Melissa Rivers Announces Joan Rivers Comedy Tribute Show, Opens Up About Her Mom's Secret Side (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

NEW YORK - APRIL 27: Joan Rivers from the film “Joan Rivers - A Piece of Work” attends the Tribeca Film Festival 2010.Photo:Larry Busacca/Getty

Larry Busacca/Getty

Ten years after the death ofJoan Rivers, her daughterMelissa Riversis announcing two new upcoming shows dedicated to her trailblazing mother’s life and legacy.

On Nov. 7, A-list comedians will gather at theApollo Theaterin Harlem, New York forDead Funny — A Living Tribute to Joan Rivers Benefitting God’s Love We Deliver,which will be performed during the20th annual New York Comedy Festival.

Between Oct. 27-Nov. 24, fans can also catch the play,Joan, playing at theSouth Coast Repertory Theaterin Costa Mesa, California. The play will follow the life of the edgy comic from getting her start at small Greenwich Village nightclubs to being a regular act onThe Tonight Show.

While both events will be dedicated to Rivers' fearlessness and outsized personality, Melissa says that’s not exactly who her mother was off the stage.

“She was shy,” Melissa recalls of her mother, whoseaccidental deathoccurred during a routine endoscopy in Sept. 2014.

Melissa notes that her mom always used her married name when she was offstage.

Melissa adds that her dad was equally uninterested in socializing, especially when they moved to Los Angeles in the late 1960s.

Joan Rivers and daughter Melissa Rivers attend Comedy Central’s “Roast of Joan Rivers” at CBS Studios on July 26, 2009.Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

“My parents used to have this thing they’d do at parties so they didn’t have to talk to anybody,” she says with a laugh.

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

Another misconception about the formerFashion Policehost? That she loved her wine.

“She could have a glass of wine and that was it,” Melissa says. “If she had two she’d be on the floor.”

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“Back in their day, saying you were an actress implied you were a hooker as far as my grandparents were concerned,” she says. “My grandmother’s fantasy was for my mom to be a rich housewife, a lady who lunches.” Of course, Joan had other plans.

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

source: people.com