Joan Rivers’ comedy career spanned six decades, from off-Broadway and cabaret to television and books. She was self-deprecating and abrasive, and charted new territory by telling stories from her own life and talking about taboo subjects on stage. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we share a 2006 interview with Joan Rivers from JWA’s documentary Making Trouble and talk about Joan’s legacy as a pioneering Jewish woman in comedy. We’ll also explain why we chose Joan’s signature tagline “Can we talk?” as the name of our podcast. This is the first episode in a two-part series. Stay tuned for another interview from the JWA archive between Joan Rivers and her writing partner and close friend Treva Silverman.

Opening clip with Joan Rivers courtesy of the Television Academy Foundation.