Nu Vibez and Roleplay Guide Magazine - October 2014 | Page 36

LEFT: Joan began
her career in the
1960s, getting her big
break after her first
appearance on the
Johnny Carson Show
back in 1965.
FACING PAGE: (from
top) Jim Connell, Jake
Holmes and Joan
Rivers when the three
worked as a team “Jim,
Jake & Joan.” The trio
toured nightclubs in the
U.S. and appeared in
the film “Once Upon A
Coffee House” in 1964.
This was Joan’s first
motion picture.

Can we talk? So goes the catch phrase
that made Joan Rivers a legend, although
this ground-breaking lady never needed an
audience’s permission to be honest. She was
that nosy next-door neighbor you couldn’t
decide whether to desperately avoid, or invite
inside for coffee. Her passing came right on
the heels of another iconic comedy figure:
Robin Williams. Each brought something to
the game that made their stand-up stand out,
but next to Carol Burnett, Joan Rivers was the
talent I lived most vicariously through…making
those jabs I thought, but could never dare say.
I never had the opportunity to meet her in
person, but a few of my friends have. One was
working as a stage manager for Ms. Rivers at
a local casino. She had nothing but praise for
the acid-tongued comedian, describing her as
a “warm, quiet woman…the polar opposite of
who she is on stage.”
36 October 2014 - NuVibez Magazine

My friends Audra and Darla went to a live
taping of