Joan Rivers' Face

I remember seeing Joan Rivers on the Tonight Show.
I remember watching Joan host the Tonight Show.
I remember being at an impressionable age at the time and thinking, "Wow. It's a girl up there. How great is that."

Today, in every Hollywood industry magazine or TV interview, somone says, "Ewww. What has she done with her face?"

I don't know, but when between my birth and Roseanne, Phyllis Diller was the only other woman comedian I ever saw on television, how she looks doesn't phase me at all. Neither does her candidness. Before the placid sitcom laughtrack took over, what did I have for comedy? The physical humor of Ball, I remember. (Mostly I remember how predictable it was.) But for stand up, I can't recall much during my formative years, when two to five television stations was all we ever imagined, beyond Jackie Mason and Don Rickles. Their humor bore through me with the intensity of hearing the first bad word or, I guess, how little boys' brain passages get seared by the first Playboy image. "They are saying mean things about other people and not getting in trouble for it. How is that possible?" I used to wonder.

She does what she does. She paid her dues. She has her schtick. You don't like it, don't watch. As for her face? Well, let me just say she does what she does. She paid her dues. You don't like it, don't look.