Over four decades ago, Joan Rivers made her hosting debut on Saturday Night Live in 1983. The comedian, who died in 2014 at 81 years old, was already an established figure in the comedy scene when she stepped onto the famous Studio 8H stage, having been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album that same year.
Years later, Rivers’ legacy and trailblazing work in comedy is still celebrated and revered. In fact, NBC is set to air an all-new special about her, titled Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute, on Tuesday, May 13.
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As for her time on SNL, Rivers remembered it was a good time with funny people. “Saturday Night Live was fun,” Rivers recalled in an interview with the Television Academy. “I worked with Eddie Murphy, which I loved. I thought he was terrific. I got to improvise, which is, again, fun.”
Read on to revisit when Rivers hosted SNL and her most memorable sketches.
When was Joan Rivers on Saturday Night Live?
Rivers hosted one episode of SNL on April 9, 1983 (Season 8, Episode 17) and kicked off the night with a stand-up style monologue.
The Brooklyn-born actress also starred in a variety of sketches with Season 8 cast members Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and more.
Though she only appeared on SNL once, Rivers has been impersonated many times through the years. SNL alums including Terry Sweeney, David Spade, Ana Gasteyer, Sarah Silverman, and Michaela Watkins have all donned a Joan Rivers-inspired costume, while Season 50 cast member Chloe Fineman showed off her impression of the late comedian on TikTok.
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Joan Rivers and Eddie Murphy starred in SNL’s “Old Folks’ Home” sketch — set in 2040
Rivers teamed up with Murphy for a sketch set in 2040 as elderly versions of themselves in a futuristic “old folks’ home” with Louis-Dreyfus as their nurse and Brad Hall as the orderly.
“Alright Miss Rivers, that’s enough TV for today. I turned the television off, OK?” Louis-Dreyfus says as she taps Rivers, who then falls to the floor. “Is she dead?”
Once they wake her up, Rivers repeatedly says her famous catchphrase, “Can we talk?”
“She says that all the time, I guess it was funny back then or something, I don’t know,” Louis-Dreyfus shrugs.
“I’m making jokes!” Rivers shouts. “I got bed sores older than both of you. Bad dum bum.”
Murphy then enters the scene on a walker grumbling some jokes to himself. “You remember me, Joan, don’t you?” he says. “Long time no see… You remember me from Saturday Night Live, don’t ya? Back in the ‘80s, all that funny stuff?”
“Can we talk?” Rivers, delighted to see Murphy, asks with a smile.
“Talk we can do,” Murphy replies. “But chewing’s out of the question. Bad dum bum.”
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Joan Rivers and Joe Piscopo had a joke war in SNL’s “Dueling Joans” sketch
Piscopo and Rivers matched in black off-the-shoulder ruffled dresses and bejeweled necklaces as they one-upped each other with jokes to suss out who’s the real Joan Rivers.
The 1983 sketch kicks off with an announcer welcoming Rivers to the stage, but it’s Piscopo, dressed as the star in a blonde wig, who makes a grand entrance, impersonating her iconic long-armed clap.
“You’re crazy! Grow up! I just came out to plug my album,” he tells the audience as Rivers herself walks onto the stage, wagging her finger.
“I am Joan Rivers!” she tells Piscopo. “You are not Joan Rivers! If you’re Joan Rivers, you’re Joan Rivers on steroids”
The two are then seated and told they’ll be given a category to respond to with a one-liner. For “Guys I Dated,” for instance, Piscopo quipped, “I dated a guy who had such bad dandruff that I had to clean up after him with a snow shovel! A snow shovel!”
Piscopo and Rivers continued to crack each other up as they were given their next category, ”Unwanted as a Child.”
“I was unwanted as a child. My parents gave me an electric blanket and I was a bed-wetter!” Rivers joked.
How to watch Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute
Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute airs on Tuesday, May 13 at 10/9c on NBC. You can also watch the special the next day on Peacock.
