Leave it to Joan Rivers to not go quietly. The funeral for the legendary comedian was held earlier today, and was exactly the glitzy, star-studded occasion she would’ve wanted. With a celebrity guest list a mile long, choirs, bagpipes and the works, the service was totally befitting of Rivers, who never once saw a spotlight she didn’t like.
The list of attendees included actors and filmmakers such as Hugh Jackman, Steve Guttenberg, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Whoopi Goldberg, Alan Cumming, John Waters and Kyle MacLachlan, TV and media personalities like Barbara Walters, Kathy Lee Gifford, Giuliana Rancic, Dr Oz and Judge Judy, fellow comics Kathy Griffin and Margaret Cho, and other people of general note such as Kelly Osbourne and Donald Trump.
Radio presenter Howard Stern delivered the eulogy, and the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus delivered a rendition of “Hey Big Spender,” before Rivers was sent off to the tune of a throng of bagpipers playing “New York, New York.”
Though the service itself didn’t have “Meryl Streep crying, in five different accents” as Rivers once famously requested, it was big, and bold, and cocky, and existed in a way that it didn’t give a shit about what anyone else thought – which is exactly who Joan Rivers was as a person.
You might not have liked her, or the things that she said. But the reason she said them was because you reacted – either by laughing, or by loathing. She didn’t give a shit about which way you reacted, as long as you did.
And that was Joan Rivers. Fucking fearless. Balls as big as the moon. A woman who not only blazed a trail, but burnt her name into the Earth. Joan Rivers arguably kicked down more doors than anyone else in an otherwise male-dominated industry.
You might love her. You might hate her. But the world’s a much better place for having known her. That crazy, quick-witted, acid-tongued, catty, glamorous, magnificent old hag.
Comedy’s a tough gig. Joan Rivers made it her bitch.
Photo: Jeff Schear via Getty Images.
