Queer comedians take center stage in Netflix documentary 'Outstanding'
In the new Netflix documentary "Outstanding," Margaret Cho, Judy Gold, Robin Tyler and other comedy legends look back at the legacy of LGBTQ comics and their journey from the closet to the spotlight.
With Joel Kim Booster and Bob the Drag Queen packing stand-up shows, and Instagram-famous humorists like Danae Hays and Rob Anderson boasting hundreds of thousands of followers, the days of comedians choosing between a career and the closet are long gone. But as Page Hurwitz’s new documentary, “Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution,” reminds audiences, less than two decades ago, being out in the world of comedy was a revolutionary act.
Blending interview clips with archival footage and snippets from a special night of queer stand-up, “Outstanding” — which debuted Tuesday on Netflix after making its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival — brings together multiple generations of joke-tellers to trace how LGBTQ comedians spent the past century fighting for a place in the spotlight and how queer women, in particular, made it possible.
“We have a long legacy, and yet we haven’t necessarily been able to celebrate our heroes,” Margaret Cho, one of the comedy legends featured in the film, told NBC News. “We’re now finally elevating these voices and giving them the legacy treatment that they deserve.”
Margaret Cho at The Greek Theatre for Netflix Is A Joke Fest. Beth Dubber / NetflixThe documentary begins by looking at how the relatively liberal 1920s gave way to the more conservative post-war years and a comedy landscape that turned gay slurs into a favorite punchline.
As the film explains, despite the Stonewall riots in 1969 fueling the modern gay rights movement, the tendencies of the postwar years lingered into the ‘60s and ‘70s, an era that also saw the rise of evangelists like Anita Bryant and early anti-LGBTQ efforts. So comedians like Lily Tomlin, who appears in “Outstanding,” were forced to remain closeted on TV, while others — like Robin Tyler and Pat Harrison, of the lesbian, feminist comedy duo Harrison and Tyler — were shooed out of the public eye.
Rating: 5