Filmmakers granted access to comic's archive

A major new documentary about Joan Rivers will tap into hundreds of hours of previously unheard comedy recordings.

Makers of the feature-length film have been given unprecedented access to the comedian’s archives, which also includes newly unearthed home videos.

The documentary will also feature interviews with her family, including her daughter Melissa, and her closest confidantes.

Rivers, who died in September 2014 at the age of 81, was previously the subject of the candid film  A Piece of Work, which premiered in 2010.

She started her comedy career in the Greenwich Village clubs of New York alongside the likes of George Carlin, Richard Pryor and Woody Allen and shot to fame as a regular guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson – until she fell out with the host. 

The film is being directed by Colette Camden, who made the BBC documentary series Lucan, and is currently in production, slated for release next year.

Melissa Rivers told Deadline: ‘Now feels like the right time to look at why my mother’s voice still resonates today, and, more importantly, how that very distinctive voice came to be. 

‘Hers is not only a story of a trailblazer but of a real woman trying to navigate a life of conflicting desires, and how that shaped her hilarious view of the world.’

Published: 17 Jul 2025