Stand Out: An LGBTQ comedy celebration
Recently, the Netflix is a Joke festival went very, very gay and featured an all-LGBTQ comedy night. Hosted by Billy Eichner, the event showcased some of the leading comics from the LGBTQ community, and baby, it was fabulous. Stand Out showcased many of the leading LGBTQ comics in the game, all corralled in one place to celebrate the community.
But Stand Out wasn’t all fun and games. Despite the fact that it’s 2022, it’s no secret that the LGBTQ community is facing a surge in discrimination all around the world, especially those of us who fall into the trans category. While there was definitely a feeling of joy and celebration at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles that night, many performers used this moment at the Stand Out taping to advocate for the community, to inspire folks to keep fighting, and to fight harder.
Comics like Wanda Skyes, Tig Notaro, Rosie O’Donnell, Margaret Cho, and Sandra Bernhard were there. Sam Jay, Mae Martin, Gina Yashere, Fortune Feimster, and Stephen Fry showed up among the many others to perform for, and celebrate the LGBTQ community.
Stand Out is a 96-minute special and we guarantee you’ll laugh and cry (we did), sometimes at the same time. Here are some of the highlights of Netflix’s Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration.
The highlights
Humor is a very personal thing, and there are probably some things that we’re into that maybe you won’t be. The good thing about this comedy special is that there is really a wide and diverse genre of comics available to sample, all with one thing in common: they’re all LGBTQ. So even if our highlight here might be comics that you would usually pass over, remember, there is definitely something for you here in this special, these are just some of our fave moments.
Margaret Cho – always a favorite of ours, and who is introduced for the evening by none other than Ani Defranco, *squeals* Cho takes the stage and proudly states that she is here reppin the “B in the LGBTQ acronym”. She reflects on her time in the 80s when she was living life as an out lesbian (now since realized she also likes a bit of the D now and then) and comments on how ballsy our LGBTQ family was back then for being so out and proud as they were.
Sam Jay – Look, say what you want, but we freaking love Sam Jay. They are unapologetically masculine presenting with this don’t mess with me vibe that just oozes off of them. But whenever we watch them in their stand-up comedy mode, all they’re ever doing is going on and on about their girlfriend. And honestly, it’s so nice to see that. It’s funny as hell, witty, and even though she is “ragging” on her a lot, it’s obvious that Sam is totally in love with that woman. We’re here for the queer love babies, especially when it makes us snort when we laugh.
Sandra Bernhard – Introduced by the incredible Lily Tomlin *also squeal* Sandra Bernhard stole the show for us. She talks about her family, like so many of the other comics do, but that’s not what drew us in. She talks about Los Angeles and how much she loves the city. She expertly slides from anecdotes about her family to the very real political situation circulating in the United States at the moment. One second we were laughing, and then suddenly we were so emotional that we were bawling.
“We’ve got some battles on our hands, kids. And you know, being a woman, being someone who made their own decision to have a baby … you know, I won’t get into details. But I can tell you one thing: when you’re ready to have a baby, you have that baby. But how dare they. How fucking dare they. After the battles and the lives lost, and the people who have gone out and put their lives on the line. Don’t you fucking dare. I’ve had it.”
The audience rose to their feet, cheering loudly and goodness, we did too. It’s worth noting that this was recorded before Roe v Wade was overturned, so if you’re feeling particularly vulnerable about this issue, proceed with caution – tears will definitely ensue.
Notable mentions
If you’ve made it this far, you’ll probably notice that the ladies really stole the show for us on this particular evening. But here are a few notable mentions that we also enjoyed.
Bob the Drag Queen – Say what you want about the vaccine debate and rhetoric, but the way that Bob the Drag Queen brought light to the situation in this special made us laugh so hard. According to Bob, all of y’all that got the Johnson and Johnson vaccine did the most cis straight white man thing you could have, so maybe y’all should head back to the clinic and get a do-over!
Tig Notaro – Tig is back talking about her health issues again, which actually, we never get tired of. Their chronic pain is such a tragedy that we’re just happy that they’ve found a way to deal with it all: making stand-up comedy and humorizing the whole awful thing. On this day, Tig recounts a tragically hilarious story where she was carried by a fireman out of her house to an ambulance because she couldn’t walk. We don’t want to laugh at her pain, but lawd, we couldn’t help it.
Rosie O’Donnell – O’Donnell closed out the show with a bunch of other comics. Cindi Lauper was supposed to be at the Stand Out event with Rosie singing a version of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” – but make it gay. However, Lauper was unable to make the event so O’Donnell calls upon Trixie Mattell to stand in. Joined by others on the stage as well, it’s an incredibly celebratory way to close out the show.
If you’re queer and love stand-up, we guarantee you’ll find something in this special that will float your boat. However, if you’re looking for an all-round celebration of the different types of queerness, you need to watch this special. Stand Out made us feel proud to be queer and the sheer number of queer people piled onto that stage and into that audience made us remember, we here, we’re queer, and we’re not going anywhere.
Hey Netflix, we want more events like this in the future okay? Please and thank you.
Stand Out is available to stream on Netflix now. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!
