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Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work discusses a variety of themes — ageism, sexism, comedy, New York, Hollywood, and show business — with the hilarious, spunky, and provocative comedienne as the vehicle. The filmed documentary opens with Rivers today, performing at hole in the wall in New York City and then follows a year in the life of a “semi-legend.” From her original plays to Celebrity Apprentice to Comedy Central’s Roast to stand-ups across the country, the seventy-five year old woman, Rivers, possesses energy, drive, and a genuine love for performance.
The non-linear narrative and rather recent footage from Rivers life does not offer the brute statistics on her life — we don’t learn the specifics of her childhood. Rather, the film focuses on her career: “the career,” an endless performance that Rivers is putting on for the world. Rivers always wanted to be an actress — a dream that was always slightly out of reach. In her youth, Rivers was not well-received on Broadway but recently had tried out a new play in Edinborough and London. When that play, too, received lukewarm reviews, Rivers refused to bring the play to New York. It took a lot of sweat and energy, but alas, Rivers bounces back, doesn’t focus too long on what some may consider a “failure,” and is on to the next thing.
I think that her perseverance is one of Rivers’ most salient qualities — especially in the sexist world of comedy (remember when even Christopher Hitchens was all like,”Girls aren’t funny”?). She considers …
… “the career,” her persona as Joan Rivers, a role. Her humor, raunchy, bitchy, and politically incorrect, is woven with insight and commentary if you listen hard enough. Reprimanded early on her career for a joke about abortions, Rivers was told that such things are not funny, women shouldn’t talk about that, etc., Rivers retorts, “That’s exactly what we should be talking about!”
No doubt, Rivers’ lives on performance. Her agent, Larry Thomas? Described Joan as someone who would “stand out in the rain” for as long as necessary; that she’d take any work. Though Rivers seems upbeat and bullet-proof, she did have a big hit early in her start: her late husband, Edgar Rosenberg committed suicide in the infancy of Rivers career. Rivers and her daughter, Melissa, never one to shy away from discussing real-life happenings, starred in a television movie Starting Again, in which a mother and daughter cope with a recent suicide. Rivers acknowledges how playing out the trauma, albeit in such a “corny” and “cheesy” way, mended Rivers and Melissa.
Perhaps the most heartbreaking moment is when Rivers is preparing herself for the humiliating special Comedy Central Roast. On her way to live special, Rivers resigned that all of the jokes would be about her age and the plastic surgery — and without question, the Roast was exactly that. This was also included in never-before-seen footage of the comedienne’s film.
This film, only obliquely, addressed the plastic surgery that has made Rivers an icon. For example, rather than run through a laundry list of her procedures, there is a short scene in which Rivers expresses her horror and distaste for seeing herself without make-up.
The film is fucking hilarious, heartbreaking, and, ultimately, (cue the music), inspirational.
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I think this woman is pretty amazing because of her strength, resiliency, and she never passes up an opportunity to make fun of herself, even brutally–a rare ability in a celebrity.
I still think she’s a total bitch for teasing the teenage actresses from Facts of Life about their weight. Here she is with all of her very obvious image issues making statements designed to tear down a group of teenagers. Then she makes a career out of insulting what people are wearing and how they look at red carpet events.
Does she get a discount with her plastic surgeon for every new customer she send his way with her degrading comments?
Actually, her husband’s suicide was not in the “infancy” of her career. Edgar Rosenberg died in 1987, when Rivers was very big indeed (anyone remember all those Elizabeth Taylor jokes?), and had just launched her own talk show on Fox (the move that put Johnny Carson’s nose out of joint). Rivers had been laboring away with varying degrees of success for around twenty years before this.
When I saw her documentary, I wasn’t expecting to be affected as strongly as I was. It was really very touching, she has had some hard times in her life, and still manages to show up everyday and give it her all. I really respect her for that.