With her signature combination of candor and a little sharp wit, Joan Rivers confronted Chelsea Handler about their similarities. Handler recalled the indelible memory on the red carpet for NBC’s Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute, and it’ll bring an immediate smile to your face.
Joan Rivers had the nicest insult for Chelsea Handler
Never one to mince words, the unapologetic comedienne confronted Handler in the best way possible. “I once ran into her in New York City, and she tapped me on the shoulder and she said, ‘Hey bitch, you’re not better than me, we should be hanging out,'” Handler recalled. A little rude, a little funny, all perfectly Joan.
The two women were not the best of friends during Rivers’ lifetime, with rumors of a “feud” dogging them for years. However, after Rivers’s death, Handler went on to tell the legend’s daughter Melissa how much her mother’s career had impacted her. “Your mom approached me a couple times when we were on E! I just felt like a s— because I had just kinda blown her off. I wasn’t respectful in the way I realize I needed to be now,” Handler said on Melissa Rivers’s podcast, per People.
“When I was on E!, I was so young and arrogant and just thought, ‘I did it. I got myself to where I was.’ I didn’t give her the kudos she deserved and so I was eager to like put that in writing,” she continued, referencing her tribute to Rivers during a Netflix festival. “You have to remember that every opportunity that anyone has in this world as a female comedian, you have to thank the people who came before you.”
Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute is coming to NBC in May
The special will premiere on Tuesday, May 13 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. It was recorded at the historic Apollo Theater in New York City and will feature comedy titans like Rachel Brosnahan, Margaret Cho, Nikki Glaser, Tiffany Haddish, Chelsea Handler, Neil Patrick Harris, Bill Maher, Howie Mandel, Joel McHale, Tracy Morgan, Patton Oswalt, Aubrey Plaza, Sarah Silverman, Melissa Rivers, Jean Smart, and Rita Wilson.
Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All Star Tribute. Photo: NBC
