Joan Rivers and Johnny Carson | 18

Diss and Tell

Wondery

Society & Culture, Comedy

4.2 • 777 Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2023

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

They were the king and queen of late-night TV until it all came crashing down. Johnny Carson reigned supreme as the host of "The Tonight Show," and by his side was Joan Rivers, his trusted protégé who became a star with her biting comedy routines. But in 1986, Joan did the unthinkable—she left to start her own rival late-night show. Her shocking exit provoked Johnny's wrath; he reacted by imposing a lifelong ban from his show, severing ties permanently, and refusing to utter another word to her. In this episode, we're diving into the ego trips, power struggles, and sexism that fueled one of Hollywood's most infamous feuds. But the story doesn't end there—Joan's legacy still packs a punch, inspiring shows like "Hacks" and "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel."

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Content warning. This episode includes adult language and sexual innuendo as well as discussions of suicide.
0:13.6	Sydney, I'm going to throw out a crazy concept for you. I can't wait. Have you ever heard of women in comedy?
0:22.3	Hold on what?
0:24.1	Did you even know they let them do that?
0:26.6	Is that one of the epidemics that they're talking about?
0:30.0	Yeah.
0:31.1	Before COVID, there was a raging epidemic of women in comedy.
0:35.5	Oh.
0:36.1	I'm assuming you've heard the phrase women aren't funny.
0:41.0	Yes, but never from someone who I think has any authority on the matter.
0:45.8	No, it's usually a failed male comedian who's just taking out his anger on someone else.
0:51.9	But of course, there has always been great female comedians.
0:56.0	Case in point, the subject of today's feud, or at least one half of today's feud,
1:02.7	the late great Joan Rivers.
1:05.9	Mm.
1:07.5	We are going to start today's episode with just a quick stop in public television.
1:13.0	There was this PBS show called Pioneers of Television.
1:16.9	Basically, they interview like all of these people who made TV what it is.
1:21.0	They had on this particular episode, someone that I hope we're all familiar with,
1:26.2	Joan Rivers, the original queen of late-night comedy,
1:30.3	and perhaps more recently to younger audiences, the queen of the red carpet.
1:36.8	I feel like Joan Rivers sort of popularized the who are you wearing.
	...

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