I can barely remember a time without her. She made her first appearance on the Tonight show nearly 50 years ago. Below you'll see her with Johnny in January of 1966.
I can barely remember a time without her. She made her first appearance on the Tonight show nearly 50 years ago. Below you'll see her with Johnny in January of 1966.
When we were writing "Hollywood Hi-Fi," a lot of celebrities wouldn't talk to us. They wanted their embarrassing recording projects to stay buried. But Joan not only responded, she was meaner and funnier about her attempts at singing on Ben Bagley's "Vernon Duke Revisited" than we would have been. When we asked if she ever recorded again, she responded, "No! After this came out, every singer in the world signed a petition begging me - BEGGING me! - never to sing again!" Just one of the many ways in which Joan was one of a kind.
ReplyDeleteShe might have ticked people off, but she never apologized for it, which meant she had more balls than most male comedians these days. Those alleged fortresses of free speech, comedy clubs, are now imposing speech codes to prevent delicate flowers in the audience from hearing anything that offends them. If someone complained about Joan's jokes, she'd say, "Oh, grow up!" and tell one even more offensive. God, do we need her now.