Joan Rivers on the mend?

THOSE MANNING the Joan Rivers death watch can stand down: The acid-tongued, 81-year-old comedy icon appears to be on the mend.

According to her daughter, Melissa, Rivers, who suffered cardiac arrest last week during a procedure on her vocal cords, has improved enough to be moved out of the intensive care unit at Manhattan's Mount Sinai Hospital.

"My mother has been moved out of intensive care and into a private room [and is] being kept comfortable," Melissa said in a statement. "Thank you for your continued support."

Despite the ostensibly good news, the younger Rivers did not say whether her mom remained on life support.

Rivers' current medical problems began Aug. 28, when she went into cardiac arrest during the procedure. She had been in an induced coma since being admitted to the hospital.

Ironically, just hours before all this happened, Rivers was performing stand-up at New York's Laurie Beechman Theater (named in honor of the late musical-theater star from Westmont, N.J.) when she casually remarked, "It's hard getting old. I'm getting so old. I am now 81 years old, I could die at any second! Pufft, like that."

In related news, E!, the cable channel dedicated almost exclusively to programming about people with no discernible talent or value to their fellow human beings, has announced that it is suspending production of "Fashion Police," the popular diss-fest hosted by the Rivers gals.

And, because we live in the home of the brave and land of the litigious, the buzz is that the Rivers family is already considering legal action against Yorkville Endoscopy, the Upper East Side facility where Rivers was being treated when her ordeal began.

Justin Bieber has a boo-boo.

According to the newshounds at TMZ, Canada's contribution to the decline of Western civilization visited Ontario's Stratford General Hospital yesterday to have his injured wrist examined. There's no word on the cause of what was reported to be a sprain.

It turns out His Biebness probably should have stayed away from his ancestral homeland: He was arrested Friday for assault and driving dangerously following an accident between his ATV and a minivan.

The TMZers couldn't say whether the wrist issue was caused by the crash (although the snarkmeisters there are suggesting the diminutive freak show hurt it "trying to reach something on a really high shelf").

In past years, singer Alicia Keys has introduced new albums toward the end of the year. (Her 2012 "Girl on Fire" won a Grammy.) This year, she and her producer-rapper hubs, Swizz Beatz, have another production in mind: a baby.

"December album? Well, I know one thing. I'm having a December baby," the singer said in an interview. She knows the baby's gender but isn't telling.

The couple's son, Egypt, turns 4 next month, and Mom reports that - no surprise, given his parents - he's "a little music fanatic. He has all this rhythm. He loves to dance. He can play drums. He can beatbox."

* Erstwhile teen idol David Cassidy is expected to appear in an upstate New York town court on a charge of driving while intoxicated.

The "Partridge Family" heartthrob was popped in summer 2013 and was allowed to have his attorney stand in for him in courtroom proceedings because Cassidy is a Florida resident. But that was before a tweet by the New York Racing Association put him at Saratoga Race Course, a mere 40 miles north of Schodack.

* What do you give the 2-year-old who has everything? TMZ reports that rapper-entrepreneur 50 Cent's birthday present to his son, Sire, was a miniature, motorized version of the Mercedes ML450 SUV in which his daddy rolls.

* The homeless man charged with stalking pop-tart Rihanna has been found unfit to stand trial for his activities. Kevin McGlynn, 53, was busted after he was allegedly caught delivering threatening notes to her Manhattan home on three occasions.

According to the New York Daily News, prosecutors have two weeks to decide whether to challenge the judge's decision.

- Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

Howard Gensler is on assignment.

Phone: 215-313-3134

On Twitter: @chuckdarrow

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