Comedy Legend Joan Rivers Dead At 81

Veteran US comedian Joan Rivers has passed away at the age of 81.

Rivers was admitted to New York's Mount Sinai Hospital last week after she suffered a heart attack during a surgical procedure at Yorkville Endoscopy Clinic. She was placed on life support at the weekend, but according to reports her family decided to have the system turned off early this morning (AEST).

She had been in a critical condition upon arrival at Mount Sinai Hospital, and, despite a consequent improvement in her condition to being sable, Rivers was placed in a medically induced coma at the weekend, from which she was due to be brought out mid-this week.

Her daughter, Melissa, broke the news of Rivers' passing in a statement she has posted to her personal and mother's official Facebook pages.

"It is with great sadness that I announce the death of my mother, Joan Rivers," Melissa wrote. "She passed peacefully at 1:17pm surrounded by family and close friends."

"My mother's greatest joy in life was to make people laugh," she continued, after thanking the staff who had cared for Rivers and expressing gratitude for the outpouring of support from fans. "Although that is difficult to do right now, I know her final wish would be that we return to laughing soon."

Rivers is renowned as a pioneering figure in the entertainment and comedy industries, rising from her first breakthrough stint as a guest on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show in 1965 to host of her own short-lived — but still historic — late-night talk show in 1986-87, becoming the first woman in US history to have her own such program.

In between, Rivers had further established herself as a talented comedian, going on over the course of her 55-year career in the business to become an icon of the stand-up field. Her controversially satirical style of humour was not without its detractors — she was frequently criticised for insensitivity towards several groups and individuals — but she nonetheless paved the way for subsequent generations of female comedians to break through and be heard.

In distinctly Rivers style, though, she did not leave the coil without having pretty specific instructions about how she wants to be remembered: