Review of Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010) by Bill L — 08 Nov 2012

If you're like me, you're probably thinking: I have no reason to see this because I have absolutely no interest in Joan Rivers.

You want to see this.

Joan Rivers comes across as the Blanche Dubois of comedy - only she's more compelling and hilarious as well. You see a woman who at 75 is desperately afraid of losing what she has. What she has is an audience, and she literally lives for the next one. She will take any job. She will not give up.

There is about much more than Joan. It's about aging and the fears that come with it. It's about the struggle to stay vital.

Unlike Blanche Dubois, Joan Rivers shows her insecurity but earned more admiration than pity from me. She's smart. If she's playing for sympathy - she at least understands herself well enough to know it and to say it.

And she is outstandingly funny. There isn't too much comedy material, but what they selected here really opened my eyes to how talented she is. It is disarming to see this 75 year old woman deliver material so frank and vulgar, and at the same time hilarious. You envision this odious obnoxious character - but when she is delivering her material, she is dead on target: precise as a concert violinist.