Page Hurwitz: Last News

Netflix‘s fantastic new documentary Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution proves, there’s long been a community of LGBTQ+ comics at the forefront of our social revolution, even if we didn’t always know it.In director Page Hurwitz’s film, a long-overdue spotlight is shone on the queer voices who blazed new trails for us in entertainment, from early icons like Robin Tyler and Moms Mabley, to counterculture firebrands like Sandra Bernhard and Margaret Cho, to the legendary Lily Tomlin.And it’s through Tomlin’s story we’re reminded of yet another influential comedian who was part of our community, too, even if he isn’t always discussed as such: Richard Pryor.In 1977, Tomlin was one of the hosts of a show at the Hollywood Bowl called “The Star-Spangled Night For Rights,” intended as a fundraiser in opposition to Anita Bryant’s anti-gay movement, though billed as a broader “human rights benefit.”She had convinced her good friend Pryor—already a crossover comedy star who had made his way into film and television roles—to be part of the show and, when he took the stage, he wasted no time in calling out the event for being about gay rights while not really saying “gay rights.”“I came here for human rights, and I found out what it really is about is not getting caught with a d*ck in your mouth,” he joked in footage from the evening, which is unearthed in Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution.“Ain’t a motherf*cker out here [who’s] come out here and declared themselves gay,” Pryor continued. “Ain’t nobody did shit.