Joan Rivers’ Personal Joke File Was Narrowly Saved From the Palisades Fire
As wildfires continue to ravage Southern California, the full extent of the devastating Palisades fire is still being assessed. But at least one thing is for certain: Joan Rivers’ jokes are safe.
The famed comedian’s daughter recently shared that, shortly before her house burned down, she grabbed a few important items including birth certificates, medication, clothing, and most notably, the Daytime Emmy award that her mom won for Outstanding Talk Show host in 1990.
But what about Rivers’ legendary archive of jokes?
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Rivers, who passed away in 2014, left behind what The New York Times called a “meticulously organized collection of 65,000 typewritten jokes.” The jokes were kept on index cards and cross-referenced by categories, such as “Parents Hated Me,” “Las Vegas” and “No Sex Appeal.” As the Times noted, the biggest subject was “Tramp,” which contained 1,756 jokes.
The cards were stored in a filing cabinet, containing 52 jam-packed drawers. Rivers also saved monologue scripts from when she guest-hosted The Tonight Show, and correspondence with celebrities including Phyllis Diller and Mr. Rogers.
This could be why Deborah Vance on Hacks, the character that Rivers clearly served as the inspiration for, similarly keeps an archive of material in her basement (although hers is way less organized).
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Obviously, Melissa Rivers wouldn’t be able to quickly grab an entire filing cabinet while fleeing her home during an emergency, but thankfully, the jokes had already been moved. She recently confirmed to People that the jokes were safe and sound with the National Comedy Center.
In 2023 it was announced that Joan Rivers’ archive of jokes would find a new home at the museum, which is located in Jamestown, New York (the hometown of Lucille Ball) and is dedicated to preserving the history of American comedy. Melissa Rivers had previously fielded requests from the Smithsonian to house her mother’s collection, but they reportedly wouldn’t make the material part of a permanent display. And so, concerned that the jokes would end up being stashed away in a giant warehouse like the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, she ultimately rejected the request.
Instead, the jokes will be part of a new Joan Rivers-themed exhibit at the National Comedy Center that will open later this year.
Despite the fact that this arrangement was announced over a year ago, the jokes still came disturbingly close to being lost forever in the fire. “The jokes and the major archival pieces, fortunately, about two-and-a-half, three months ago were picked up for the National Comedy Center,” Melissa Rivers revealed.
So they managed to beat the fire by just a few months. If there’s a Season 25 of Hacks, maybe this can be an episode.
