5. "Sick" comedians only make sense in context of conformist 1950s America, where admitting unhappiness & anger was subversive.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
6. The pivotal figure was of course Lenny Bruce. Like everyone else in her cohort, Rivers was blown away by Bruce & took courage from him.
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7. Rivers's audacious meanness was surely a reaction to certain "good girl" ideals of feminine behavior.
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8. Like a lot of 1950s rebels, Rivers ultimately wasn't able to do much with her anger beyond express it.
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9. Interesting tension between Rivers the rebel & the Rivers who gave in to social conventions (the WASPized stage name, plastic surgery)
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10. Perhaps the tragedy is that Rivers the rule-breaker ended up using her comedy to guard borders of status quo (via comments on fashion)
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11.
@JamesWolcott take on Joan Rivers is congruent with mine but of course expressed with much more brio & wit: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcott/2014/09/joan-rivers …1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes -
Replying to @HeerJeet
12. I'm going to quote a bit from
@JamesWolcott's Rivers piece, because it's perfect.3 replies 0 retweets 0 likes -
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13. "I'm not going to pretend that I was a big fan of Rivers' comedy, apart from her early days."
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14. "The jittery rhythms of her joke machinery were too blatant and monotonous--her punchline machinery was almost purely telegraphic..."
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15. "Borscht-belting, with little of the multistrand weave and mulling pauses that you got from a Richard Pryor or George Carlin monologue."
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16. "But she was a trouper, a tough dame, and with Lauren Bacall, Elaine Stritch, and now Joan Rivers gone, the tough, resilient, raspy..."
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17. "....New York dame may be truly gone for good."
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End of conversation
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