Wretched Rivers Roast
Joan was the only highlight of her Comedy Central special
August 10, 2009
Reiner and Rivers at the roast.(Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
The Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers, which aired last night, was a bomb filled with deadly gay jokes and Madoff references, except for Carl Reiner, who “was adorable trotting out curse words he’d never had the freedom or chutzpah to use on national television before,” reports the A.V. Club’s Nathan Rabin in a review today. Apparently, Reiner called the septuagenarian a “cunt”; Rivers, expressing her mock disgust for such “vulgar” language, excoriated him to save words like that “for home when the synagogue calls for money.” In another clip from the red carpet, Rivers chose Mel Gibson as her favorite Nazi and clucked her tongue at Barbra Streisand for marrying a non-Jew. Perhaps when you’ve spent 40 years mocking yourself, you’re destined to wield the sharpest sword at your own roast.
Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers [A.V. Club]
Hadara Graubart was formerly a writer and editor for Tablet Magazine.
