With the loss of Joan Rivers on Thursday, the world has lost another legendary comedian, one who never had a problem making fun of flaws, even her own. Since Louis C.K. is not only a comedian but a student of comedy, he invited her on Louie in one of the most memorable episodes of the series.
In the “Joan” episode, C.K. was supposed to perform at a casino, but gave up after he was asked to change his act. Rivers was also performing there the same night and C.K. visited her backstage. They chat about comedy as a life. While in her hotel room, Rivers gives an eloquent speech about comedy. After all, Louie is never really about just a man who happens to be a comedian, but what it is like to be one. The episode with Rivers epitomizes that.
“It doesn’t get better,” Rivers tells C.K. “You get better.”
Strangely enough, Rivers told Vulture back in 2011 that she had never even heard of C.K. before doing the episode. Someone told her that he was a comedian that has a show and that he was interested in bringing her on. She saw two episodes and loved it.
“I thought they were wonderful and they said do you want to do something and they said he was in New York and I said, ‘Love to. Love to, love to, love to,’” she recalled.
She also said she hadn’t seen his stand-up, but wanted to after working with him.
A year after the episode aired, Rivers posted a link to it on her Facebook page. “I watched this Louis C.K. episode again recently. He is the funniest man on TV!” she said.
Rivers died at age 81 on Thursday. We will not only miss another funny comedian, but another person who understood the magic of making people laugh.
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