While politicians and legislatures across the US, and around the globe, are doing their damndest to roll back any progress on LGBTQ+ rights, particularly when it comes to limiting trans people’s lives and their access to medical services, the evidence of queer and trans people’s existence, needs, and impact on society continues to grow. One of the exciting things about this particular moment in time is that there are enough queer historians working across diverse fields and industries that we no longer have to accept the false assumption that all LGBTQ+ people have something in common, but instead get to enjoy the myriad niche influences queer people have had on the world, from histories of male flight attendants to queers in punk to Black gay and trans truck drivers to lesbian information technologists, and on and on. The new documentary film Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution, streaming on Netflix, is another entry in this growing library. Directed by Page Hurwitz, the film looks specifically at the history of LGBTQ+ stand-up comedians.
Clearly a heavily Netflix-influenced project, it jumps off from a live LGBTQ+ comedy special hosted as part of the 2022 Netflix Is a Joke Festival. From there, the documentary steps back to consider how we got to the point where such a special could not only happen but be well attended and well received. Comprised of archival clips and a compendium of talking head interviews filmed on a red-curtained sound stage (we get it Netflix — you’ve got a brand!), the film doesn’t innovate cinematically. What it does bring to the table, beyond more celebrity-driven content, are some unique perspectives.
While many people today are aware that comedian and former talk show host Ellen DeGeneres’s popular television sitcom was canceled after her eponymous main character came out as a lesbian on one of the show’s episodes, what I didn’t know, and others may not either, is that she wasn’t the first lesbian with a network television contract to come out or to lose her contract after making her sexuality public. That unfortunate distinction belongs to Robin Tyler, who, two decades prior to Ellen, signed with ABC to develop a variety show with her life and comedy partner Pat Harrison, and to appear on a handful of comedy specials. Tyler came out publicly in 1978 on Showtime’s 1st Annual Funny Women’s Show, hosted by Phyllis Diller; that, combined with her ongoing activism against anti-gay zealot Anita Bryant, marked the end of her network television career.
Another compelling through line the documentary follows is the idea that lesbians, queer women, and trans and nonbinary stand-ups have been among the most prominent and influential LGBTQ+ voices in comedy and television. While cis men have long dominated the field in general, the doc makes a strong argument that they were rarely early change makers in terms of gender and sexuality — a point that doesn’t feel particularly surprising given how often some of comedy’s most famous cis men continue to engage in homophobia and transphobia. Netflix, which has become extremely influential in the world of stand-up because of its long-term investments in comedy specials, has also been the subject of intense criticism for producing and profiting from transphobic and homophobic screeds by the likes of Ricky Gervais, Dave Chappelle, and most recently, Joe Rogan. Were the 2022 LGBTQ+ comedy special and this doc just Netflix’s cynical attempt to temporarily placate critics while continuing to platform hate speech? It’s hard not to see it that way, at least partly. Does this mean that the histories and comedians featured in the doc, such as Margaret Cho, Sandra Bernhard, Wanda Sykes, Suzy Eddie Izzard, and Hannah Gadsby, aren’t worth taking note of? No.
The doc’s stories and people raise questions about the prominence of stand-up comedy in the US as a cultural container and release valve for our best and worst selves, and as both a powerful force for change and a hackneyed repetition of oppressive ideologies. Laughter can be a balm and a vicious cut. And notable moments in this doc drive home who in the game is worth paying attention to if you want comedy to lighten not only your load, but also that of your fellow humans.
Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution is currently streaming on Netflix.
