
Check out CNN’s awesome coverage of Joan’s legacy here, and their full coverage of the A-list funeral below:
Photo: Instagram
Caine
I was delighted when I saw who attended. Thrilled to hear the Gay Men’s Chorus, Hugh Jackman and Audra McDonald performed. I have a new found respect for Howard Stern (the secret is out – beneath that gruff exterior is a pussycat) for delivering the eulogy. Delirious when the theater community banded together to demand that the Broadway lights be dimmed in Joan’s honor. We will never in our lifetime see another like Joan Rivers. RIP.
Ronbo
Although I liked her humor years ago, she lost me when she said “Palestinians deserve to be dead…. You’re dead, you deserve to be dead. Don’t you dare make me feel bad about that.”
In life as in death, the irony of her words are haunting.
ScaryRussianHeather
@Ronbo: Nonsense. If you allow terrorists to plant bombs under your house, dig million dollar tunnels under your house to infiltrate Israel, and use you for human shields AND DON’T LEAVE WHEN YOU GET THE WARNING….don’t be surprised if you die.
Rivers was a Russian Jew and not about to roll over while the caliphate proceeds to exterminate Jews. AGAIN.
She was a fearless truth teller till the END.
Saint Law
@ScaryRussianHeather: Nonsense. If you allow terrorists to ethnically cleanse a people in order to impose your tribal state and then continue to steal what remains of their land while cramming them in to the most densely populated prison camp on earth before bombing it in to ruins…don’t be surprised when the rest of the world turns on you.
Rivers was a one-note mediocrity who often didn’t even write her own material and you are an inane, shrieking idiot who has mistaken caps lock for eloquence.
xx