Melissa Rivers is thrilled that her mom Joan has “finally” been cited as an inspiration for “The Marvelous Mrs Maisel” — after revealing she felt “violated” by the show.
Actress Rachel Brosnahan appears on “Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute,” airing Tuesday at 10 p.m. on NBC and streaming on Peacock, and tells the crowd, “I am so honored to be here tonight to celebrate Joan Rivers. She was one of the pioneering comedians I studied to shape Mrs. Maisel on ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.’”
“It was lovely that she finally said it,” Melissa, 57, told Page Six. “It’s nothing to do with Rachel, it’s more to do with other people involved in the show continually denying it.
“Rachel had told me privately for years that, of course, [Joan] was one of the inspirations — and for her to say finally in public meant the world to me.”
Melissa has long made her feelings about the Amazon Prime hit clear, stating that producers Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino never reached out to her while making their show about a wisecracking young wife who becomes a stand-up star in the ’60s. It echoes Joan’s own trajectory to fame, from Greenwich Village comedy clubs to being one of the first female comedians on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
In 2021, Melissa told the “Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef” podcast, “I’m sure they were worried because, well also, the world is so litigious, but I wish I had gotten a note saying, ‘Your mother was one of the inspirations for this, and we hope you enjoy it and here’s a T-shirt. Here’s a link to the first episode, to the pilot,’ you know?”
“Not even saying like, it’s completely her, but to say she was one of our inspirations,” she continued. “And because of that, I felt so violated in a weird way, and everybody’s saying, ‘Oh, it’s Joan, it’s Joan, it’s Joan, it’s Joan’ and yet I never hear from the people that make it or the actors or anything saying, ‘Hey, she was one of my inspirations.’”
However, Melissa did send “Maisel” actor Jane Lynch flowers and a thank-you note when she won an Emmy for her role in the show, “Because she actually acknowledged my mom.”
The tribute is hosted by Tiffany Haddish and includes appearances by stars including Nikki Glaser, Chelsea Handler and Joel McHale.
Joan died at age 81 in September 2014 and Melissa said, “I wanted to do this for years and years and years. She deserved it, she was owed it and it just came together at the right time. It’s amazing to see all the comics she has touched and she has influenced, generation after generation. It … shows just how groundbreaking she was and she is still.
“I’m continuing to find it so amazing how, even 10 years since she wrote her last joke, they’re still relevant. Her big fear was not being relevant,” she added.
Melissa and Joan were the queens of red carpet commentary and, at different times, co-hosted E!’s “Fashion Police.”
“We used to get in so much trouble,” Melissa admitted of their snarky comments on celebrity fashion. “But it was never mean.
“Now, you can go on the internet and say these things with no face. I find it awful that people are just too mean and it becomes an attack rather than comedy. It’s a sad state of affairs.”
But she’s less worried about woke attitudes killing comedy.
“The ship is slowly starting to right itself. Suddenly we’re allowed to have fun again,” Melissa said. “A lot of it became so woke and so frightened. No one was allowed to have fun.
“That’s why it’s a perfect time for this special, because it’s edgy.”
Melissa is finally settled in a new home after losing her house in January’s LA wildfires and having to move five times in 11 weeks.
Despite the chaos, she still found time to marry her longtime love, attorney Steve Mitchel, at the Four Seasons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. “Things are settling down,” she said.
Joan’s voice, she added, is always in her head — joking that “the new medication my therapist has me on is helping me a little!”