Last August, Joan Rivers handcuffed herself to a shopping cart in a Los Angeles Costco. In one of her semi-usable hands she gripped a megaphone. Joan screeched and hollered about Costco’s asinine refusal to sell her recent New York Times bestseller because of its lewd back cover. The LAPD hauled her out soon after her ridiculously awesome protest began.
Several months later, Joan finds herself in far more comfortable circumstances than conjoined to a metal cart on a skuzzy linoleum floor. Now, she’s cozying up in bed with the likes of Sarah Silverman.
In Bed With Joan is a new interview-style series on boomtrain. New episodes are going up each week, and each one consists of raunchy, anything-goes chats between Joan and a guest. The show is quick to establish itself as silly and absurd. And, as the name suggests, the show’s set is Joan’s private quarters.
Instead of entering from offstage, guests emerge from the closet. A studio audience is present, though it is comprised of three people huddling awkwardly in the corner. And the usual two-chair setup? Out the window. The guest hops right onto the not-quite-queen-sized bed alongside Joan. (Or, in Sarah Silverman’s case, snuggles under the covers.)
“I want the full mommy experience!” declared Silverman, the show’s debut guest, who jumped right into poking fun at Rivers.
“I was told that you died like 10 years ago, and that now you’re totally animatronics. I don’t know who’s working this, but it’s amazing! I’m right up close and it looks real!”
Although technically it is an interview show, the Q & A is wandering and spastic. Often the back-and-forth devolves into wonderfully ribald improv comedy between quick-thinking comic powerhouses!
For instance, when Nick Kroll (The League, The Kroll Show) jumps into bed with Joan it is a terrific oscillation of one relentlessly tickling the other’s funny bone! Kroll provokes husky chortles from Joan, and she sends him into giggle fits. As a viewer you feel as though they aren’t trying to make you laugh. Instead, it feels as if you are simply watching funny people talk.
Though by the end, we do learn a few things about the guest’s personal life. For example, Sarah Silverman’s older sister is a rabbi who makes fun of her congregation for being awful singers. And, Kroll played the Pharaoh in his second-grade production of the ‘Exodus From Egypt’.
And, it is about Joan too. She tells ancient stories regarding her associations with Johnny Carson, Ed Sullivan, and the Rat Pack. And as per usual, Joan’s brain is a crude delight, working as a conveyor belt to move uninspected thoughts and uncensored comedy from her frontal lobes to her vocal chords!
So far Sarah Silverman, Nick Kroll, Kelly Osbourne, and Belinda Carlisle (member of the band the ‘Go-Go’s’) have all jumped into bed with Joan. These episodes can be seen on boomtrain, with new episodes being added as they become available. So check back often to be privy to the no holds barred, laughing riots in Joan’s bedroom.