40 Years Ago Today, Joan Rivers' New TV Show Destroyed A Famous Hollywood Friendship

Brassy, outspoken, and caustic, Joan Rivers more than earned her place in comedy history. Her pointed wit spared no one — not even the beloved Princess Diana, whom Rivers admittedly couldn't stand (the outspoken comedian couldn't understand why the princess was so unhappy when she had a crown, a cushy life, and "a husband who didn't want to sleep with her!" as she famously joked, per X). Rivers also made history by becoming the first woman to host her own late-night talk show. But this milestone came at a steep price. 

Rivers' stand-up career might never have advanced beyond Greenwich Village dive clubs if not for one extremely lucky break. In 1965, she was invited to perform on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," a gig that quite literally changed her life. "[I]t was one of those nights, you know, where everything goes right," she later acknowledged (via PBS), pointing out, "On the air, Carson said to me, 'You're going to be a star.' [...] And it was absolutely magical, the two of us, absolutely magical." The comedian soon rose to fame, and in the process became close pals with Carson, who tapped her as his substitute host. 

Then in 1986, the newly-created Fox Television Network offered Rivers her own talk show, with her husband, Edgar Rosenberg, producing. Understandably, she jumped at the chance and hurried to break the news to her good friend. "The first person I called was Johnny Carson," she confirmed. "He slammed the phone down, I called again, he slammed it down again, and never spoke to me again. Ever. I think he was furious and felt betrayed. I was now a competitor. He literally had me blacklisted." Sadly, the one-sided feud between Rivers and Carson continued until his death in January 2005. 

As quickly as it had begun, the once-tight bond between Joan Rivers and Johnny Carson snapped permanently after she began hosting "The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers." In an essay for The Hollywood Reporter, the "Can we talk?" funny lady offered an uncomfortable theory about the snub. "I think he really felt because I was a woman that I just was his. That I wouldn't leave him," Rivers wrote. "But I think it was a question of, 'I found you, and you're my property.' He didn't like that as a woman, I went up against him." What's more, Carson publicly insisted that his former friend had blindsided him. 

"To this day, I'm very angry about that," Rivers admitted. They say success is the best revenge, but for the legendary comedian, it wasn't meant to be. "The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers" was a ratings flop, and she refused the brass's orders to fire her husband, Edgar Rosenberg, as producer. The show was ultimately canceled after less than a year; even more tragically, Rosenberg died just three months later. It was one of the darkest times in the comedian's life, but she refused to let grief consume her. 

Rivers soon found her way back to the airwaves with "The Joan Rivers Show," a daytime staple that ran for 7 seasons over the course of a decade. She also made numerous guest appearances in movies and on TV, most notably in "Spaceballs," "The Simpsons," and "Hot in Cleveland." Oddly, given her staggering number of plastic surgery procedures, Rivers considered her career age-proof. "In comedy, if you can tell a joke, they will gather around your deathbed," she wrote in THR. "If you're funny, you're funny."