-Written by Michelle Vorob.
Laugh Proud is a comedy special that celebrates all of the facets of the LGBTQIA+ community. Filmed at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Laugh Proud features nine diverse comics, from fresh faces to veteran performers, including the first [openly] intersex comedian, who goes by the stage name 7G.
Directed by Quentin Lee, the opening credits of Laugh Proud include a stark and somber reminder that despite the difficulties and dangers people of the LGBTQIA+ community face today, it's a world away from the horror of [recent] world history, in which 100,000 German and Austrian homosexual men were arrested by the Nazis and sent to concentration camps, in which 10,000 of them died.
Laugh Proud was already losing me in the opening credits. Holocaust data, interspersed with happy comics posing around the city, like it was the opening credits of Saturday Night Live, but with Holocaust snippets. I felt like I was watching a documentary, not a comedy special. I felt sad.
Still, I was looking forward to the special. I know stand-up comedy is like Russian Roulette. You have to take a chance, or you'll never see someone so hilarious you then quote them from that day forward. Of course, comedy, like all art, is subjective, and sometimes varies between cultures and languages.
Stand-up comedy is brutal. It's hard to do and people often don't get a fair shake, especially if they don't cause uproarious laughter. I will throw in a tidbit for you; my dad was one of the most hilarious people you could hope to meet. His stories would have everyone in stitches. He tried to do stand-up once and he sucked--but I digress. This is all to say that I found Laugh Proud profoundly unfunny. Profoundly touching, profoundly uplifting, but not generally funny.
Now, does that mean no one said anything that made me smile and sometimes chuckle? No. Does it mean Laugh Proud didn't have performers I saw talent in? No. Honestly, I figure these people are hilarious in their lives in general, but I found each routine more endearing than anything else and frankly, I wonder if the Holocaust opening credits didn't sour the entire show for me.
If Lee wanted to include informational and educational content, I would've preferred to see that at the end of the show and I would've preferred to see information about every group, not just gay men, since Laugh Proud is an inclusive special, acknowledging the entire LGBTQIA+ community.
Should you watch Laugh Proud? If you want to celebrate the progress of the LGBTQIA+ community, yes. Absolutely. If you want to take a chance that something said might hit you funny, sure. If you want guaranteed hilarity, no. I was literally aware of the passage of time as I watched this. Of course, you might enjoy it. You won't have the same unexpected shock of a Holocaust lesson in the opening credits of a comedy show.
Directed by Quentin Lee
Starring Kit DeZolt, Jazzmun, Christian Cintron, Rowan Niles, Asha “August” Hall, Jason Stuart, Brian Clark, Juno Men, Amanda Alvich, 7G.
4/10 = WORTH WATCHING, BUT YOU’VE BEEN WARNED
