A New Netflix Documentary Is Telling the History of Queer Stand-Up Comedy

Matt Keeble/Dave Benett/WireImage, Steve Granitz/FilmMagic, Momodu Mansaray/FilmMagic

From Tig Notaro’s legendary album Live to movies like Bottoms, queer and trans people have been dominating the modern comedy landscape. But until relatively recently, that was not the case. A forthcoming documentary from Netflix will explore the history of LGBTQ+ stand-up comedy, from the days when the phrase “out comedian” was an oxymoron to today’s renaissance.

The documentary, Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution, will premiere on the streamer on June 18, as Variety first reported on Wednesday. According to an official description, it is the first feature-length documentary to look at the history of queer stand-up as “an instrument for social change over the past five decades.”

Written and directed by Page Hurwitz, who founded a comedy production company with Wanda Sykes in 2013, Outstanding gathers a veritable who’s who of queer comedy to speak to that history. Interviews and clips of Sykes, Suzy Izzard, Hannah Gadsby, Tig Notaro, Rosie O’Donnell, Margaret Cho, Bob the Drag Queen, and Trixie Mattel, among many others, are all featured in the film. The film also taps several historians and journalists for their expertise, including Shar Jossell and Susan Stryker.

The special will highlight comedians like Jes Tom, Alok, Asha Ward, and others.

Netflix dropped the trailer for Outstanding on YouTube on Tuesday night, featuring a blend of archival footage and interviews with some of the aforementioned pioneers of queer comedy. As Guy Branum says in the sneak peek, humor has long served a social function for LGBTQ+ people beyond just making each other laugh. “Queer people taught America to stop being scared of us by making jokes,” he observes.

In a statement to Variety, Hurwitz asserted that the history of queer stand-up is intertwined with liberation. “We don’t normally think of comedians when we think of social movements but the talented artists in this film helped to shift the culture in significant ways, sometimes having to make great personal sacrifices,” she said. “I hope this film honors and celebrates their contributions to LGBTQ+ history and to the larger community.”

Outstanding is intended to complement Stand Out, Netflix’s 2022 special featuring sets from several of the comedians featured in the documentary. The streamer also recently released Gender Agenda, hosted by Hannah Gadsby, which highlights the talents of seven trans and genderqueer comedians.

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