An Ode to Joan Rivers and Comedy as a Whole

Behind Every Legend is Someone Who Helped to Launch Their Career

Photo by Luca Bravo on Unsplash

Behind every legend is someone who in some way helped launch their career, to fulfill their dreams. Perhaps it was a teacher, a coach, a spouse, a ghostwriter, or… a comedy writer.

When the legendary comedian Joan Rivers passed away five and a half years ago after a nearly fifty-year career in comedy, I was stunned along with the rest of the world. Lately, I’ve thought about Joan again with the popularity of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and what it must’ve been like as a female comedian back in the ’50s and ’60s. But, what most people wouldn’t know — despite Mrs. Maisel but as was the case with Joan — many comedians have a comedy writer who writes for them. The comedian’s true art is in the delivery of the material.

I will always be proud of my grandmother, Dorothy Crispo, for being the comedy writer who launched Joan’s career. Born in Sacramento, but raised primarily in South America, my grandmother was raised to speak seven languages fluently. As an adult, she was chosen to travel all over South America scouting locations for Intercontinental Hotels. Later, when she settled back down in the ’50s and ’60s in New York City’s upper west side, she became one of the top known comedy writers, and that’s when she met and…