Joan Rivers’ Daughter Melissa Announces Comedy Tribute Shows

A decade after the death of Joan Rivers, her daughter Melissa Rivers has announced two upcoming shows based around her late mother. The icon will have events on opposite sides of the country. The late comedian’s daughter also recently revealed more of what her mother was like in her everyday life.

The Late Joan Rivers Will Get Two Shows This Fall

One show, Dead Funny — A Living Tribute to Joan Rivers Benefitting God’s Love We Deliver, is scheduled for November 7. The event will take place at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. According to People, the event will feature “A-list comedians” coming together to honor the late comedian. Notably, it will also be performed during the 20th annual New York Comedy Festival.

There is also the play, Joan, which will run from October 27 to November 24, at the South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa, California. This show will detail the comedian’s life. This includes her start at Greenwich Village clubs to working on The Tonight Show.

Joan Rivers arguably got her big break in 1965 as a guest on The Tonight Show. In subsequent years, she would host a few shows herself, like The Late Show with Joan Rivers and The Joan Rivers Show. Starting in the 1990s, she would also become known for her red carpet interviews. Joan would also venture into the world of reality TV. This includes Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, which saw her alongside her daughter Melissa.

Melissa Rivers Revealed What Her Mother Was Like In Private

The comedian’s daughter Melissa Rivers has said that the comic image her mother displayed in public wasn’t really what her mother was like in real life.

In the following statement with People, Melissa revealed that her mother was quite “shy” off-stage:

“She hated social situations but she covered that up by being funny. What’s interesting is a lot of performers are very shy.”

“But one of her biggest fears was being in social situations outside of her friend group because she was always concerned she was going to disappoint someone.”

As Melissa explained, her mother worried that people “were expecting her to be ‘Joan Rivers,’ rather than ‘Joan Rosenberg.'”

Melissa also revealed that her mother would often use her married name, “Rosenberg,” in private. She even said she would answer the phone as “Rosenberg Residence.” Melissa also noted her father, Edgar Rosenberg, wasn’t too fond of socializing, either.

“My parents used to have this thing they’d do at parties so they didn’t have to talk to anybody.”

“They would stand together and have this animated conversation about how they would decorate the entire house, even though it was already done.”

“Like, ‘I think we should put the painting in the living room behind the couch.’ which was exactly how it already was, just so it looked like they were engrossed in conversation and wouldn’t have to make small talk.”

However, Melissa acknowledged that her mother had to go through a lot to make it in show business. Raised by Hungarian immigrant parents and trained to be a “proper lady,” Melissa noted her grandparents weren’t too thrilled with their daughter’s choice of career. As she explained, “My grandmother’s fantasy was for my mom to be a rich housewife, a lady who lunches.”

Melissa also shared a story about her mother’s initial attempts to make it in comedy:

“When she was younger, she mailed a picture of herself in a silver frame to MGM Studios so they could see that this was their next star.”

“Her joke was, ‘Those f—ers kept the frame!'”

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