Five months after her death, Joan Rivers has been honored with a Grammy Award for the audio recording of her 2014 memoir, Diary of a Mad Diva.

Congrats Best Spoken Word Album ‘Diary Of A Mad Diva’ #JoanRivers #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/x9NAa630M9

— The GRAMMYs (@TheGRAMMYs) February 8, 2015

The beloved comedienne/actress/writer (and fierce defender of Israel) died suddenly in September, after complications while undergoing throat surgery.

“It’s a difficult moment. It’s a little bittersweet,” said daughter Melissa Rivers on the red carpet, soon after the news was announced. “But it’s wonderful how loved she was and how she’s getting so much attention now and people are really understanding what she’s about.”

You can listen to an excerpt here, replete with jokes about vagina piercings and killing Jesus. Oh, Joan.

(Image: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Related: These Two Clips Show Joan Rivers’ Timeless Comic Genius

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Joan Rivers died yesterday at the age of 81, and the outpouring of internet-grief was at once sincere, grandiose, cheeky, mean, and a little ironic—just as the great comedienne would have wanted it, I suspect. I’m not going to opine here about her talent and legacy, because y’all know about that already. Instead, I’m going to leave you with two terrific clips from the beginning and end of her career. Bookends, if you will. (Bonus: they both contain allusions to necrophilia!)

The first is from a 1967 appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, in which she laments dating double standards vis-à-vis men and women. It’s hyperbolic, of course, but it’s hilarious and truthful, and just as timely today as it was 47 years ago.

“A girl, you’re 30-years-old, you’re not married, you’re an old maid. A man, he’s 90-years-old, he’s not married, he’s a catch… It kills me! ‘We have an extra man.’ ‘Bring him along, being him along.’ ‘He’s 98.’ ‘Bring him, bring him.’ ‘He’s dead.’ ‘Bring him! We’ll prop him, just bring him. We’ll say he’s quiet.'”

The second is from her 2011 cameo in season two of Louis C.K.’s exquisite TV series, in which she plays… herself, naturally. To set the scene: Louis has just finished a crappy, humiliating gig in Atlantic City, and he’s feeling a little sorry for himself. (Hard knock life of a stand-up comic, etc.) Enter Joan: Survivor! Tigress! Dispenser of Wisdom! Lifelong Servant to the Goddess of Comedy! In a short heartfelt speech, she schools the nebbish Louis about why they keeping doing what they do—to audiences tiny and illustrious.

“Listen, I wish I could tell you it gets better, but it doesn’t get better. You get better… I’ve gone up, I’ve gone down, I’ve been bankrupt, I’ve been broke. But you do it, and you do it because… because we love it more than anything else. That’s why you’re doing it. You want a real job honey, there are a million things you can do. But what we do is not a job. It sounds so stupid. What we do is a calling, my dear. We make people happy.”

If you want to see an example of perfectly executed comic timing, stick around for the look she gives Louis at 1:23. Genius.

http://youtu.be/BnAIX7fWsdU

(Image: YouTube)

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Kids, gather ’round for another exciting installment of “War, What is It Good For?” Episode two: Soliciting celebrities’ opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Specifically, Joan Rivers.

Last week, the legendary comedian delivered an impassioned defense of Israel to TMZ, which was gleefully disseminated by supporters and critics of Israel alike. (“Joan Rivers — GOES OFF on Epic Israel/Palestine Rant,” read TMZ’s headline. I was half-hoping firecrackers were going to fly out of her bouffant. Sadly, no dice.)

“Let me just tell you,” Rivers began, planting her feet on the ground outside LAX, where the film crew had accosted her. “If New Jersey were firing rockets into New York, we would wipe them out… You can not throw rockets and not expect people to defend themselves.” She said BBC and CNN “should be ashamed of themselves” for their unbalanced coverage of the conflict, and then, when asked about Selena Gomez’s ‘Pray for Gaza’ Instagram pic, she questioned the 22-year-old singer’s ability to spell the word ‘Palestinian.’

The video clearly struck a chord with TV producers the world over, because Israel’s channel 10 sought Rivers out for a more in-depth interview today. When asked what the country could do to improve its PR campaign—and why celebrities like Gomez and Rihanna were expressing their support for Gaza on social media—she offered the following analysis: “They see pictures of children and they go crazy. I think Israel should start showing pictures of dead puppies, and they’ll go boo hoo.”

The interview concluded with a riff on ‘Gotta Have It, Make It Stop,’ the hot-or-not segment from Rivers’ celebrity style show, Fashion Police.

“I think we should make it [the conflict] stop, and I think I know how to make it stop,” she opined. “I think every Palestinian should get a nose job, because once somebody’s had a nose job, they won’t fight because they’re scared the new nose will get broken. I think we should send over every great Jewish plastic surgeon doctor, fix their noses, and there’ll be peace in the Middle East.”

Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is open to comments. Be my guest.

Related: Russell Brand Rips Into Sean Hannity For Bullying Guest on Gaza Conflict

Image: YouTube

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Say what you will about the iconic 80-year-old comedian and her perpetually yanked and stretched face, but no one can give-and-take quite like Joan Rivers.

Jennifer Lawrence, who has acquired the epithet, “America’s Sweetheart,” started beef with Rivers in November when she made a comment about the vapidity of Rivers’ celeb-judging show on E!, Fashion Police–something most actresses wouldn’t do, for fear of being skinned like a sheep by Rivers’ timely and hilarious insults.

Jennifer said: “There are shows like the Fashion Police that are just showing these generations of young people to judge people based on all the wrong values and that it’s OK to point at people and call them ugly or fat.”

Rivers already responded to that Fashion Police diss, but in true Joan fashion, she can’t stop, and she won’t stop (can’t you see it’s Joan who owns the night?). Joan continued to the New York Post:

“I love that she’s telling everyone how wrong it is to worry about retouching and body image, and meanwhile, she has been touched up more than a choir boy at the Vatican. Look at her posters. She doesn’t have a nose, she has two holes. She just has to learn, don’t talk if you’re doing it.”

“My New Year’s resolution is [ensuring] Jennifer Lawrence grows up and realizes how lucky she is and calms down.”

However, Joan still showed some love for J-Law’s acting skills, because they are of course, stupendous: “She’s an amazing actress, she’s the next Meryl Streep.”

It’s just like…. SO many things about America’s beauty culture are wrong. To call out Rivs’ pride and joy (the show), among all things, is just silly. Regardless, Jennifer is busy being America’s favorite actress, so I guess she ain’t got time for Joan either.

(Getty Images)

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On Tuesday night, Joan Rivers, clad in a silver sequined jacket, took the stage at New York City’s West Bank Cafe. Shining like a disco ball, she warned us she was a little drunk. She had just performed for a group of Jews, and “Uchhh,” she whined. The crowd cheered in the name of inebriation, or something.

Rivers is a legend. If the warm reception of the audience, visibly elated to be in her presence, is any indication, her “Queen of Comedy” crown is still intact. Her facial expressions—scrunched up, eyes rolled, tongue out—were a hit. Her jokes, laced with racism, classism, and ageism, invoked that uncomfortable, nervous laughter—and even some outright roars. Among today’s crop of clever comedians, a “Mexicans are so ugly…” joke would likely be considered lazy and stupid. But Rivers had the woman sitting in front of me laughing through seriously pursed lips.

As her set went on, we got the Rivers List: She hates the old, the young, the homeless, the blind, the Rihanna, and Princess Diana. But it’s pretty obvious that she doesn’t mean what she says—the show’s proceeds were all going to charity. A salad of pointed insults and self–deprecation has always been her act. It’s just Rivers, working her signature style—one that is loved, and tolerated, because she’s been doing it so well for so long with no signs of stopping.

“I think we’ve all laughed at things we didn’t think we’d laugh at,” she told the crowd.

She’s right. She may be off-color and her jokes uncomfortable, but while whispers of, “Oh, she’s so bad” could be heard throughout the room during her set, the crowd is always on her side.

Previous: Happy 79th Birthday, Joan Rivers
Five highlights from the New York Times interview with Joan Rivers

(Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for New York Women In Communications)

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• Someone stole a rabbi’s car and made off with a $30,000 torah scroll (the vehicle and the scroll were found). [NYDN]

• The definitive guide to the Jewish band from Hoboken, Yo La Tengo. [BuzzFeed]

• Alec Baldwin does everything short of blackmailing Lena Dunham to get a part on her HBO show, Girls. [WNYC]

• Don’t take Joan Rivers to court, because you will lose. [THR]

• More about Network Jew extraordinaire Nick Kroll. [Splitsider]

• Billy on the Street, our favorite new show not starring Nick Kroll, debuts the Julia Roberts Obstacle Course. [Vulture]

The post Daily Jewce: Thief Steals Rabbi’s Car With Torah Inside, A Yo La Tengo Guide appeared first on Jewcy.

• According to Lena Dunham, Drake has a crush on Jewish actress Kat Dennings. Could it be beshert? [Vulture]

• You can send Mark Zuckerberg a Facebook message, but it might set you back $100. [Newser]

• What happens when you discover your husband’s great uncle was a Jewish gangster. [Tablet]

• Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Stanger has some restaurant recommendations for you. [Immaculate Infatuation]

• Jonah Hill + Leo DiCaprio = BFF [Page Six]

• Here’s the trailer for Joan Rivers’ latest DVD, Don’t Start With Me:

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• Jon Stewart took some artistic liberty with the plot of A Christmas Carol in response to Fox News’ War on Christmas coverage. [Mediaite]

• Novelist Jami Attenberg—star of yesterday’s Twitter Book Club—discusses the creation of an obese literary character with playwright Samuel D. Hunter. [NYT]

• Joan Rivers has some advice for the Australian radio DJs who prank called the hospital Kate Middleton was staying in, who have been vilified after the nurse who took the call killed herself. [Mediaite]

• Why do classic Rankin-Bass Christmas animated specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman look so…Jewish? [Tablet]

• Jewcy favorite Mandy Patinkin tells Stephen Colbert it takes eight to 10 weeks to get his beard to its full glory, then schools Colbert on the roots of terrorism. Saul Berenson FTW. [Colbert Report]

The post Daily Jewce: Mandy Patinkin’s Beard, Jon Stewart Does ‘A Christmas Carol’ appeared first on Jewcy.

• Who’s behind the active IDF Twitter and Facebook accounts? Some ‘kids.’ [Tablet]

• The Ben and Jerry’s factory near Kiryat Malachi posted a picture of what happens to the ice cream when an air raid siren goes off and employees need to leave their posts. [Times of Israel]

• Jason Diamond wonders what will happen to Jewish fiction in a post-Philip Roth era. [NY Observer]

• This is awkward, but Anna Wintour totally has a crush on Ben Stiller. [Huffington Post]

• Joan Rivers was approached by border agents while on a boat in England. Click through for requisite plastic surgery joke. [AOL]

• Watch Paul Rudd make late night lemonade out of a theatergoer vomiting during a performance of his play, Grace. [Gothamist]

The post Daily Jewce: Ben & Jerry’s Melts in Israel, Meet the IDF Social Media Team appeared first on Jewcy.

Yael Kohen’s first book, We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy, is the sort of oral history that encapsulates the form’s pitfalls and its peculiar benefits. It contains the immediacy of lived experience vividly recollected, and it has the authenticity of testimony; it’s also a loose, rough-hewn work, too long in parts and stunted in others. Reading it, one learns much, for example, about what a revelation Phyllis Diller and Elaine May were in the buttoned-up 1950s, when stand-up comedy was still a relatively new art form and women comedians were practically unknown. But Kohen also lets her subjects drone on at times, spilling useless detail or failing to pinpoint what made a particular comedian great. Still, it’s the kind of history that breaks open an area of inquiry, so that future scholars and journalists can start digging.

To fill in some of these gaps, and to learn more about the book’s author, I met up with Kohen at her book release party at powerHouse Arena in Brooklyn. Kohen is in her early 30s and is a contributing editor for Marie Claire. At powerHouse, she wore a satiny blue blouse and cheetah-print heels, and though she confessed to being nervous, she carried herself with a kind of rehearsed confidence, like a young, well-trained lawyer about to try her first big case.

Recently Kohen wrote a profile of Kim Ng, a Major League Baseball executive who has long been seen as likely to become the first female general manager of an MLB team. In 2009, she wrote a widely discussed article, titled “Stiletto Stoners,” about working women who smoke pot.

“I think in general I’m interested in exploring ways in which conventional wisdom is wrong,” Kohen told me. We Killed was born, in part, out of a desire to overturn a hidebound belief. Christopher Hitchens’ notorious polemic, “Why Women Aren’t Funny,” which appeared in Vanity Fair in January 2007, counted Kohen among its many detractors. The article led Kohen to investigate the world of comedy—including for a 2009 Marie Claire story that presaged the book—and why many men are intimidated by female comedians, if not outright dismissive of them.

“Network television has always been a conservative medium,” Kohen claims, and her history backs that up, showing how TV has lagged behind other popular art forms, like music and film. The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which premiered in 1970, was the first TV program to have a protagonist who was divorced. The show’s co-creator, Allan Burns, recounted to Kohen a meeting with CBS personnel, in which one of the network’s researchers said, “We have found that there are four things that American television audiences won’t accept: men with mustaches, people who live in New York, Jews… and divorce.” Later, CBS tested the first episode and told the show’s staff that Rhoda, played by Valerie Harper, was “too Jewish and too abrasive.”

In addition to devoting sections to icons like Elaine May, Phyllis Diller, Mary Tyler Moore, and Carol Burnett, Kohen focuses on several other hinge figures. Lily Tomlin emerges as someone who, along with Richard Pryor, brought the counterculture into comedy. (Bette Midler said that Tomlin “gave women brand-new ways to be funny.”) Janeane Garofolo was not only the prototypical Gen-X slacker comedian; she also, apparently, provided opportunities for numerous people—men and women alike—and practically singlehandedly started the alt-comedy movement. Richard Belzer, now best known for his role on Law & Order: SVU (and for occasionally giving Nazi salutes), helped many young female comedians get work, including Roseanne Arnold and Susie Essman, while Del Close influenced practically every comedian who passed through Upright Citizens Brigade.

There are some marvelous anecdotes, such as the party where Gilda Radner punched Woody Allen in the stomach, as well as some choice lines, revealing in their bluntness. Take Treva Silverman, on comedy writers rooms in the 1970s: “everybody was always stoned.”

Few major industry figures seem to have been free of sexist behavior. Johnny Carson found many female comedians to be “a little aggressive”—he told Rolling Stone as much in a 1979 interview—and though he made Joan Rivers his primary substitute host, he never considered anointing her his successor. David Letterman had a habit of saying that some women were “funny like a guy.” The picture Kohen presents of Lorne Michaels is also complicated. He’s sometimes described as supporting women writers, while at other times he tolerated sexist behavior behind the scenes at SNL. Mitzi Shore, the legendary owner of The Comedy Store, was responsible for launching many careers, but some women found her cold and aloof, and they felt ghettoized when she set aside a small, dark room at the club for female performers.

Annie Beats, an early SNL writer, said that “John Belushi used to regularly ask for [the show’s female writers] to be fired” and refused to be in their sketches. (He also had a problem with Jews.) According to Marilyn Suzanne Miller, another original SNL writer, even noted that Al Franken—later liberal Democratic Senator Al Franken—would say that women weren’t funny.

There are, however, some undeveloped threads. For example, a number of interviewees talk about the preponderance of gay men among their fans, and there is some mention of gay men as a big part of early comedy club crowds (“The gay guys, they were chic,” Phyllis Diller said). But we’re never treated to any further analysis about why or how these two groups, women and gay men, made such natural cultural allies.

And there’s untapped drama as well. In a footnote that cries out for expansion, Kohen recounts the story of Joan Rivers, who after being passed over for inheriting The Tonight Show, got her own program, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers. Fox canceled the show after Rivers refused to fire her husband, Edgar Rosenberg, who was executive producer. Rosenberg committed suicide months later, and “no woman has ever hosted a network late-night show since.” As for Rivers, she “didn’t appear on a late-night show for the next twenty years.” Yet there’s nothing on the subject from Rivers, who is interviewed in the book and who discussed the episode some in the documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. (The old talent agent Irvin Arthurs, on Rivers: “I think she would have killed somebody to make it.”)

Appearance has been one of the most difficult issues facing women in comedy, and the standards and expectations have shifted dramatically over the years. In the 1950s, Phyllis Diller hid her looks behind baggy clothes and outrageous wigs. The young Joan Rivers, attractive by most standards, chose to poke fun at herself, playing the character of the single girl who can never get a man. A generation later, Elayne Boosler was seen as threatening because her act included blue jokes about prostitution and sex. Now, many female comics attest that there’s an expectation to be attractive, to dress sexily, while others, pace Diller, wear hoodies and no makeup on stage, in hopes of being taken more seriously.

Many comedians in the book argue that male comedians are rewarded for their shlubbiness—think about Louis C.K. joking about his decrepit body. Women often aren’t allowed that chance. “I do think women, they’re judged a little bit differently for the way they approach their humor and their femininity,” Kohen told me. “I think the difference is that that doesn’t stop a guy from getting a sitcom, and it could stop a woman.”

On this front, she admires Mindy Kaling, and her new show, The Mindy Project.

“She’s not thin. Fine,” Kohen said. “But there’s something very refreshing about the way she’s so confident.”

At powerHouse Arena, a panel of female comedians, moderated by Vulture’s Jesse David Fox, was both critical of the treatment many comediennes have received and in agreement that the situation has improved immensely. Emily Heller, a comedian and writer, said, “Being a woman has helped me greatly… People are really excited if you’re a woman and you’re good.” She added, “the demand now for female comics is high.”

But the industry is still shaking off the sexism that was nothing if not institutionalized and that discouraged women from entering the profession at all. Lizz Winstead, another panelist, recalled that when she created The Daily Show in 1996, she received resumes from 150 writers; two were women. (She noted that “Wake Up World,” her 2007-08 Off-Broadway show, had seven women among its 10 writers.)

And too often, sexism has been dressed up as an act of bawdy daring, an ironic method of subversion. In 1987, Winstead was on Women of the Night, a comedy showcase on HBO. The comics were made to perform in front of a backdrop decorated to look like an alley. “We were dressed up like hookers and got out of a limo,” Winstead said. The producers hoped to get footage of the comediennes being catty backstage, but it didn’t work: “We didn’t fight, and they were bummed.”

Kohen noted that sites like College Humor and Funny or Die, which along with YouTube serve as a kind of digital comedy farm system, a role once principally occupied by clubs in New York and Los Angeles, employ mostly male writers. Even so, Kohen indicated that the current sense among many women is one of possibility, as well as gratitude towards their comedienne forbears. Now, that freedom often takes the form of insouciance.

Or as the writer Julieanne Smolinski announced to the crowd at powerHouse: “If you don’t enjoy what we’re doing, then you can go fuck yourself.”

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