There is no question that the late Joan rivers has left her mark on the entertainment industry in a great way. Since her passing many celebrities have publicly spoken about how much the comedian has impacted their careers.
Chris Rock joins the list of celebrities by publicly reminiscing about his experience on Joan River’s late night show on Fox in the 1980s.
“I did the very last ‘The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers’ on Fox,” Rock told Variety while attending the Toronto Film Festival on Friday.
Hit the jump for more of the interview
“It was my first time on television,” the 49-year-old comedian recalled about what he described as Rivers “worst day of her life.”
“Her show had just gotten cancelled and her husband had just shot himself in the head,” he continued. “And for whatever reason, she decided to go and do the last show. Boy, did I learn about ‘the show must go on’ that day.”
“There’s a weird thing that happens in art when you meet somebody and they are 30 years older than you. But if you last in the business long enough, one day you’re the same age — you’re peers,” Rock said about Rivers, whose career spanned nearly five decades.
“The last few years, I would bump into her and talk comedy. I just loved Joan Rivers,” the fellow Brooklyn native continued.
“My family, we watched ‘The Tonight Show’ for Rivers. We liked Johnny Carson, but we loved Joan Rivers. I know I’m going to get s–t for that,” he said. “But that’s how it was in Bed-Stuy.”
