I Hate Everyone...Starting With Me by Joan Rivers (2012)

It's weird how these things happen.

Last night I was reading Joan Rivers's new book and randomly thought, "I haven't updated the Entertainment blog in over a month, and my Wilkes-Barre/Scranton references have run dry."  Then, out of the blue, I came across a Wilkes-Barre reference on page 153 of the book.

I Hate Everyone...Starting With Me is the hilariously offensive (or is it offensively hilarious?) new book by Joan Rivers in which she comically details what annoys her about every conceivable type of person and situation.  A New York Times Bestseller, the book was also banned from sale by retail chain Costco due to profanity on the book's back cover (on August 8th, Rivers staged a media coup by handcuffing herself to a shopping cart at Costco and selling her book in the parking lot).

Page 153 of the book details why Joan Rivers hates private planes:

"...because I'm a guest that means whoever owns the jet is a lot more rich and famous than I am and if that private jet goes down, the obituary in The New York Times will read: INTERNATIONAL OIL MAGNATE SHEIK ABDULLAH MUCKETY MUCK AND FOUR OTHER (POORER) PEOPLE DIE IN PLANE CRASH.  I haven't spent forty years playing one-nighters in Wilkes-Barre to die as an 'other.'"

Joan Rivers will next be appearing in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, April 27th at The F.M Kirby Center. Click here for more information on her upcoming appearance. 

Click here to place a hold on I Hate Everyone...Starting With Me.

http://www.joan.co/

Long Live the Queen by Lisa Lampanelli (2008/2009)

Lisa Lampinelli is a top name on the comedy circuit; she even played Wilkes-Barre's FM Kirby Center on May 2, 2008. Her humor has often been described as raunchy, vulgar, and extremely un-PC. My brother is a HUGE fan of hers and lent me her most recent comedy CD, 2009's Long Live The Queen, this past weekend. In between my huge guffaws and expressions of shock, I was also pleasantly surprised to hear her say "Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania" on one of the track.

Long Live The Queen is taken from Lisa Lampanelli's very first HBO special of the same name, which was recorded on November 21, 2008 in Santa Rosa, CA and first aired on HBO on January 31, 2009. The live CD and DVD of the performance were both released on March 31st, 2009.

Track number 8 on the CD, titled "Bagging A Bear," details Lisa's very first date with a professional athlete, a player for the Chicago Bears; in Lisa's words, the date was a "one hour stand". She then expresses some words of wisdom gained from her experience to her audience:

"So seriously, Santa Rosa b____s, BEWARE!
Tonight you'll get some good lovin'. HMMPF.
The next night, you'll be on stage in
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania!"

Much thanks to my brother JR for this reference.