Melissa Rivers shared that a collection of her late mother Joan Rivers’ original jokes was saved from the devastating LA fires that destroyed her Pacific Palisades home. The National Comedy Center retrieved the catalog a few months prior to the disaster, preserving 65,000 jokes from Joan’s iconic 64-year career. While Melissa lost many personal items, including cherished bathrobes, she has found temporary housing and leans on humor to cope with the loss. Joan, a groundbreaking comedian, passed away in 2014, and her legacy continues with Melissa, who recently won an Emmy, honoring her mother’s achievements.
Melissa Rivers has revealed that a twist of fate saved her late mother’s greatest collection of treasures from being lost in the recent LA fire that destroyed her Pacific Palisades home.
The 56-year-old said a rare catalog of Joan Rivers’ jokes was collected from the premises just months before the fire broke out.
“Fortunately, the jokes and major archival pieces from about two and a half, three months ago were picked up by the National Comedy Center,” the GroupText podcast host told People.
The filing cabinet that housed the materials contained approximately 65,000 original jokes collected over the course of the iconic comedian and television host’s 64-year career.
Joan passed away in 2014 at the age of 81 due to complications from routine throat surgery.
The defense of Joan’s joke came after it was revealed that Melissa won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host, which was Joan’s only win in 1990.
Melissa Rivers, 56, revealed that a catalog of her late mother Joan Rivers’ jokes was collected from her property just months before her Pacific Palisades home was gutted in the Los Angeles fires.
The 56-year-old said a rare catalog of Joan Rivers’ jokes (pictured) was collected from the premises just months before the fire broke out.
Other items, including clothing from the former Fashion Police star, have been auctioned off over the years to benefit the late comedian’s favorite charity, God’s Love We Deliver. This charity provides food to people suffering from serious illnesses who are unable to cook for themselves.
According to Melissa’s report, Joan’s jewelry was kept in a bank safe deposit box, which she assumes was fireproof.
Rivers, who is engaged to Steve Mitchell, said of losing her home: “I lost everything, but you don’t understand until you see the video.”
“This isn’t just my life, it’s my son Cooper’s life.”
Rivers is 24-year-old Cooper, as is her ex-husband, John Endicott. “We were both only children, and all of that was gone,” she says, adding that it’s a reality to see her entire life contained in three L.L. Bean boat tote bags. He added that it was not the point.
“We’re all doing the best we can,” she told the publication.
“Cooper is made of the same hard stuff as I am, and we all rely on each other to cope.”
Her biggest regret is losing the bathrobes that belonged to her mother and her late father, Edgar Rosenberg, but she was able to save a photo of her father, who died in 1987.
“I had her bathrobe and my father’s bathrobe. I only lost three of their bathrobes that I kept at home because they made me think so much about them. Because it reminded me of that,” she said.
Defending Joan’s joke came after Melissa revealed that she also won Joan’s only Emmy Award, for Outstanding Talk Show Host in 1990 (Photographed in Los Angeles, July 2013).
The red circle indicates Melissa’s Pacific Palisades property
Approximately 5,300 structures were destroyed in the Palisades fire alone.
Rivers has found temporary housing, but she doesn’t know when she and other community members will be able to rebuild and return.
“I mean, I can’t even imagine what it’s going to look like in a year,” she said.
“The store was gone. It was a complete destruction of the whole town. I always think of all the people who owned the store or worked in the store. Some of them Some have not only lost their homes, but also their livelihoods.
Ex-Joan and Melissa: Does Joan Know Best? The star has been busy checking in on her friends and relying on humor to cope with the loss. “This is my superpower. I am my parents’ daughter,” she explained.
It’s worth noting that Melissa purchased a home in Pacific Palisades for $7.7 million nearly four years ago in 2021.
The expansive estate featured five bedrooms, five-and-a-half bathrooms, and a backyard designed for luxury living, complete with a swimming pool, spa area, and outdoor fireplace.
Previously, Melissa owned another home in the Palisades, which she sold in 2019 for approximately $5.2 million.
It was erected in 1953 on a 5,850-square-foot property with six bedrooms and 5.25 bathrooms.
Rivers said she and her fiancé, Steve Mitchell, lost everything in the Palisades fire. “Everything was gone,” she said, adding that it was surreal to see her entire life contained in three L.L. Bean boat totes (May 2024) (Photographed in Beverly Hills)
Joan, who passed away in 2014 at the age of 81, won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1990 for Outstanding Talk Show Host for The Joan Rivers Show (see above).
Melissa originally purchased the property through a trust in the late 1990s for $2.35 million.
At the time, she served as executive producer and co-host. Her fierce mother featured prominently in the series “Fashion Police,” which debuted in 1995.
Before finding new fans with Fashion Police, Joan earned a reputation as a trailblazing comic, building a career on her groundbreaking accomplishments and bold, unapologetic style.
She began doing stand-up comedy in the 1950s.Her big break came in 1965 when she appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, and she quickly rose to national stardom.
During the 1970s and ’80s, Joanne became a familiar face on television, most notably as a guest host on The Tonight Show, becoming the first woman to serve as a guest host on a permanent basis.
In 1986, she launched a daytime talk show, The Joan Rivers Show, and won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host in 1990.
Joan’s personal life off-screen was defined by her tumultuous marriage to television producer Edgar Rosenberg, whom she married in 1965.
Three years later, they welcomed their only child, Melissa.
Joan’s personal life off-screen was defined by her tumultuous marriage to television producer Edgar Rosenberg, whom she married in 1965. (Edgar, Joan and Melissa, 1987)
During the 1970s and ’80s, Joan became a familiar face on television, most notably as guest host on The Tonight Show, becoming the first woman to guest host on a permanent basis. (Performed with Oprah on The Tonight Show in 1986)
Tragically, their marriage ended in 1987 when Rosenberg, who was suffering from depression, took his own life.
The heartbreak comes just months after he and Joan were briefly dropped from Fox’s late-night talk show.
Joan passed away on September 4, 2014, following complications from a routine throat surgery on August 28.
She suffered severe brain damage due to lack of oxygen during the surgery.
Following her mother’s death, Melissa filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the clinic and the doctors involved in the surgery.
The case was settled in 2016, but one key condition was that the doctors publicly accept responsibility for Joan’s death.