No, Joan Rivers, YOU Shut up!

It's hard to tell these days of Joan Rivers is being obnoxious just to promote herself as "the mad diva," (to paraphrase the title of her latest book).

Within 48 hours, she's trashed the president, the first lady, and anyone against cruelty toward animals.

Worse, she's done all of it without any sense of humor. I love Joan, I admire her, and it's sad to see her not just bombing with ad-libs but with lines that just aren't even smart.

Not that I would ever expect her to apologize. Lenny Bruce told her years ago, "They're wrong and you're right." I just hope she learns that it's not necessary to try and ad-lib a funny comment every time some pimply kid from TMZ shoves a $129 camcorder at her.

The fur gaffe happened during a cable TV interview. She was asked about why she wears fur.

Her ad-lib: "Are you wearing leather shoes? THEN SHUT UP!"

If there's anything that pisses off an animal rights activist or a vegetarian, it's that obnoxious comeback: "Are you wearing leather shoes?"

First off, here's no excuse to wear fur. We're talking about killing, often via slow death, foxes, ocelots, leopards and other endangered species nobody eats for food. What's this have to do with leather? Listen, you want to torture a cow with a prod up its ass and then eat it? Save me the skin. There hasn't yet been a good substitute for leather, but you don't eat fox and almost nobody eats rabbit. Fur is vanity. Fake fur looks damn real. So spare me the "you wear leather shoes" snottiness.

Now about that squelch at the end: "THEN SHUT UP!"

No, Joan. Can we talk? You're not Little Richard, and "SHUT UP" is not funny.

Saying "Shut Up" fortunately doesn't end any debate on the cruelty and stupidity of wearing fur or of hunting and killing animals for sport.

When Joan says Bo Derek is so dumb she saw the sign "Wet Floor" and did...that doesn't really hurt Bo Derek. Putting a bullet into a rabbit, knocking a bird out of the sky, or firing a can't-miss rifle at a leopard to have a trophy...that hurts. You ever see an animal cry out and writhe in agony, Joan? Take a look at some PETA videos and THEN put on your fucking fur coat.

24 hours earlier, Joan made waves for a witless ad-lib against the President and his wife.

I think Joan is a Republican. I don't think she likes Obama anyway. But in response to some fool from TMZ, she ad-libbed: "The President is gay..." and his wife "is a tranny."

The reporter said, "Tranny??"

Joan shouted, "Transgender!"

This wasn't respectful, but more importantly, it just wasn't funny.

Again, I love Joan. I also was a fan of Sam Kinison. It's a matter of personal taste if 1 joke in 100 goes over the line. But it's getting to be a habit with Joan. Please, if you think you have to come up with something ANY time you're asked a question, go to some prepared material, or just do some Don Rickles-type nonsense and say "You're a hockey puck."

It hasn't been a good July 4th Weekend for Joan Rivers, and I hope she gets some rest and takes a page out of some old Steve Allen book. I once asked Steve if there was any subject that was beyond joking about. He said, "No...you can joke about anything. The question is whether you should." In other words, you can think up a hilariously tasteless remark at a funeral...but it might be wise to keep it to yourself.

Maybe Joan can come up with some hilarious reason for wearing dead animals, but "Are you wearing leather shoes? Then Shut Up" ain't it.