'Hysterical' Review | Hot Docs 2021

The 2021 Hot Docs Festival will be available for audiences across Canada to stream April 29 to May 9. Hot Docs is the largest documentary focused film festival in North America and the line-up this year is absolutely incredible.

Check out my full coverage of Hot Docs 2021!

Hysterical (2021)

Director: Andrea Nevins
Producers: Rebecca Evans, Carolina Groppa, Ross M. Dinerstein

Synopsis: An honest and hilarious backstage pass into the lives of some of stand-up comedy's most boundary-breaking women, exploring the hard-fought journey to become the voices of their generation and their gender.

Review:

Since the #MeToo movement started a few years ago, we've seen women in male-dominated fields speaking up about the challenges they've faced solely because of their gender. Hysterical is a documentary in this vain for the stand-up comedy world.

Director Andrea Nevins brings together some of the top female stand-up comedians working today who share their stories about their beginnings in comedy, obstacles they've overcome, and their opinions on the state of stand-up comedy today. There are interviews with Margaret Cho, Marina Franklin, Sherri Shepherd, Fortune Feimster, Nikki Glaser, Kathy Griffin, and others. The documentary not only gives a spotlight to female stand-up comedians' experiences, but addresses the Harvey Weinstein case and the fall out Kathy Griffin experienced after posing with a model of then-President Trump's decapitated head.

There weren't any groundbreaking revelations or stories told in Hysterical, but it's an interesting look at the world of stand-up through a woman's eyes. Giving these women a spotlight to understand their backgrounds and share their stories provides audiences with great insight. The highlights of the documentary for me were Marina Franklin sharing her cancer diagnosis and seeing the support and comfort she received from performing and from her fellow comedians; and Kelly Bachman's recounting of her infamous set where she told Weinstein (who was present in the audience) to fuck off.

Hysterical is the documentary you expect. It doesn't offer anything particularly new to the discourse, but it's a good re-telling of the story so far.

Hysterical is streaming in Canada via Hot Docs until May 9.

Thanks to Disney and Rogers Sports & Media for the screener!