'Laughter is disarming': A new documentary traces generations of LGBTQ comedy
NPR'Laughter is disarming': A new documentary traces generations of LGBTQ comedy toggle caption Netflix “Comedy’s always a reflection of the culture, good and bad,” says Page Hurwitz. Through archival footage, performances and interviews, Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution spans nearly a century of LGBTQ comedy, including the milestones and setbacks for queer comedians pursuing careers making people laugh. One such joke declared that Bryant “is to Christianity what paint-by-numbers is to art.” “That's why no one knows her name,” says Hurwitz of Tyler, “And she should be a household name because she's so funny and so talented.” Hurwitz and a small staff pored over hundreds of archival performances and news footage to show how, from one decade to the next, queer comedians either made strides or suffered, depending on the political and cultural climate of the day. “Gay men in those days were considered vile.” toggle caption Beth Dubber/Netflix “Comedy at that time was incredibly homophobic,” says Hurwitz, “and we had a lot of well-known comedians who were choosing to turn that tragedy into fodder for their hackneyed comedy acts.
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