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  • Joan Rivers at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood...

    Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

    Joan Rivers at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood in 2010.

  • Joan Rivers in 1978.

    Chicago Tribune file photo

    Joan Rivers in 1978.

  • Joan Rivers jokes with George Kotsiopoulos during a break in...

    Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

    Joan Rivers jokes with George Kotsiopoulos during a break in her show "Fashion Police.

  • Joan Rivers in 1978.

    Chicago Tribune file photo

    Joan Rivers in 1978.

  • Joan and Melissa Rivers at the 60th Annual Golden Globe...

    Kevin P. Casey / Los Angeles Times

    Joan and Melissa Rivers at the 60th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

  • Joan Rivers delivers a comedy monologue and performs in blackout...

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    Joan Rivers delivers a comedy monologue and performs in blackout skits when she is a guest on the Kraft Music Hall colorcast Wednesday, August 21, 1968 on the NBC Television Network.

  • Joan Rivers in 1990.

    Chicago Tribune file photo

    Joan Rivers in 1990.

  • Joan Rivers performs at Mill Run Theatre on July 28,...

    Chicago Tribune file photo

    Joan Rivers performs at Mill Run Theatre on July 28, 1970.

  • Joan Rivers in action: "I don't care what ladies in...

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    Joan Rivers in action: "I don't care what ladies in the 30-to-35 age group think of me," she was quoted as saying.

  • Joan Rivers and daughter Melissa at a fashion show in...

    Kathleen Ballard / Los Angeles Times

    Joan Rivers and daughter Melissa at a fashion show in 1973.

  • Joan Rivers in 1990.

    Steve Fontanini / Los Angeles Times

    Joan Rivers in 1990.

  • Joan Rivers visits "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."

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    Joan Rivers visits "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."

  • Joan Rivers and her daughter Melissa Rivers stand on the...

    Kevin P. Casey / Los Angeles Times

    Joan Rivers and her daughter Melissa Rivers stand on the red carpet prior to the start of the 2002 Emmy Awards.

  • Joan Rivers, left, with her daughter, Melissa Rivers, at the...

    Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

    Joan Rivers, left, with her daughter, Melissa Rivers, at the 57th annual Golden Globes Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

  • Joan Rivers talks with people off the street while promoting...

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    Joan Rivers talks with people off the street while promoting her new book "Diary of a Mad Diva" in New York City.

  • Joan Rivers performs in Anaheim in 1991.

    Rod Boren / For The Times

    Joan Rivers performs in Anaheim in 1991.

  • Joan Rivers in 1980.

    Chicago Tribune file photo

    Joan Rivers in 1980.

  • Joan Rivers co-hosts "The Mike Douglas Show" on June 21,...

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    Joan Rivers co-hosts "The Mike Douglas Show" on June 21, 1971.

  • Joan Rivers talks to Jason Biggs before his segment on...

    Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

    Joan Rivers talks to Jason Biggs before his segment on "Fashion Police."

  • Bob Camp, left, and Joan Rovers jab at society's foibles...

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    Bob Camp, left, and Joan Rovers jab at society's foibles in "Six of One," a satirical revue at The Second City.

  • Joan Rivers chats with audience members during a break in...

    Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

    Joan Rivers chats with audience members during a break in her show "Fashion Police."

  • Fox Chairman Barry Diller and Joan Rivers in 1986.

    Con Keyes / Los Angeles Times

    Fox Chairman Barry Diller and Joan Rivers in 1986.

  • Joan and Melissa Rivers arrive at the 55th Emmy Awards...

    Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

    Joan and Melissa Rivers arrive at the 55th Emmy Awards in 2003.

  • Joan Rivers attends the 2009 Mardi Gras VIP party at...

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    Joan Rivers attends the 2009 Mardi Gras VIP party at the Zeta Bar of the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia.

  • Joan Rivers in 1977.

    Mary Frampton / Los Angeles Times

    Joan Rivers in 1977.

  • Joan Rivers performs March 28, 1970.

    Chicago Tribune file photo

    Joan Rivers performs March 28, 1970.

  • Joan Rivers in 1961 in the cast of The Second...

    Chicago Tribune file photo

    Joan Rivers in 1961 in the cast of The Second City.

  • Joan Rivers works on a segment with Kelly Osborne, right,...

    Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

    Joan Rivers works on a segment with Kelly Osborne, right, during a break in her show "Fashion Police"

  • Joan Rivers directs her first movie, "Rabbit Test," in 1977.

    Kathleen Ballard / Los Angeles Times

    Joan Rivers directs her first movie, "Rabbit Test," in 1977.

  • Joan Rivers, shown in 1961 with Del Close, was an...

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    Joan Rivers, shown in 1961 with Del Close, was an early cast member at The Second City.

  • Joan Rivers in 1989.

    Chicago Tribune file photo

    Joan Rivers in 1989.

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Way, way back…and Joan Rivers is on stage at Centre East theater in Skokie. Many in the crowd were expecting to hear comedic takes of her wicked past year, which included a feud with former mentor Johnny Carson, the fiery seven-month collapse of her much ballyhooed late night show on Fox and the suicide of her husband Edgar Rosenberg.

Always one to defy expectations, Rivers barely mentioned any of that except to say…
“I’ve just started dating again . . . you know I was married for 23 years.”
“When I used to sit in for Carson, they never let me have the good guests.”
“I cremated my mother-in-law yesterday . . . and she didn’t want to go.”

If she had been scarred by recent troubles, she did not bring them to the stage. She was, as before and ever after, a model of resilience and a total pro.

This child of New York first arrived here in 1961 to join the cast of the then-two-year-old The Second City and appeared in two months-long revues, “Six of One” and “Alarums and Excursions,” and often hanging out at Playboy editor/publisher Hugh Hefner’s mansion, before heading back home. In Manhattan she became a pioneering female comic in an era when most women in night clubs were either audience members or cocktail waitresses.

Her material on that long ago night in 1988 revolved around the shopping-marriage-sex axis that was long her onstage bread-and-butter, as in “If God had wanted you to cook and clean, your hands would be made of aluminum,” the size of engagement rings, birth control and — though she was only 55 at time — the sagging of her own body. The crowd loved it, loved her.

The next year, as she was about to launch a new network TV show, we talked and Rivers said, “We are all, the hosts, personalities. Is my persona on air a reflection of the real me? No, not really. It’s all a sham. Show biz. People, in the long run, tune in for the host. I worry about my guests shining but on any show I have no idea how things are going.”

What if the show fails?

“If it does, it does. Nothing can get to me anymore,” Rivers said. “I’m throwing every ounce of strength I have behind this show. But if it doesn’t work, hey, I’ll just move on to the next thing. I have my standup stuff and that gives me so many outlets. There are a lot of things for me to do. I’m really very shallow. Whatever works, works.”

We talked some more, about comedy and luck and fate.

Then she said, “In the last few years, I’ve really surprised myself. It must be something in the genes. I’m from peasant stock. Somewhere I must have had a great-grandfather who was caught in the rain and said, ‘No worry, I build hut with my hands.’ “

“It’s been a catharsis: Fox, Carson and my husband. A lot of people probably would have crashed. But, hey, here I am.”

rkogan@tribune.com