Joan Rivers called KC ‘the apex of stupidity’

What, were we too nice for Joan Rivers?

When the caustic comedian, who died Thursday at 81, did two shows at the Midland theater in Kansas City in 1983, all had apparently gone well.

She made jokes at the expense of Prince Charles, Amy Carter, Richard Simmons, Elizabeth Taylor (of course) and herself. Along with the Smothers Brothers and Jim Stafford, she raised money for a school for handicapped kids.

The Kansas City Star gave Rivers a reasonably good review, conceding that she was funny but that “probably few in the crowd needed much more of this verbal barrage by the time it was over.”

But then two years went by, and at a concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall, Rivers unloaded on not just Kansas City but the entire Midwest.

“I just played Kansas City,” she reportedly said. “The only time you want to visit there is if you’re going to make an emergency landing in a plane crash.

“They are really dumb there. Americans are smart on both coasts, but then as you move to the center of the country, the people get dumber and dumber and dumber. And the apex of stupidity is Kansas City.”

Uh, duhhhh, what’s an apex?

(Among Rivers’ more recent KC appearances: May 2000 at the Midland, December 2002 at the Folly and November 2009 at Ameristar Casino.)

This story was originally published September 4, 2014 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Joan Rivers called KC ‘the apex of stupidity’."