Here's to the queen of comedy!

Yesterday afternoon I received a text. 

It was from the beau and it simply said "your joan rivers died." 

While Joan Rivers was far from being solely mine, the news of her death did, in fact, hit me hard.

I never met her but I felt like I knew her. 

Thanks to her trailblazing stand-up comedy routines, her outrageous red carpet antics (she made the red carpet what it is today - before her, it was literally just a carpet), her hilarious (and touching) reality series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, the insightful documentary about her life fittingly dubbed a Piece of Work, her biting Fashion Police quips and, of course, her salacious In Bed with Joan web chat show, I came to know one of the funniest, and hardest-working, women in showbiz.

And if the most important thing to be able to laugh at is yourself, then she was definitely a pro at that as well:

   comedy central roast of joan rivers

Interestingly enough, I came to "know" Joan through one of her greatest critics: my gal Chelsea Handler. While the two had a well-publicized feud due to the fact that Joan accused Chelsea of sleeping her way to the top and being a "drunk whore," it is thanks to one biatch that I got to know the other biatch.

who is wendy williams and why is she drinking tea through a straw?

Like most comedians, Joan did not have an easy life. A crippling sense of insecurity (hello plastic surgery!), a marriage that ended when her husband committed suicide after their television show got cancelled and a fraught mother-daughter relationship all contributed to what made Joan who, and how funny, she was.

Watching her documentary was a real eye-opener for me. 

In it, she talks about being fearful of being unemployed and deemed "irrelevant." This from a woman who won wrote 10 books, appeared in nine films and over 60 television shows and sold "$750 million worth of jewellery on the TV shopping channel QVC," according to The Telegraph.  

 miley's tongue thrusting inspiration?

She also unleashes "the card catalog," a catalog of every joke she has ever written.

 the serious business of comedy

If Joan, the woman who "just wanted to be liked" was here today, she would see that she was more than just liked. 

She was loved. 

And she will be missed.   

Oh, and also, this explains a lot:

may the lady with the peace pipe rest in peace!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday five

These days my life seems to be all about E!.

And by E! I mean the E! network, natch.

While I have absolutely no patience for the schlock televised by most local and basic cable networks - and don't even get me started on the quality of "news" these days - the E! network holds a nearly endless fascination for me.  

From Joan Rivers and Chelsea Handler to Kimora Lee Simmons and Betsey Johnson, without forgetting the ubiquitous Kardashians (of course), the roster of talented, or at the very least entertaining, folks at the E! network is mind boggling.

As if turning 80 isn't enough to celebrate, Joan Rivers has a total of two, count 'em, two shows on E!: Fashion Police and Joan and Melissa. Fashion police is an hour of fashion truth doled out by the queen of comedy along with her Joan Rangers; Kelly Osbourne, Giuliana Rancic and George Kotsiopoulos. 

While several celebrities don't seem to find the humour in being (good-naturedly) ridiculed - aka Anne Hathaway "we've seen your breasts, calm down" - I find it fabulous.

Speaking of fabulosity, Kimora Lee Simmons, self-proclaimed style icon, offers a behind-the-scenes look at her online shoe empire, JustFab, on Kimora: House of Fab. As a member of JustFab that has not yet taken the plunge and purchased a pair of sky-high stilettos, the show is pretty convincing. I mean... just check out what my fave gay Johnny JustFab has to say about... matching shoez and bagz.

While there is no one I enjoy keeping up with more than the Kardashians, I especially enjoy keeping up with their eating.

I'm weird in that I like to watch a lot of food shows. Whether it's watching food be prepared, served or actually consumed, I enjoy it. It calms me. It's like living umami. 

I dare you to watch an episode, nay, a segment, of Keeping up with the K's without getting hungry. When they're not taking food out of a (perfectly organized) fridge, eating in, eating out, ordering in or taking out, they're talking about how hungry they are.

I know exactly how they feel.

I actually went online to try and find out who made and delivered their at-home meals (hello Sunfare!), because the chicken Caesar salad looked so good.

But back to business.

That's what she said. 

Betsey Johnson I mean.

After going bankrupt, or out of business, the cartwheel-into-splits designer is re-launching her career, and returning to New York fashion Week, via the Style network and E! with XOX Betsey Johnson.

And then there's Chelsea Lately... 

Sing it sister!