New Yorker Joan has enjoyed a long and illustrious career, playing at various comedy clubs in the city before making her debut TV appearance on The Tonight Show in the early ‘60s. Since then, the 79-year-old has hosted an array of US TV shows, and is now a regular on the E! channel, where she casts a critical and extremely botoxed eye over celebrity fashion.

Rivers will perform for two consecutive nights in Dublin’s Vicar St. this month (October 9, 10). Be warned though, her brand of humour can be, to put it mildly, a tad on the offensive side. If topics like 9/11 widows and Whitney Houston’s recent demise don’t tend to send you into fits of hysterics, you might want to steer clear..!
Up north, the Magners Comedy Core festival takes place from October 11 – 13 in Belfast’s Mandela Hall. Tickets to see Daniel Sloss, Colin Geddis, Ronan Grace (11), Seann Walsh, Mark Grist, Sean Hegarty (12), and PJ Gallagher, Mark Grist, Micky Bartlett (13) will be sold for a pre-pay-day-friendly £2.50 from Queen’s Students’ Union, with proceeds going to Macmillan Cancer Support.
Also heading north this fortnight is UK comic Michael McIntyre, who’ll take to the Odyssey stage (17). The host of his own Comedy Roadshow, McIntyre’s Live & Laughing in 2008 was the fastest selling debut stand-up DVD… ever!
Elsewhere, Dubliner Brendan Grace celebrates a whopping 40 years of comedy with a show in Friar’s Gate Theatre, Limerick (10), while Des Bishop is in Vicar St. (5,6) and Millenium Forum, Derry (13) . Finally, the prize for best-named show goes to Seize The David O’Doherty (teehee). Both the man and his trusty keyboard will be at Louth’s Droichead Arts Centre on October 5.