GAIL SINGER
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBBB.
Canada, 1992. CITY-TV, National Film Board of Canada, Ontario Film Development Corporation, Studio D, Téléfilm Canada, Zinger Films. Cinematography by Zoe Dirse, Robert Fresco. Produced by Susan Cavan, Rina Fraticelli, Signe Johansson, Gail Singer, Ginny Stikeman. Film Editing by Gordon McClellan.
Gail Singer puts the spotlight on female stand-up comedians in this wonderfully entertaining documentary. Featuring the work of incredible talents like Phyllis Diller, Whoopi Goldberg, Maxine Lapiduss, Pam Stone and Jenny Jones, it also gives you early looks at the careers of equally gifted comics Ellen DeGeneres and Joy Behar before they became household names on television. Singer has an agenda to garner women some attention in a field that generally sees them as a hard sell, supporting this with interviews by the ladies between filmed routines in which they talk about their experiences. Regardless of whether or not this matters to you, you’ll have a great time listening to the terrific jokes, and will want to watch the film more than once.