'Hysterical' Trailer: The Future Of Comedy Is Female In FX Documentary

Andrea Nevins (The Other F Word) directs Hysterical, a documentary that chronicles the accomplishments, as well as the hurdles, of female stand-up comedians.

"If there's anyone left who still actually believes women aren't funny, then that opinion is going to change," Nevins, who also executive produces the documentary, told Collider. "These women will make you laugh in all kinds of ways — at yourself, at their predicaments, at their honest self-evaluations. And, if you believe women aren't finding success in comedy, that preconception will change as well."

Well-known comedians like Margaret Cho, Fortune Feimster, Rachel Feinstein, Marina Franklin, Nikki Glaser, Judy Gold, Kathy Griffin, Jessica Kirson (an executive producer on the film), Lisa Lampanelli, Wendy Liebman, Carmen Lynch, Bonnie McFarlane, Sherri Shepherd, and Iliza Shlesinger, give interviews in which they recount the casual misogyny in the workplace (including onstage introductions like "We gotta young lady coming up! Let's see how this goes down!") to the systemic threat of sexual harassment.

The documentary also includes a conversation with Kelly Bachman, the comedian who went viral for heckling Harvey Weinstein while he was in the audience for one of her sets, referring to him as "the elephant in the room" and "Freddy Krueger."

"I didn't know we had to bring our own Mace and rape whistles to Actor's Hour," said Bachman in the viral video, which plays briefly in the Hysterical trailer.

The documentary seems like an enlightening, and probably slightly infuriating, look into the world of female comedians, who have made great advances in the past few years — there are probably just as many stand-up comedy specials from women on Netflix as there are from men — but who all acknowledge that there is still a lot of work to be done.

Here is the synopsis for Hysterical:

Hysterical spotlights the ground-breaking women shattering comedy's glass ceiling to become the voices of their generation and their gender. Featuring Kelly Bachman, Margaret Cho, Fortune Feimster, Rachel Feinstein, Marina Franklin, Nikki Glaser, Judy Gold, Kathy Griffin, Jessica Kirson, Lisa Lampanelli, Wendy Liebman, Carmen Lynch, Bonnie McFarlane, Sherri Shepherd and Iliza Shlesinger.

Hysterical makes its debut at virtual SXSW this March before it premieres April 2, 2021 on FX at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT. It will be available for streaming via FX on Hulu the next day.