Joan Rivers
Today I wanted to pay my respects to the fabulous American comedienne Joan Rivers who sadly died aged 81 on Thursday after complications suffered during routine surgery in New York. When Joan was alive, I'll admit I didn't always get what she was about. I didn't really understand her or her comedy, and again I'll admit that I was part of the 'who is she to say that' club who were more likely to be offended by her type of humour than sit there enjoying every glorious word of it. I respected her as an artist and as a fellow woman, but I just didn't get Joan until Saturday night when I watched a repeat of her 'An Audience With Joan Rivers' on the television.
When I learned of Joan's passing I felt sadness of course, and this sense of disbelief too because she was one of those people whose existence seems like it should be eternal, almost like you can't fathom a world where they are not in it. But after watching this repeat on television is when I really felt the devastating loss this world has suffered with Joan's passing, and I was really struck with a much deeper sadness when I realised that this sparkling, witty, firecracker of a woman was now no longer with us.
Watching Joan perform was like watching magic being conducted right before your very eyes, because that's the thing, she was magical. Something about her aura and presence was utterly captivating and so very special, one of those people who really genuinely are one of a kind, a unique creation of God's hand that will never be fashioned in quite the same way again. Watching Joan up on that stage, in front of all those people, was like watching a star ablaze, feeding on the adoration and energy of her captivated audience and projecting it back to them having injected it with a strong dose of her outrageous humour and vivacious spark of life.
The performance of Joan's that I watched was filmed when she was in her seventies, and even at that age she was still on absolute fine form, crafting every joke so effortlessly and easily, almost like the comedic electricity within her was forever constantly poised to spark and splutter and fuse into something brilliantly and outrageously funny. Watching her on that stage, as an eighteen year old girl about to enter the adult world for real was so inspiring because Joan was and will forever be an incredible icon to women, showing us all that we should never feel diminished or suppressed because of our gender. As a girl who is now essentially a woman, Joan has shown me that I should be bold enough to speak the truth, to hold my own and never apologise for who I am or my opinions, to use humour as a way of overcoming the negatives in life as Joan did oh so well and of channelling my intelligence, and most importantly to live life in a sparkling, vivacious blaze that can never be muted, even in death.
Joan Rivers, I now realise and understand, was the kind of woman that we should all aspire to be. She was loving, caring and loyal to those she cherished around her and knew, a delight to those she didn't. She was fierce, blazing, intelligent and magical, a champion for her cause, the wittiest tongue, cheekiest humour that I now realise was never intended to injure or hurt but instead a different way of reminding people that she loved them dearly, and as a way of lightening up life, reminding us not to take life so seriously and that it's okay to speak your mind. Joan was also not immune to emotional and mental hurt, yet as I saw so brilliant and beautifully on the show I watched, she was not one to let it bring her down, instead choosing to open herself up, show her wounds and pain, and then crack a fire blazing, witty joke and get on with life.
If I could see all this about Joan Rivers from an hour long programme, and be so touched and inspired by her, then one can only begin to imagine how strongly she must've impacted the lives of those who really knew her throughout her lifetime, or knew her for through watching her performing both live and on television. And in my opinion, that explains just why Joan was the star she was, and why her loss is so devastating to us all, because few people can do it like Joan did it, and so wherever her soul may be right now, I hope she's truly happy and at peace, her purpose for this world now complete, and that she's still somewhere using her comedic skill to make every single last person laugh there every trouble away.
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