AMERICAN comedy legend Joan Rivers is to begin a short UK tour at Newcastle City Hall on October 12 – but that’s in 2012.

At a time when comedy has never been more popular, this will be a chance to see the queen of American stand-up in action.

She will be 79 when she takes to the stage to begin a tour which will end in London at the Royal Albert Hall.

But the irrepressible comic who routinely makes fun of herself – and her catalogue of cosmetic procedures – will no doubt have a spring in her step.

Typically, Brooklyn-born Rivers has dubbed this The Now or Never Tour – with, in brackets, the instruction: Don’t wait, this could be IT!

Rivers, who was born Joan Molinsky to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, last did a stand-up tour of the UK in 2005, performing to packed houses, although she was here in 2008 performing a play about her life to celebrate her 75th birthday.

Tickets for Joan Rivers’ Newcastle appearance on October 12, 2012, go on sale at 9am on Saturday.

Call the City Hall box office on 0191 2612606 or the 24-hour hotline on 0844 338 0000 (www.bookingsdirect.com).