Review of Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010) by Marilee A — 19 Oct 2011

"Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" is a moderately insightful and sympathetic documentary about a year in the life of the famed comedienne. The most interesting parts are the older clips of her that establish her as a trailblazer and not just tabloid fodder. And she continues to be provocative in her routine to this day, sometimes having to edit out the more tasteless jokes beforehand. One such subject she will not go near is death, probably due to the suicide of her late husband.

At the age of 75, Rivers is forcefully trying to turn back the clock and not go gently into that good night by performing as much standup as humanly possible which is hard enough when the drunks in the audience think they are funnier than you are and worse if you happen to be wearing a dress.(Just ask Eddie Izzard.) Whereas Rivers can expertly handle any heckler, she is remarkably thin-skinned when it comes to critics reviewing her plays which goes to every comedian wanting to be taken seriously. While part of her drive comes from not wanting to retire, some of it is fear of another kind of death, that of being forgotten.