Last weekend, New York caught up with Joy Behar at a special Hamptons screening of Renée Zellweger’s upcoming road-trip film My One and Only. The View co-host told us about her own road-trip experiences and the new show she’s developing with HLN.
So in the film, Renée takes this crazy road trip. Have you ever been on a particularly interesting road trip?
This teen tour I was a counselor on. We took a bunch of overprivileged, obnoxious teenagers across the country on a bus. It was an official “teen tour.” It was a job — we were counselors. We were like 21 and they were 16 and they were hideous! They were the biggest brats. They kept picking up boys along the way. Like in Kansas, suddenly, they’d disappear, or the boys would stay in their rooms overnight. They would hide them in the back of the bus. They were smoking dope — they were horrifying!
Did you discipline them?
I just wanted to get out of that bus and away from them. I never did that again, as you can imagine.
Were they from Long Island?
Yes! They were from the Five Towns.
Was there a particularly bratty request that you got?
One of them said — [laughs] I said to one of them, “Where’s so and so?” and she said, “She’s with your husband.’”
That is nasty!
Oh yeah, they were really bitchy. They were. They were bitchy little girls. I have to say, the boys weren’t quite as bad. But the ones that they picked up were.
Why didn’t they just hook up with the boys they were on the trip with?
The boys they were on the bus with were too, like, nerdy for them.
So now you have a new show?
Yes, I have a new show. We’re launching it September 29, that’s the first night. We were going to do it the 28th but that’s the end of Yom Kippur and I need my Jewish viewers to watch me. So, it’s called The Joy Behar Show. It’s a talk show. It’s news with fun.
What if the news is depressing?
We’re not going to cover depressing news. Well, we might, if someone interesting dies or something. You know, I’m following Nancy Grace, and she does a lot of crime stories, so maybe I’ll pick up some of hers. She’s interesting. The whole channel now — HLN — Headline News Network — is filled with divas. First is Jane Velez-Mitchell, then Nancy Grace, and then moi. The whole channel is like — how shall I say? — assertive women. It’ll be fun.
What other newswomen do you like right now?
Rachel Maddow’s great. She’s going to be on Meet the Press tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to seeing her talk about health care with all these other types. She’s fresh. Candy Crowley — I love Candy Crowley from CNN. She has tremendous credibility.
So how will your show stand out?
I think I’m a little bit different from other shows. Just me alone, my track record. I’m a stand-up comedian. I have a lot of background, I’ve had a lot of different jobs. Teen tours … I worked in a mental hospital, too, which prepared me to work on The View. I worked as an employment counselor, so in case I get fired I can counsel myself. So I’ve had a lot of different kinds of jobs — I think I’m ready for this.
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