A New Documentary Examines Queer Comedians’ Painful Rise — And Lasting Legacy

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Over the course of her decades-long career, queer comedian Judy Gold has won acclaim on the stand-up circuit and carved out a niche for herself in film, television and the theatrical stage. Along the way, she’s picked up two Emmys for her work as a writer and producer on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” written two books and launched a podcast.

In the new documentary “Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution,” Gold is granted a rare opportunity to reassess her own professional trajectory alongside that of her contemporaries, including Sandra Bernhard, Margaret Cho, Wanda Sykes and Rosie O’Donnell herself. She also gets to share her thoughts on comedy’s oft-overlooked role in advancing LGBTQ+ visibility.

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“Great comedians make you laugh, but they can also make you think.

"LOADINGERROR LOADINGOver the course of her decades-long career, queer comedian Judy Gold has won acclaim on the stand-up circuit and carved out a niche for herself in film, television and the theatrical stage"They can make you change your mind,” Gold told HuffPost. “When kids come up to me and say, ‘I ran to my basement to watch you, and I couldn’t believe this big, loud lesbian was screaming about her family. You made me realize that, oh, I can have a family, too’ ― that makes it all worth it.”

Comedian Judy Gold appears in the Netflix documentary "Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution." BETH DUBBER/NETFLIX

She went on to note: “The power of comedy is that it makes you feel better, but it’s also a weapon. And all of the comedians you see in this documentary use that weapon wisely.”

Gold is featured prominently in “Outstanding,” which hit Netflix last week after kicking off the Provincetown Film Festival in Massachusetts and making a well-received world premiere at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival. Directed by Page Hurwitz, the film chronicles “Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration,” a 2022 live comedy event staged in Los Angeles by Netflix and hosted by Billy Eichner.

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One by one, the evening’s lineup of 19 queer stars ― which include the aforementioned women as well as Joel Kim Booster, Fortune Feimster and Tig Notaro ― share humorous and thoughtful anecdotes about their early years and respective rises to fame in intimate interviews. Sadly, if not surprisingly, each comedian recalls a fair number of cringe-inducing brushes with anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment along the way.

As seen in the film, Gold first publicly addressed her sexuality while performing onstage in 1996, shortly after the eldest of her two sons was born. That was a year before Ellen DeGeneres set a precedent by coming out as a lesbian on an episode of her ABC sitcom, “Ellen.”

Watch the trailer for “Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution” below.

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