Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers seems to be a master at having it both ways: Now in her late 70s, she’s both part of the glitzy celebrity cheese-machine and also one of its chief comic gadflies. The cover of her 1983 stand-up album, What Becomes A Semi-Legend Most?, pictured her hamming it up with bare shoulders and mink coat, and the material inside spanned from gynecology to the Royal Family. A 2010 documentary, Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work, offers some perspective on her life, but Rivers’ revelatory appearance on Louie and her Twitter feed, of all things, offer evidence that occasional gigs on The View and The Shopping Channel haven’t made her less of a smartass. In other words, she’ll likely prove as shameless and lovably loudmouthed as ever on her current stand-up comedy tour.

Updated 10/25/2011