The Fantastic Joan Rivers...In The Beginning First, reports this morning say Joan is resting comfortably and is in stable condition. Good to hear and we hope her condition continues to improve quickly. Her first national television appearance was with Johnny Carson on February 17, 1965. The New York based Tonight show bookers had known about her and seen her in clubs for seven years, but thought she was too rough, but they finally gave in. Unfortunately, there is no video of that show, nor is their any for her first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, but there is a funny story on how she got booked there. Joan Rivers’ first appearance on Sullivan was on May 22nd 1966. Prior to that appearance, Rivers had been involved with the show as a writer for the famous Italian mouse puppet Topo Gigio, who was a Sullivan favorite. Her first stand-up performance on the show came about thanks to a slip of the tongue. On the previous show, Ed Sullivan was supposed to announce singer Johnny Rivers, but instead mistakenly said “Next week, Joan Rivers!” Since she had already been announced, the producers of the show immediately booked her for the following week. Joan would have undoubtedly been asked to perform on the Sullivan stage eventually, but this slip of the tongue helped launch her career. That night, Ed Sullivan introduced Rivers by saying “I was watching the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson the other night and Joan Rivers was on, she was hilarious! So here is Joan Rivers! Youll love her.” After her debut performance, Joan Rivers quickly became one of the show’s favorite acts appearing a total of 21 times between 1966 until the show ended in 1971. Heres a clip of her on Sullivan on April 23, 1967. Enjoy and share! - Bobby Ellerbee https://youtube/watch?v=EpPCFoXXhF0
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 09:17:42 +0000
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