Joan Rivers was a great interview, and quotes like this are the reason why: “I think one of the

reasons (people) do like me, those that like me, is because I really never bullshit them. I always say exactly what I truly think and believe, including when Elizabeth Taylor was fat. She was fat!”

At the time of this interview, Rivers, then 57, was hosting her own daytime talk show, “The Joan Rivers Show,” and was on the road doing standup comedy. She was a few years removed from “The Late Show with Joan Rivers,” a nighttime talk show the Fox network created to try to compete with “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,” as well as her husband’s suicide. 

But she was already a legend—a pioneering female comic (when there were few) who rose to become the permanent guest host of “The Tonight Show” in 1983. And she was fearless. 

A couple of notes about this interview:

-Our exchange about Angie Bowie and Howard Stern requires some context. Both Bowie and Stern were guests on the same episode of “The Joan Rivers Show.” When Bowie started acting coy, Stern jumped in and got her to talk about her husband’s relationship with Mick Jagger.

-It’s surprising that she names the person who served as her go-between with Elizabeth Taylor. (Actor Roddy McDowall.) Unlike most celebrities, she was unafraid to name names.

-“The Joan Rivers Show” ended in 1993. In 1990, she won a Daytime Emmy as Outstanding Talk Show Host.

-At the end of the interview, she invites me backstage to say hello. I don’t remember why, but I didn’t end up meeting her. I wish I had. 

For more about Joan Rivers: http://www.joanrivers.com/all-about-joan/