and will they take a woman do this? and we said well, i hope they ll take me for at least 13 weeks. it worked. i worked for 11 years, i never thought i would go that long. i knew i wanted to do musical and comedy and i wanted guest star. i want to do sketches and i want to rep company the way caesar had one. [ laughter ] there were ten variety shows on and the same time carol burnett on. and ten comedy writers on each show. i was the only woman out of all of them. the funny thing about female writers and television was that in the beginning, i would not say they were welcome, although they were certainly exceptions. i interviewed for the carson show, i called my agent and i
center in hollywood. it s the late show starring joan rivers. and now, ladies and gentlemen, miss joan rivers! every-major star wanted to do the show. the first night, cher, elton john singing the bitch is back. it was insane and exciting and wonderful. and then, the problems started. there was nobody more competitive than johnny carson. and if johnny perceived that somebody was disloyal, the relationship was over. oh, i think, absolutely, the the tonight show was trying to punish my mom. the carson show made it very clear that, if you did her show, you were no longer welcome on the carson show. when the show didn t do as well as foxx had hoped, that i started meddling and kind of took the power away from her husband. my dad, edgar, did all the business. he did all the negotiations. he did everything to make sure that all my mom ever had to do
letterman show as the guy who is sort of the rebel comic. he thought i am going to be the host of the tonight show, i can t be that guy. that guy s too narrow. so he made a conscious decision to, you know, wear down those edges at least, if not eliminate them. actually, time magazine says the biggest problem facing americans is litter. you know, if they are so concerned about litter, why don t they get rid of those stupid, little subscription cards that keep falling out of the magazine? they thought he was selling out to get the tonight show away from him, basically. so, naturally, he thought, i don t respect jay for doing that. dave was more of a broadcaster than he was a comedian. and dave had a whole-different sensibility. the whole question of letterman taking over for johnny. i mean, we would talk about how nice it would be if if we had the 11:30 time slot. that was the dream. this is my mother. ms. letterman, can i ask you a question? sure. has david ever told you t