From 2005-2007, Joan Rivers was a host for the
TV Guide channel, often co-hosting red carpet specials before awards shows with her daughter,
Melissa Rivers, from whom she was estranged briefly after her husband's suicide. She was replaced by
Lisa Rinna starting with the 2007
Emmy Awards telecast. She previously worked for the
E! Entertainment Television network in a similar role. In the movie
Shrek 2, she cameoed as a computer-generated version of herself, hosting the parody
ME! Medieval Entertainment Television channel.
When in New York, where she lives, Rivers appears weekly in workshop productions at the small venue
The Cutting Room. She donates proceeds to the charities
God's Love We Deliver (for which she is a board member) and
Guide Dogs for the Blind.
Rivers is an avid and unapologetic user of
plastic surgery to enhance her looks, however this has occasionally resulted in ridicule and
self-deprecation. This was played up in a
Geico television commercial in which she delivers the line "Am I smiling, I can't tell!" and "I can't feel my face!". She appeared in two episodes of the show
Nip/Tuck during its second and third seasons. During her first appearance, she wanted to find out what she would look like without all the plastic surgery she has had and was horrified by the result. During her second appearance, she wanted to invest in a post-surgical health spa.
She is also an avid collector of
jewelry. Rivers also appears regularly on television's
The Shopping Channel (in
Canada), and
QVC (in both the
U.S. and the
U.K.), selling her own line of jewelery under the brand name "The Joan Rivers Collection," which in fact is one of that network's best-selling lines. Rivers was a guest speaker at the opening of the
American Operating Room Nurses' 2000 San Francisco Conference.
Rivers is a grandmother to Edgar Cooper Endicott, who was born in
2000 during her daughter Melissa's brief marriage (
1998-2003) to John Endicott.
Whilst touring in the UK, Rivers appeared on
BBC Radio 4's Midweek programme and became involved in a heated on-air argument over the issue of race with broadcaster
Darcus Howe.
Together with Melissa, Rivers appeared in a special feature on the season one
DVD set of
The Golden Girls, commenting on the sometimes-odd fashion styles worn by the characters in the
sitcom.
Both Joan and her daughter Melissa are frequent guests on
Howard Stern's radio show.
Joan frequently appears as a panelist on
UK game show 8 Out Of 10 Cats.
During an interview with Celebrity Week in October
2006, Rivers remarked that
Mel Gibson "is an anti-Semitic son of a bitch. He should (expletive) die!”
She has also insulted Chris Burney, the guitarist in the band
Bowling for Soup, calling him "fatso" and renaming his band "Bowling for Crap". Later that year she voted Bowling for Soup the worst-dressed musicians. The band took this very seriously and bought an amp saying "fuck you Joan". This was also been discussed on the
Jimmy Kimmel Show.
Joan Rivers is a supporter of animal rights and an active member of
PETA.
As of April 2007, Joan Rivers has been fired from the
Red Carpet on TV Guide.
TV Guide chiefs have decided they want a friendlier face greeting the stars and have asked TV actress
Lisa Rinna to take over the show.
On
The Simpsons episode "
Make Room for Lisa," Homer Simpson asks an employee at Kharma-Ceutric, an alternative medicine shop, "What's keeping Joan Rivers alive?" to which she replies, "Fetal Grindings". Rivers was satirized in three other episodes as well.
On August 16, 2007, Rivers began a two-week workshop of her new play, with the working title "The Joan Rivers Theatre Project," at
The Magic Theatre in
San Francisco.
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