- 6/16/2025
Get ready for some legendary shade as we revisit the most savage moments from comedy's queen of mean! From celebrity feuds to red carpet burns, we're looking at times when Joan Rivers' sharp tongue left Hollywood stars stunned and audiences gasping. Warning: no celebrity was safe from her legendary wit!
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I'm so glad to have you here, you look great. I'm watching you on the monitor, you look years younger.
00:04Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the times when comedy's original queen of mean
00:10bared her fangs and had our jaws on the floor.
00:13We're not going to mention names, but you shouldn't apply.
00:16Fair enough, thank you.
00:18Number 10. On Kathy Griffin's Face
00:21A group of brave souls stood on the dais at the 2009 Comedy Central roast dedicated to Joan Rivers herself.
00:28As is tradition, the guest of honor got her chance to address her roasters individually.
00:33Kathy Griffin clearly learned a lot from the comedian's no-holds-barred style.
00:38Our Joan started out in Brooklyn as little Joan Malinsky.
00:43You know, my Joanie, Jewish girls are supposed to grow up and marry doctors, not support them.
00:47For every shot made, Rivers came back with an all-time great insult.
00:51She accused Griffin of stealing everything about her. Well, most things anyway.
00:56You stole my act, you stole my gaze, and you stole the face of the Burger King. I am not happy with this!
01:05Rivers insists Griffin got her distinctive visage from the Burger King mascot himself.
01:11It's proof of one thing. You could do battle with Joan Rivers, but you could never defeat her.
01:16I was so nervous for everybody because, you know, you want everybody to be good, but not better than you're gonna be.
01:24Number 9. On Jennifer Lawrence's ego
01:26Few classic comedians were as well-suited to Twitter's character limit as Joan Rivers.
01:32Words were rarely this lethal.
01:34Who do I hate? I don't hate anybody. Who do I want to talk about at the moment?
01:39Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence slammed fashion police, which Rivers hosted, for criticizing celebrities' bodies.
01:46They put values in all the things that are wrong, and that it's okay to just point at people and call them ugly and call them fat, and they call it fun, and welcome to the real world.
01:54The co-host refused to take this lying down.
01:56She fired back in a series of tweets aimed at Lawrence's hypocrisy, as the actress had been a fan when they were complimentary of her.
02:04Referring to Lawrence's famous stumble on the way up to accept her Best Actress Academy Award, Rivers said she must have tripped over her own arrogance.
02:12To be fair, Lawrence made some points, but it's a great comeback.
02:16The ones I dislike talking to are the actors.
02:22Especially when a woman says, I'm an actor.
02:25Number 8. On Swimming with Sharks
02:28Over her several appearances on The View, Joan Rivers always had the hosts on their toes.
02:33Her takes were hot, fast, furious, and probably had the ABC censors sweating every second.
02:39She retires, and a week later, David Letterman retires.
02:43It's time America knew.
02:45Telling them how she and daughter Melissa went swimming with live sharks, she had a creative, if not so politically correct, way to keep herself from getting eaten.
03:03Rivers explains she found the meatiest swimmer in the group and stuck by her.
03:08And I said, I hope you have your period, because that, why does that keep the sharks away?
03:14Anything to draw some potentially hungry sharks away from her.
03:17Whoopi Goldberg and company completely lost it, knowing full well they probably shouldn't laugh.
03:23Oh my gosh!
03:25Oh my gosh!
03:26Number 7. On Angelina Jolie's Smarts
03:29Far be it from us to suggest Joan Rivers was being hyperbolic for the sake of a joke,
03:34but sometimes she read as the kind of comic who painted with a broad brush.
03:39An example might be her comments about Angelina Jolie.
03:41And they're so, well you've had them on the show, and these kind of, pretentious, you know what I mean?
03:46They believe so much in.
03:48Odds are, you don't become as successful in the industry as her without some brains.
03:53On working with Jolie, Rivers expressed some doubts as to her mental faculties.
03:57And now she sits there, Joan, if I could make just one person happy with my charity works, I'll die content.
04:05I thought, easy, give Jennifer Anderson back her husband.
04:07She joked that Jolie, upon seeing a wet floor sign, took it as a suggestion.
04:12Clever as it is, Rivers' opinion on Jolie seemed to dull over the years.
04:16She even admired her bravery in getting a preventative double mastectomy,
04:20taking jokes about the star out of her act.
04:23She's wearing a plain dress, and it's high neck, and it's okay, and she still was the most glamorous, amazing, sexy woman.
04:33I mean, just, she had, I think she just, she walked away with it.
04:37Number 6.
04:38On Paris Hilton.
04:39The world got introduced to me from the simple life where I was playing a character.
04:43But in real life, I'm not that type of person.
04:47The reality star and all-round renaissance woman definitely dealt with her fair share of insults back in the 2000s.
04:54But Joan Rivers found a pretty unexpected way to comment on hotel heiress Paris Hilton's antics.
05:00During a stand-up special live from London, she suggested Hilton's infamous sex tape wasn't even the most disgraceful part of that scandal for her and her family.
05:10The shame, the shame of the Hilton family to have your daughter do a porno film in a Marriott hotel.
05:19Yes, the worst part of the whole thing was using a rival hotel as the setting.
05:23That might not be entirely true, but Rivers finds a way to skewer the culture and the obnoxiously wealthy, all-in-one incredibly vulgar, absurd joke.
05:33Allegedly! Allegedly!
05:38I'm so scared to say anything, this whole act should be called allegedly!
05:43Number 5.
05:44On Gwyneth Paltrow.
05:46For someone who could crack a joke about any lifestyle choice,
05:48someone who made her lifestyle choices an entire brand is a prime target for a Joan Rivers skewering.
05:55Just don't be so damn thrilled with yourself.
05:57Yes.
05:58You know, we all work very hard in our business and we're all very lucky.
06:01She takes herself very seriously.
06:03Very, very seriously.
06:03All right, I know what it meant.
06:06Gwyneth Paltrow found herself on the other end of several of the comedian's barbs.
06:10Paltrow got her digs in too, citing Rivers as an example of why she wouldn't get plastic surgery.
06:16But Paltrow's conscious uncoupling from long-time husband Chris Martin was never going to escape comment.
06:22Is she here?
06:23She'll be standing because she can't sit down because she's got a stick up her rear end.
06:27Oh, she's so pretentious.
06:30You know, the only normal thing she ever did was get divorced.
06:33Even that she has to call uncoupling.
06:36Right, right, right.
06:36Not my favorite person.
06:37During a guest spot on Wendy Williams' show, Rivers took a shot at both Paltrow's diet and her marriage with one cutting, crass remark.
06:46When you leave Wendy Williams speechless, you know you're an elite-level shade monster.
06:51I'm a vegan.
06:52I won't eat anything with eyes.
06:54That's why your husband left you.
06:56I mean, it's like...
06:58Number 4 On Celebrity Apprentice
07:03This shady moment comes with an assist from Joan Rivers' daughter, Melissa.
07:07The mother-daughter pair wanted to bring their family brand of wit, fashion, and philanthropy to season 8 of The Celebrity Apprentice.
07:14When host Donald Trump fires Melissa, it became an all-out war.
07:18It's mother and daughter, you know, you can't break that bond.
07:2243-year career.
07:24I don't work with scum.
07:25Poker pro Annie Duke and Playboy bunny Brandy Roderick got an earful from both on Melissa's way out.
07:32Joan targeted Duke especially going after her entire profession.
07:35I met your people in Vegas for 40 years.
07:39None of them have last names.
07:41None of them.
07:42They have cashfuls of...
07:43You're a poker player.
07:46A poker player.
07:47That's beyond white trash.
07:49Poker?
07:49Despite her vulgarity, Rivers usually presents a polished, consistent image.
07:54This is her at her most raw and angry.
07:57While she's less funny, she's just as biting.
08:00You are a piece of s*** and you're a stupid blonde.
08:03That simple.
08:04Number 3 With Betty White
08:06She may be the sweetest golden girl, but Betty White could give it as much as she got it.
08:12That's no more evident than in her interactions with Joan Rivers.
08:15Just another simple dress, Betty.
08:18Oh, well I would like to say you look lovely, but unfortunately...
08:22You can't see probably that far.
08:28Guesting on one of Rivers' many nights, subbing in for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, the two go at it from the start, trading some of the meanest jabs with the biggest smiles.
08:39It's clear these two love and have so much respect for each other.
08:43No one else would be this nasty if they didn't really know one another.
08:46Well, I'm not to see that you stopped by the Arco station.
08:49It's not often they let you in there without a car.
08:53You were there in the restroom, but I didn't bother.
08:56Oh, but I finished my writing on the walls.
08:58Surprisingly, Rivers is a generous host.
09:01White gets way more digs in than she does.
09:03So then I have to walk into the light for the first time in front of the brass.
09:06And they said, yeah.
09:08They know me too.
09:10They all do.
09:11In a prime example of her gift for the one-liner, Joan Rivers had a whopper of a pun ready for this red carpet look.
09:27During an episode of Fashion Police covering Oscar looks, the co-host noticed just how sheer Mila Kunis' gown was for the event.
09:35In fact, it was so revealing that Rivers dropped a well-calibrated, nearly X-rated play on the actress's name.
09:41I think it was gorgeous and it was so sheer you could almost see Mila Kunis.
09:47Co-host Juliana Rancic was actually inconsolable, nearly having to excuse herself from the set.
09:54Strangely, despite the vulgarity of it, this might be one of her more good-natured jokes at a celebrity's expense.
10:01That was a good show.
10:02It was so good.
10:05That's going to be my new word now.
10:08Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
10:13You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
10:17If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
10:23Number 1.
10:24On John Travolta
10:25In her characteristically dishy episode of Watch What Happens Live, Joan Rivers did not disappoint.
10:32Andy Cohen asked her a leading question about which gay man she would have hooked up with if she were a gay man.
10:39And Rivers had her answer locked and loaded.
10:41Current or past?
10:43I think anything.
10:43George Travolta.
10:45No question.
10:46Both Andy Cohen and fellow guest Rashida Jones look like they're trying to hide their faces so no one knows they're laughing.
10:54It also takes her a very long moment to begrudgingly modify her statement.
10:58If she were gay.
11:02After nearly 60 years in the business, Joan Rivers knew exactly how to toe the line between getting a laugh and getting slapped with a slander lawsuit.
11:12I'm too outrageous.
11:13Really?
11:13And I don't play the game.
11:14Right.
11:15And I say what I think.
11:15You know that.
11:16Right, right, right, right.
11:17And I must have insulted everybody at one point.
11:19Did your favourite Joan Rivers moment make the list?
11:21Tell us in the comments.
11:22Tell me, are you happy?
11:26Get ready.
11:27I may surprise you.
Recommended
10:44
|
Up next
1:05
21:46
10:03
0:56
32:41
1:15:24
2:09
12:18
6:57