Laughing Matters

Amazon.com

The lives, onstage and off, of four charismatic lesbian stand-up comedians--Kate Clinton, Marga Gomez, Suzanne Westenhoefer, and Karen Williams--are captured in Laughing Matters. Through interviews, old photographs, and live performance footage, this documentary gives these four women the opportunity to sound off on sex, coming out, and the significance of Ellen DeGeneres, as well as airport security, Halloween, women in the military, reading in bed, and Catholicism. Through capsule histories of their careers, a narrow but valuable portrait of the progress of gay rights also takes shape. The political views are predictable but earned, as well as wittily phrased. Some of the extra footage--particularly a question-and-answer session at the festival premiere of Laughing Matters--is as funny as the stand-up routines. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

Too good to be true.......2005-07-21

Strap your boots on and let these four ground-breaking, hilarious lesbian comedians take you for a ride. Kate Clinton, Karen Williams, Marga Gomez, and Suzanne Westenhoefer star in this well-made documentary that alternates between brilliant interviews and on-stage clips from their stand-up shows.

Both the interviews and the clips will leave your belly aching from laughter and your eyes opened to the political and humorous landscape of lesbian stand-up in the 80s and 90s, also known as the pre-Ellen Degeneres years. These women were and are
true revolutionaries. Their only tools? Being queer and making people laugh about being queer. And their
brilliant.

Gay, straight, man, woman, anyone: this film is not only politically educational and inspiring, it's simply hilarious.

permanences: lesbian comics.......2005-01-27

This format is becoming very popular and formulaic. Four comics from the same oppressed identity group perform standup on the same videotape or DVD. First came black men, then came black women, Latino men, and working-class white men. In this tape, lesbian comics take the torch. So I was wondering why didn't the artists name this "Lesbian Queens of Comedy" like the title "(Black Male) Kings of Comedy." If Larry the Cable Guy and his buddies made "Blue Collar Comedy Tour", then why not call this project "Labrys Comedy Tour" or something?

What I found out was that this comedy tour was different. Instead of just having the comics do their entire routines and then passing the mike. This DVD cuts between the various comediennes telling one or two jokes at a time. BET's "Comic View" often uses this same format. In this work, however, the women are also interviewed talking about their girlhoods, families, and lives as openly lesbian comics.

Melissa Etheridge makes a quick guest appearance. It's practically like no lesbian art can get produced without her stamp of endorsement. On the Ellen coming-out episode, she and Ellen laughed saying, "Now that you are out, you get a free toaster." In so many ways, Melissa, as much as I love her, has become that free toaster. She even stares into the camera with a "Okay, am I done now?" type of look.

This work is more about life as a lesbian comic than the comedy itself. I think the purpose is to encourage more lesbian comics to come out more than just to entertain any person who happens to rent or buy the tape. In their interviews, the comics talk about sexism and homophobia in the comedy circuit. Surprisingly, each comic said that as much as they love Ellen DeGeneres, doors shut after she came out. The media only wanted one lesbian comic. Though these women had been performing for years, they were instantly dismissed as "Ellen imitators." Progressives of all genders and sexualities will want to hear about this.

There is the huge theme of permanence and continuity in this work. All the comics say they have been out in their careers forever. They have been in the business for ages. They all had girlfriends since way, way, way back when. They all came from families with entertaining relatives. They even show a photo of the four artists from a decade ago. They even show that Marga Gomez has had that huge gap in her teeth forever. I'm not sure why the producers of this tape definitely wanted to send the message "This is how it's always been!"

Sometimes the interviews with the comics are funnier than their standup routines. At times, you can't even hear what Susan Westhoefer is saying. Kate Clinton is cut! She must work out hard in the gym. The tape only reveals the highly sexual or highly political jokes toward the end.

I have mixed feelings in a way. I loved seeing Marga Gomez at a San Francisco comedy club years ago. I loved how she was the gay community's comedic secret. So there's a way in which personal idols are being taken into the mainstream by this tape. However, each comedienne is incredibly talented and this work will make all types of viewers ask, "Why aren't these women getting more jobs and exposure in Hollywood!?"

In many ways this tape is meant to say, "There's more than just Ellen." In expansion, "there's more than just Ellen, Rosie, and Lea DeLaria." These women are great and this was amusing to watch.

Average customer rating:

Four Funny Females

Laughing Matters ... More!
Director: Andrea Meyerson
Manufacturer: Alluvial Filmworks
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Gay & Lesbian | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000MDH6SY
Release Date: 2007-04-24

Product Description

Laughing Matters...More! is an exciting new reality based romp that blends the hilarious routines from four of today's hottest lesbian stand up comics with highly revealing and personal interviews. LMM follows on the heels of the wildly successful docu-comedy Laughing Matters. Taking a "reality" approach to showcasing the comics, the film captures both their hilarious on-stage performances as well as their wild and witty off stage personas in behind the scenes footage, one on one interviews and one segment where all four converge for spontaneous and improvised discourse. These women are all clever, funny lesbians with bitingly keen views of the world, delivered in their own unique styles.

Customer Reviews:

Four Funny Females.......2007-04-21

"Laughing Matters...More!"

Four Funny Females

Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride

If the names Sabrina Matthews, Vickie Shaw, Rene Hicks ad Elvira Kurt mean nothing to you let me tell you that they will. They are four of the hottest lesbian stand-up comediennes around. Presenting the ladies in a reality approach to showing their talents, Andrea Meyerson has directed a laugh festival. Alluvial Filmworks gives us "Laughing Matters...More1", a follow -up to the successful "Laughing Matters" of 2003. Not only do we see the women on stage but we get to see them behind the scenes and also as all four together. The satirical views they give of the world will keep you laughing long ever you eject the DVD.
The film is a documentary on the four comics and includes footage of their acts, personal interviews and a roundtable discussion in which we get insight into the lives and comic routines of the women. One of the reason this film is fascinating to me is the women are so different and diverse. Aside from each having her own kind of comedy, each comes from a different background and when you watch each approach no holes barred comedy, you laugh and laugh and laugh. Not a second is wasted, when the movie begins, so do the laughs. The one-on-one interviews with the comediennes and the director are a wonderful study of diversity and an entire new look at the "L" members of the GLBT community. As we laugh the women, we laugh at ourselves--our stereotypes, our foibles and the way we live.
Elvira Kurt openly talks about how disappointed her mother about her daughter being gay and as she performs her comedy routine, we are shown photographs of her childhood and then her comic performance becomes richer and more personal and even more political. When the women come together at the end of the film, it almost seems that their togetherness reflects a united community of all aspects of GLBT life uniting to form a unified community.
Sabrina is the butch lesbian and she is in no way afraid to do so. Her handling of gay stereotypes is real and extremely funny. She is a regular on Comedy Central and her appeal goes well beyond the gay community. Vickie is femininity personified and provides a whole new way of looking at lesbian relationships when she speaks about her own long-term relationship with a policewoman, Sgt. Patch. Rene gives us "intellectual" comedy. She is the first African-American female comic to be nominated as Best Female Stand-up at the American Comedy Awards. Her insight into the world of politics is witty and sometimes caustic. Elvira oozes style especially with her "looking like your little brother" routine.
The movie also goes into each of the women's coming-out stories and while doing so allows us to reflect on our own experiences so that when we laugh at the comics, we also laugh at ourselves.
With "Laughing Matters...More!" we have an hour and a half of fun. It is hilarious, it is sensitive and it is touching. Barriers and torn down and even though what the women say probably will not change the world, it gives hope that we may, indeed, one day, see equality between all people. The comediennes become our friends and as we get to know them, we watch as they become who they are in their comic routines. This is so much more than just a camera looking at comedy; it is a look into the inner-workings of the four women. It is also a very easy way to raise spirits and to cure depression. As you laugh, you look at yourself--what can be more fun than that? We laugh and we learn and we realize that no matter who we are, there is a great deal of commonality between us.

Average customer rating:

Laughing Matters...More!
Starring: Elvira Kurt; Sabrina Matthews; Rene Hicks; Vickie Shaw
Director: Andrea Meyerson
Manufacturer: Alluvial Filmworks
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000MRNT68
Release Date: 2007-04-24

Product Description

Charlie Rose with Larry Gelbart; Anne Rice; Richard Linklater (March 24, 1998)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with Larry Gelbart; Anne Rice; Richard Linklater (March 24, 1998)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

First, an interview with writer Larry Gelbart about his memoir, Laughing Matters, as well as his fifty-year career. Then, an interview with author Anne Rice who speaks about her latest book, Pandora, which returns to the subject of vampires. Finally, an interview with filmmaker Richard Linklater about his newest film, The Newton Boys, and his cast.

Average customer rating:

lesbians are hilarious
Laughing Really Does Matter

Laughing Matters
Starring: Kate Clinton , Karen Williams , Marga Gomez , and Susanne Westenhoefer
Director: Andrea Meyerson
Manufacturer: Wolfe Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Gay & Lesbian | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0001Z499C
Release Date: 2004-07-06

Customer Reviews:

lesbians are hilarious.......2005-09-14

All of these wimmin are so funny and I also liked the storytelling/background aspect of the DVD. They talk alot about how they got involved in comedy in the beginning and how hard its been as a lesbian comedian I highly recommend this title.

Laughing Really Does Matter.......2005-03-15

It was ok. They are all funny but it didn't really impress me like I thought it would.

Average customer rating:

A Laughing Matter
Director: John Barclay
Manufacturer: TITLE HOUSE DISTRIBUTION
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Comedy | African American Cinema | Genres | DVD | Video

General | African American Cinema | Genres | DVD | Video
Product Features:

Premiered in Boston at the International Children's Film and Video Festival
Won the Silver Apple Award at the National Educational Film and Video Festival in Oakland

ASIN: B000JKJ7LE

Product Description

PLOT SUMMARY: "A Laughing Matter" is a twenty-eight minute film, the first in a series of contemporary interpretations of traditional folktales from around the world entitled "Something Special". Although the story is a universal one, its origins lie in the beautiful islands of the Caribbean. "A Laughing Matter" is marked with lush scenery, wide-open skies, and glorious sunlit images. In this contemporized tale children and adults learn something special about another culture, and more importantly, something special about themselves. The film premiered in Boston at the International Children's Film and Video Festival to enthusiastic audiences and was selected to be screened at The Chicago International Festival of Children's Films, The Melbourne International Film Festival, The First Cairo International Film Festival for Children, and twice at KidsFilm in Dallas, Texas. It won the Silver Apple Award at the National Educational Film and Video Festival in Oakland, California and is currently being distributed to schools and libraries worldwide. Most recently it was broadcast on SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation). BONUS FEATURE: Comes with THE DIPLOMAT, an 11 minute contemporary adaptation of an Anton Chekov short story by Michael Witta in which a man tries to tell his meek friend that his estranged wife has just died, without upsetting him, too much.

DVD:

DVD

DVD