Joan Rivers Comes to Sands: Your Weekend

Can we talk?

Joan Rivers, the ribald, brassy comedian and TV host who has been making people laugh for more than five decades, brings her standup comedy act to the Sands Bethlehem Event Center at 8 p.m. Friday.

Tickets are from $35 to $65.

Here’s what else is going on in Bethlehem this weekend:

• Dynamic filmmakers from throughout the region will be spotlighted during the third-annual Greater Lehigh Valley Filmmaker Festival Thursday through Saturday at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks’ Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas. Fifteen different films and two web series will be showcased over the course of five screening blocks. Admission for each block is $5 for the public and $4 for ArtsQuest Members. Tickets are on sale now at www.artsquest.org/film and 610-332-3378; they’ll also be available at the ArtsQuest Center Box Office.

• The fourth-annual Olympus InVision Photo Festival takes place Friday through Sunday at the Banana Factory and SteelStacks. The festival features presentations by renowned photographers such as Eugene Richards, Olivia Bee, Chase Jarvis and Stephen Wilkes, as well as dynamic photography exhibits including the Pennsylvania Photographers Competition, InVision College Photography Contest Exhibit and the work of the acclaimed photographers who are part of the Olympus Visionary Program. Click here for information about presentations and tickets.

• The monthly First Friday show at Godfrey Daniels features a trio of regional singer songwriters—Mike Holliday, Terry Kitchen and Ed McKendry. Show starts at 7 p.m. Suggested donation is $10.

• This will be the final weekend of high school football's regular season here. The Golden Hawks of Bethlehem Catholic, who are 5-4, can clinch a winning season—and perhaps even a berth in the state Class-AAA playoffs—by prevailing in the “Holy War.” The Hawks host the annual tilt with rival Allentown Central Catholic—having a disappointing 2-7 season—at 7 p.m. Friday at Frank Banko Field. The Christmas City Classic—Freedom vs. Liberty—will be played at 1 p.m. Saturday, also at the stadium. The 4-5 Hurricanes have dominated the all-time series, winning 30 of 45 meetings. But the 2-7 Patriots will be as motivated as ever to close out the season with a W and keep Liberty from finishing at .500.

• Godfrey Daniels hosts an evening of humor in song, story, and monologue with the appropriately named Coffeehouse of the Absurd with Mike Agranoff and John Forster at 8 p.m. Saturday, 8 p.m. Admission is $17.50.

• The Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts presents its Third Annual Benefit Fashion Show: Flying Solo: A Celebration of Individuality on Sunday from 2 to 5p.m. in Iacocca Hall, 111 Research Drive, at Lehigh University’s Mountaintop Campus. Come enjoy an exciting Fashion Show produced by the Charter Arts Parent Association, featuring emerging high school student designers and additional fashions provided some well known designers high-end retailers. VIP tickets, which include preferred seating, goody bag and VIP check in, cost $30. Standard adult tickets are $25, while student tickets cost $15. Tickets can be purchased at www.CharterArts.org.

• CNN prime-time host Piers Morgan visits the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks at 7:30 p.m. Sunday for a discussion that will also feature Dr. Gail Saltz, psychiatrist and “Today Show” contributor. Morgan will talk about his career, his passionate campaign against gun control and his new book (based on his diary), Shooting Straight: Guns, Gays, God and George Clooney. Tickets are $10, $8 for students and seniors and free for ArtsQuest members.