What makes people happy? Is it their children? Not according to the cover article of this week's New York Magazine, whose title is "I Love My Children. I Hate My Life." Is it their friends and family? Some studies say that's the key, and yet family also seems to be the main topic of conversation on most therapists' couches. Is it money? That's so 1980's. The sociologists doing the research may want to check out Joan Rivers' documentary. She has the answer: it's work, and in her very funny, very watchable movie she proves that she still deserves to be doing it at age 75.
There are some very moving moments in "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work," although when Rivers tears up about having to fire her longtime manager and good friend Billy her eyes are the only thing that betray her sentiment. The rest of her face simply doesn't move. But her notorious plastic-surgery induced face, and her self-deprecation about it, makes her life or death struggle to stay in the show biz game that much more poignant in the movie.
There are numerous clips of the young Joan with Johnny Carson and others, pre-surgery. At that time she was not famous for her looks but for her cutting edge, raunchy humor and the fact that she was a woman comedian. If you didn't already know, the movie makes clear that she was a genuine pioneer for women in comedy. But God forbid you call her a "comedy icon." One poor guy does and gets a quick "I don't want to be an icon. Fuck you," in return.
In her advanced age she remains an outsider in what is still a male dominated industry and her anger fuels her comedy. She struggles to get work, except the kind that makes her the butt of the jokes. She accepts that too, for the money, but she doesn't like it. When she is cruelly roasted on Comedy Central by male comedians who are a lot younger and a lot less funny, it's a squirm inducing moment for her and for the audience. You genuinely feel sorry for her. She only half-jokingly advises the audience to "invest wisely when you're younger."
But if anyone has ever made lemonade from lemons, she has. The movie is filled with her jokes, both spontaneous and rehearsed, and they are funny. She doesn't necessarily joke about her misfortunes, and she's had big ones, including the suicide of her husband and partner Edgar. But there is never a joke far behind. She just keeps on going, like a hard, plastic version of the energizer bunny. When her adorable grandson tells her that his friend has three Play Stations and the friend gave him one, she quips "does he have a single grandfather?"
More than anything she loves being center stage, and she is the first to admit it. It makes some of the film's drama a bit suspect, given that she prides herself on being an actress rather than a comedian. But it is still refreshing, and downright inspiring, to hear her talk about how much she loves to work. When she wins "Celebrity Apprentice" and someone congratulates her she quickly retorts, "It's great but it's not an Oscar."
My guess is next March she might have to find another joke, and another gig, when she finds herself a Documentary nominee being asked what she's wearing on the red carpet, instead of doing the asking, for a change.
p.s. One of the things that makes me happy is being able to go to the movies in the afternoon when the kids are away at camp!
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