New documentary about Joan Rivers shows audience anger about a Helen Keller joke

From Bloomberg News:

“Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” opens with a close-up of the septuagenarian’s surgically altered face without any makeup. The shot is shockingly raw and compelling, much like Rivers and this documentary about her life.

Rivers (pictured), who turned 77 this week, is probably the most influential stand-up comedienne of her generation. Her outrageous style has spawned a host of imitators, from Kathy Griffin to Sarah Silverman, and her perseverance through a roller-coaster career is a reminder that toughness is as important as talent in show business.

Filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, whose previous documentaries have tackled such serious subjects as ethnic slaughter in Sudan and a man wrongly imprisoned for murder, followed Rivers for a year to chronicle her dogged attempts to stay in the public eye.

They show Rivers performing in clubs, signing books, acting in an autobiographical play and appearing on “The Celebrity Apprentice.” Uncomfortable moments aren’t whitewashed. When a man with a deaf son heckles Rivers for telling a Helen Keller joke at a concert in Wisconsin, she angrily castigates him for having no sense of humor. (Rivers told the crowd she doesn’t like children, but would have made an exception for Keller “because she didn’t talk.”)