I must admit I am nervous about getting Alzheimer's. Once it hits, I might tell my best joke and never know it.
Interpretation
The quote humorously expresses the fear of losing memory while also highlighting the irony of forgetting one's own jokes.
Joan Rivers uses humor to address the serious and often frightening possibility of developing Alzheimer's disease. By stating that she might tell her best joke and not remember it, she emphasizes the deep loss of identity and connection that can accompany memory loss, cleverly mixing a light-hearted approach with a poignant reflection on the implications of such a condition.
In practice
Use this quote in a speech about the importance of mental health.
"I've learned what's funny verbally ain't so funny on e-mail: They don't hear your intonations. Melissa broke up with somebody over that. She tried to tell him: "That was a joke!" But he just didn't get it. Mick Jagger said, "F- 'em if they don't get the joke." And I love him. That comes with age: Knowing it's their problem, not mine."
I enjoy life when things are happening. I don't care if it's good things or bad things. That means you're alive.
Life goes by fast. Enjoy it. Calm down. It's all funny.
Life is so tough. I don't know how old you are, but I've seen so much in a wink. One phone call and your life is changed forever. We all know that. You better laugh at everything.
I walk on a stage, and I know if it's been a good show or not. You know when it's been a good interview. No one has to tell you. You know it. You feel it. You can feel the air. You can feel everything about it when it's a good show. And you know when you've messed up.
I would not want to live if I could not perform. It's in my will. I am not to be revived unless I can do an hour of stand-up.
I have very poor and unhappy brains for drinking: I could well wish courtesy would invent some other custom of entertainment.
When an audience is laughing with a character, they make themselves so vulnerable, and they open up. They expose their heart the moment they're laughing, because they're relaxed and they're disarmed.
The English country-gentleman galloping after a fox β the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.
I can think of nothing more boring for the American people than to have to sit in their living rooms for a whole half hour looking at my face on their television screens.
The naive was only a part of my fairy tales; humour was the real salt in them.
I was number 1 on the who's likely to die list for 10 years...I was really disappointed when I fell off that list.
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