Melissa Rivers Announces Joan Rivers Comedy Tribute Show, Opens Up About Her Mom's Secret Side (Exclusive)

Ten years after her comedian mom's death, the former 'Fashion Police' host reveals what Joan Rivers was really like when she wasn't onstage performing: 'She was shy'

Ten years after the death of Joan Rivers, her daughter Melissa Rivers is announcing two new upcoming shows dedicated to her trailblazing mother's life and legacy.

On Nov. 7, A-list comedians will gather at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York for Dead Funny — A Living Tribute to Joan Rivers Benefitting God’s Love We Deliver, which will be performed during the 20th annual New York Comedy Festival.

Between Oct. 27-Nov. 24, fans can also catch the play, Joan, playing at the South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa, California. The play will follow the life of the edgy comic from getting her start at small Greenwich Village nightclubs to being a regular act on The Tonight Show.

While both events will be dedicated to Rivers' fearlessness and outsized personality, Melissa says that's not exactly who her mother was off the stage.

Related: Joan Rivers Would Be Sad No One Lives in Her Old N.Y.C. Apartment, Says Daughter Melissa (Exclusive)

"She was shy," Melissa recalls of her mother, whose accidental death occurred during a routine endoscopy in Sept. 2014.

"She hated social situations but she covered that up by being funny. What's interesting is a lot of performers are very shy," she explains. "But one of her biggest fears was being in social situations outside of her friend group because she was always concerned she was going to disappoint someone — that they were expecting her to be 'Joan Rivers,' rather than 'Joan Rosenberg.'"

Melissa notes that her mom always used her married name when she was offstage.

"Up until the day she died, she answered the phone, 'Rosenberg Residence,'" Melissa says of her mom, who was married to TV producer Edgar Rosenberg who died by suicide in 1987.

Melissa adds that her dad was equally uninterested in socializing, especially when they moved to Los Angeles in the late 1960s.

"My parents used to have this thing they'd do at parties so they didn't have to talk to anybody," she says with a laugh.

"They would stand together and have this animated conversation about how they would decorate the entire house, even though it was already done," she recalls. "Like, 'I think we should put the painting in the living room behind the couch.' which was exactly how it already was, just so it looked like they were engrossed in conversation and wouldn't have to make small talk."

Another misconception about the former Fashion Police host? That she loved her wine.

"She could have a glass of wine and that was it," Melissa says. "If she had two she'd be on the floor."

Joan wasn't just socially reserved, according to Melissa, who says she'd been raised by her Hungarian immigrant parents to be a "proper lady." Melissa says Joan's parents were horrified when she decided she wanted to go into show business.

Related: Melissa Rivers Says Her Mom Joan Rivers Would Hate Cancel Culture: 'She Would Be So Over It' (Exclusive)

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"Back in their day, saying you were an actress implied you were a hooker as far as my grandparents were concerned," she says. "My grandmother's fantasy was for my mom to be a rich housewife, a lady who lunches." Of course, Joan had other plans.

"When she was younger, she mailed a picture of herself in a silver frame to MGM Studios so they could see that this was their next star," Melissa says. "Her joke was, 'Those f---ers kept the frame!'"

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