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

Ten years after the death of Joan Rivers, her daughter Melissa Rivers is announcing two new upcoming shows dedicated to the life and legacy of her pioneering mother.

On November 7, A-list comedians will gather at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York for Dead Funny – A Live Tribute to Joan Rivers in Benefit of God’s Love We Deliver, which will be performed during the 20th annual New York Comedy Festival.

Between October 27 and 24, fans can also follow the game, Joanplaying at the South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa, California. The show will follow the life of the edgy comic from her beginnings in the small nightclubs of Greenwich Village to becoming a regular actress on the Tonight’s show.

While both events will celebrate Rivers’ fearlessness and extraordinary personality, Melissa says her mother wasn’t quite like that offstage.

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“She was shy,” Melissa recalls of her mother, whose unfortunate death occurred during a routine endoscopy in September 2014.

“She hated social situations, but she covered it up by being funny. What’s interesting is that a lot of performers are very shy,” he explains. “But one of her biggest fears was being in social situations outside of her group of friends because she was always worried that she would disappoint someone — that they expected her to be ‘Joan Rivers’ and not ‘Joan Rosenberg.’

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

“Up until the day she died, she answered the phone, ‘Rosenberg Residence,'” Melissa says of her mother, who was married to TV producer Edgar Rosenberg, who died by suicide in 1987.

Melissa adds that her dad was just as disinterested 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

“My parents had something they did at parties so they didn’t have to talk to anyone,” he says with a laugh.

“They would stand together and have this animated conversation about decorating the whole house, even though it was already done,” she recalls. “Like, ‘I think we should put a picture in the living room behind the couch.’ which was exactly the case, except that it looked like they were engrossed in conversation and didn’t need to chat.”

Joan Rivers finally takes her turn at the lectern during the Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers held at CBS Studios on July 26, 2009 in Studio City, California. Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Another misconception about the first Fashion police host? That she loved her wine.

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

Joan wasn’t just socially reserved, according to Melissa, who says her Hungarian immigrant parents raised her to be “a real lady.” Melissa says Joan’s parents were horrified when she decided she wanted to go into show business.

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Joan Rivers takes the stage at the Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers held at CBS Studios on July 26, 2009 in Studio City, California. Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

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“In their day, to say you were an actress implied you were a whore as far as my grandparents were concerned,” she says. “My grandmother’s fantasy was that my mother would 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 so they could see her as their next star,” says Melissa. “Her joke was, ‘They fucking kept the frame!'”

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Source: HIS Education