"A Piece of Work" is a very apt subtitle for this film, since it sums up rather succinctly the driving force behind Joan Rivers' career—she is a woman constantly on the lookout for her next piece of work. Perpetually aware of just how difficult it is to hit a moving target, Rivers never seems to slow down. At the age of 75, she keep herself busier than many working actors/comedians 1/3 her age. Ricki Stern's film chronicles Rivers' career, from her beginnings on "The Tonight Show" through her stint as permanent guest host, her devastating decision to leave that show for her own talk show (a decision that created a rift between Rivers and Johnny Carson that never healed), her husband's suicide, and her struggle to recover from it both personally and professionally. Rivers' daughter Melissa is of course a big part of this film, and her presence creates perhaps an unintentional stark contrast to Rivers herself. Joan is the consummate hard-working, smart, talented, honest professional entertainer, while her daughter, who claims to have chosen a career in show business, actually possesses little or no talent and has forged a "career" in entertainment simply by virtue of her status as Joan's daughter. If Melissa Rivers were not Joan's daughter, I doubt she would be able to find any work at all in the entertainment industry. Be that as it may, "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" is a penetrating and entertaining documentary about the life and career of one of the funniest—if not THE funniest—women in the business.

There were a lot of lists of the Top Ten Films of 2010 but one film was conspicuously absent--Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. Maybe because it was a documentary. It's 85 minutes long and it flies by in a blizzard of pleasure.I knew she was funny but I didn't know how funny. And obscene. And did I say hilarious? She's beautiful but she'll kill me for saying that. At 75 she exhausted me going over her daily routine with her assistant. Book signings, a new play, "A Work In Progress" opening in Edinburgh, Comedy Central Roast, honoring George Carlin at the Kennedy Center for the Mark Twain Award, working the 4,000-seat Foxwood Theater and almost every night working out her material doing stand-up in a little club.Watch her parry with an offended heckler in Wisconsin. She gets to the core of comedy, of why it matters so much to her and us—if we didn't laugh, where would we be? Two events involving Johnny Carson were instrumental in her life. To you youngsters out there who say, "Who?" when I mention Carson, he was the undisputed king of late-night talk as host of the Tonight Show. He could make a comedian's career just by smiling at him on the couch next to him. The first time she worked the show, he told her "You're going to be a star". Her career skyrocketed. The other time was when she was offered her own talk show on Fox in 1986 going up against Johnny. When she called to tell him, he hung up on her and never talked to her again.In fact, she was persona non grata at NBC until she did the Donald's "Celebrity Apprentice", a highlight of the movie dropped in the lap of the filmmakers.It was brave of her to allow the two filmmakers, Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, to follow her around, but she's pragmatic, tough and protective of her sensitivity to rejection. Her first love was acting. Though her play was a smash in Edinburgh but received lukewarm reviews in London, she stopped work on it immediately because she wasn't going to get hurt the way she was by the New York critics again.Great lines tossed off—she introduces her staff, "Staff, I'm lonely. Who's going to f**k me tonight?" Decades before shock comics she joked about abortion, "She's had 14 appendectomies (you know what I mean), flying back and forth to Puerto Rico, and she's walking down the aisle in white? Puleez!" And the bit about anal sex, priceless.She'll hate me for saying this, but she is an icon and an inspiration. She killed me with her mouth and mind going a mile a minute and so many f**ks I thought it was Jenna Jamison up there. Only kidding! The filmmaking is intimate but in your face and there's not an ounce of fat on it. If you haven't seen it, do so. It'll blast you out of your seat like a shot of Tabasco.

Very depressing look into the life and career of 75+ year old Joan Rivers who is so clearly starving for attention and acceptance but more often just gets crapped on by the industry, her fans, the press and public. It's pretty sad to see what the business will do to someone and how even nearing 80 years old she is still willing to take any booking, even a roast of herself where people call her a the c word and say things about her vagina, just so she can stay relevant. It was very sad when she got bad reviews for her play because you can tell it hurts her so much that people generally do not respect her or take her seriously. I would recommend it because it is an interesting look at the business and shows how addicting it really is for the people that it chews up and spits back out.

Joan Rivers love her or hate her one thing is for certain this biography docudrama titled "A Piece of Work" is highly enjoyable as it shows a personal side of Joan, really it tells the history of her show business days. As you the viewer see old clips, and you get treated to interviews from other comics like Kathy Griffin and interviews with agents and managers are telling. Also hearing the mouth of Joan is a juicy treat as Rivers is always outspoken.This is a woman of many sides revealing is how her humble start on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" helped launch her comedy stand up life. Only to later become Carson's fill in host only to have it end nasty with John when Joan left for FOX to start her own show(which would later fail)actually the two never spoke again. And heartbreaking is when you hear Joan talk about the suicide of husband Edgar, and how it strained the relationship with her only child a daughter Melissa(who's sexy and beautiful).Aside from those setbacks this woman has stood out in the cruel rains of the comedy and television world since the late 60's. And this doc does a good job of following her around aside from the clips, and interviews you see what it's like backstage and the grueling travels that exhaust Joan as she goes city to city. And many think she's cruel and cold, but not as it's revealing and nice seeing her give some food to homeless people in New York City on Thanksgiving. And my personal favorite was her speech to honor my favorite comedian the late great George Carlin as Joan gave a speech on his behalf. And rewarding was her winning of Donald Trump's "Apprentice" this past season.Really this doc shows the high and lows of Joan it proves with her interviews she's emotional, conflicted and brash, yet caring and outrageously funny. This film is an all access stage pass to her life and one year journey of all in between. It's clear that Joan at 75 proves she's still one of the best, love her or hate her Rivers is a stand up figure who's iconic and tough as nails strong with brash sassy wit and intelligence. This title rings so true Joan Rivers is clearly "A Piece of Work".