‘The View’ Host Joy Behar Says People Don’t Take Her Seriously

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Comedian and long-time television personality Joy Behar has been opening up about her family history and how it shaped her personality and on-screen persona.

The View co-host appeared on the show’s spinoff podcast, Behind The Table, where she spoke to executive producer Brian Teta about her long career and ability to get away with saying things most cannot.

“You’re famously blunt,” Teta told the Daytime Emmy Award winner, per Closer.

Behar, however, had a different perspective, quipping, “I would say tactless better than blunt.”

She revealed she learned to be that way from her Aunt Rose, explaining, “As my aunt would say, ‘I tell the truth no matter who I may offend’… But no, I do have my limits on what I will say to people. I keep my mouth shut when I have to. It’s amazing how much I get away with. Why is that?”

Teta suggested it’s because of the “history” and “persona” she has built over the years, which her co-workers and fans have grown used to. “You’re very much like a Don Rickles at this point,” he added, referencing the late comedian who was known for his insulting one-liners.

“Who would ever take him seriously?” Behar agreed. “People don’t ever take me seriously when I say something that they think is offensive.”

“No, you could just say, ‘I’m bored now’ and walk away from a long conversation and people would be like, ‘Oh, that’s Joy being Joy,” Teta said of her honest personality.

“They don’t take it personally,” Behar laughed.

Behar started her show business career as a stand-up comedian before joining The View as one of the original panelists in 1997. She briefly left the ABC daytime talk show in 2013 but continued to appear as a guest host and officially rejoined the line-up in 2015.

During the podcast, Behar also touched on her co-host Whoopi Goldberg‘s new book, Bits & Pieces: My Mother, My Brother and Me, and how she related to Goldberg’s stories of growing up poor.

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“I grew up in a tenement. She grew up in a project. It’s not that dissimilar,” Behar noted. “It had no elevator. We lived on the fifth floor.”

“We wouldn’t have been that broke if my father was not a compulsive gambler,” she continued. “Because my mother worked, and he worked for Coca-Cola. You know Jimmy Hoffa gave them their birthdays off, OK. These big teamsters with party hats. So we were broke because he gave all of his money to the horses.”

Despite this, Behar said, “I had a family that loved me,” adding, “Just like Whoopi said, her mother loved her. Her mother made a beautiful life for her even though they had no money, and I was very much loved as a child. I always say, ‘My family gave me everything but an agent.’ That I needed!”