Timed to Pride, Netflix has dropped the trailer for its first-of-its-kind documentary about the history of standup comedy in the LGBT+ community. “Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution” will premiere on the streamer June 18 following its Spotlight Premiere at the Tribeca Festival on Friday.
“All kinds of comedy is accepted now that I never thought would be accepted in my lifetime,” Rosie O’Donnell says in this first trailer. “When I was a young comic, you had to be careful what you did and who you talked to and who knew.”
“It wasn’t accepted to say you were gay onstage,” Lily Tomlin says in the video. Watch the full trailer above.
The documentary will follow how LGBT+ standup has been a driver for social change over the past five decades. To do this, “Outstanding” will combine interviews, memorable standup performances, archival materials and verité footage. “Ultimately, the film reveals that queer comedians — whether they intended to or not — helped change the world, one joke at a time,” a logline for the project reads.
In addition to O’Donnell and Tomlin, the documentary will spotlight Billy Eichner, Bob The Drag Queen, Bruce Vilanch, Fortune Feimster, Gina Yashere, Guy Branum, Hannah Gadsby, James Adomian, Jim David, Joel Kim Booster, Judy Gold, KJ Whitehead, Mae Martin, Margaret Cho, Marsha Warfield, Matteo Lane, Patti Harrison, River Butcher, Robin Tran, Robin Tyler, Roz Hernandez , Sandra Bernhard, Scott Thompson, Solomon Georgio, Suzanne Westenhoefer, Suzy Izzard, Tig Notaro, Todd Glass, Trixie Mattel and Wanda Sykes.
The project will also feature interviews from historians Dave Holmes, Kate Aurthur, Roger Mason, Shar Jossell and Susan Stryker.
Page Hurwitz wrote and directed this special. She previously produced the LGBT+ standup special “Stand Out” for the Netflix Is a Joke Festival as well as “Queer Riot,” a documentary about an underground comedy theater in the basement of a former nuns’ residence, and Tiffany Haddish’s “They Ready” special.
