Before there was lol, Joan Rivers was laugh out loud funny. The brash blonde, who died last week at 81 from complications of vocal cord surgery, began breaking down barriers early on in her career. She got her start in entertainment in the 1960s doing stand-up in New York City after being told she couldn't make it as an actor. Eventually, her biting brand of humor landed her appearances on late-night talk shows and a writing gig on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Her relationship with Carson-which was at times tumultuous-culminated with her being named perma-nent guest host of The Tonight Show in the 1980s. But soon after, she was courted by the up-and-coming Fox network and she left NBC and Carson to be the first woman to headline a late-night talker, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers.
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