On May 7, 2022, the inaugural Netflix Is a Joke festival’s “Stand Out” show welcomed to the Greek Theatre stage 22 diverse LGBTQ+ comedians, including Eddie (Suzy) Izzard, Wanda Sykes, Lily Tomlin, Sandra Bernhardt, Rosie O’Donnell, Trixie Mattel, Tig Notaro, Sam Jay, Mae Martin, Joel Kim Booster, Fortune Feimster and Bob the Drag Queen. In the wings, documentary director Page Hurwitz kept cameras rolling and conversations flowing.

Premiering at the Tribeca Festival June 7 and reaching Netflix June 18, Hurwitz’s “Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution” dives deep into the history of stand-up trailblazers like Moms Mabley (out in the 1920s in her 20s) and Robin Tyler (the 1950s, age 16) who demanded equality.

By the late ’70s, Tomlin explains, “Comedy became an act of resistance,” in the face of Anita Bryant’s “Save Our Children” discrimination campaign. Bernhardt experienced a parallel battle with Ronald Reagan in the ’80s. (Historical turns of progress inevitably meet religious persecution.) As a young comic during the AIDS crisis, Todd Glass heard hurtful cracks from Eddie Murphy, Sam Kinison and Andrew “Dice” Clay. He grew fearful of being outed even as Margaret Cho, Rosie O’Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres rose to stardom through the ’90s.

Elsewhere, mustachioed history/political science buff Guy Branum lends context to jaw-dropping archival footage, Hannah Gadsby speaks to the rise of identity-forward material, and River Butcher and Solomon Georgio pay homage to Izzard’s influence around the globe.

On the local film front, comic and cartoonist Mo Welch’s “Dad Jokes,” a stand-up special/documentary partially filmed at the Lodge Room in Highland Park, debuts on YouTube June 14. Pioneering trans activist Tuesday Thomas gets the doc treatment with “The Trash Goes Out on Tuesday,” premiering June 12 at the Independent Filmmakers Showcase at Regal L.A. Live.

Elsewhere across Los Angeles:

Trixie Mattel’s packed calendar for WeHo Pride 2024 — “one of my favorite Prides in the universe” — includes June 2’s annual Santa Monica Boulevard parade. (The Comedy Store returns with its own comedian-packed float.) Enthuses Mattel, “I’ve attended, I’ve hosted, and I always have the time of my life.”

On June 7, Fifi Dosch hosts “a kind of on the hush-hush” but “very trans, very kinky comedy show and art exhibit” at a secret Van Nuys locale dubbed the Greenhouse. “We don’t advertise the address freely,” Dosch cautions of the “really fun trans refuge and party,” but for attendees who message @greenhouse.comedy.and.art on Instagram, “We’ll give the address if we can prove you’re not a cop.” Art show begins at 6 p.m. with comedy at 8. Previews Dosch, “I’ll be hosting in a hammer-and-sickle bikini.”

Cantiq

June 21 at Echo Park’s inclusive lingerie store, Sammy Mowrey’s “Boyfriend: A Queer Comedy Show” brings aboard Jake Noll and Pluto Papaya, “some of my favorite queer comedians in L.A., opening for me while I run my half-hour set.” Intending to tape the special within the next six to eight months, Mowry says, “I’m trying to get the feel of the flow.”

Comedian Cameron Esposito at the Bergamot Comedy Fest at the Crow on April 5, 2024.

(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)

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The Crow

In Santa Monica, a new Family Pride weekend launches with safe, all-ages events. June 14 at 7 and 9 p.m., the Crow’s signature “Storyectomy” series returns with community and allies getting personal alongside headliners like Cameron Esposito. June 15 at the Santa Monica Pier, the Crow hosts free “Fierce Fables: Drag Queen Pride — Family Edition!” storytelling at the Carousel from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., along with face painting, a Family Pride parade and dance numbers from Pickle Drag Queen, Pandora Boxx and Johnny Gentleman.

Back at the venue’s Bergamot Station home base that afternoon, programming includes family-friendly improv from Pull My Finger, a youth open mic, the “BYOB(Baby)” comedy show, music from singer-songwriter Abby Posner and “I Gotta Crow” stand-up with Nina Nguyen, Jeffrey Jay, Jeena Bloom, Zoe Zakson and Jackie Monahan.

Dynasty Typewriter

A double dose of “Josh Thomas: Let’s Tidy Up” comes clean in Westlake June 2 and 3, Natalie Rotter-Laitman does an hour June 17, Drew Droege’s new “Messy White Gays” play gets dirty June 24, and Nikki Levy hosts “Don’t Tell My Mother” June 25 with Rachel Scanlon, Vico Ortiz, Jen Kober and musical guests Ezra & the Pussyboys.

The board of directors/comedians at alt-comedy venue the Elysian Theater.

(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

The Elysian

Frogtown’s favorite comedy theater offers “Joe Castle Baker: Something to Think About” June 8, the descriptively named “Cameron Esposito Is Taping a Thing” June 9, “Twin Flames” June 16, “Big Dad Energy” June 27 and “Gentlemen’s Club” June 30. Longtime scene producer Sam Varela’s Naked Comedy brand further sweetens the Elysian calendar with June 4’s clowning collage “Self-Portraits With Shan Fahey” and June 8’s “Ahamed Weinberg Presents: Repentance,” a Downtown Women’s Shelter fundraiser with Esposito, Brendan Scannell and host Titi Lee.

Additional Naked Comedy productions include live-animated show “Picture This! Pride Edition” at the Virgil June 21 and Quei Tann’s “The QT Comedy Show!” Hollywood Fringe festival run with rotating lineups June 16, 21, 23, 27 and 29 at the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Aparna Nancherla.

(Mariah Tauger/Los Angeles Times)

The Improv

On June 6 at the Lab, “Nori Reed and Lovers” gets busy with Sam Oh, EJ Marcus, Rachel Pegram and Aparna Nancherla. June 24’s “The Mav & Kalea Show” finds Mav Viola and Kalea McNeill doing time up top plus hosting four of their TBA comedy pals.

Largo
Before Ellen DeGeneres begins touring in late June en route to filming her final-ever special, two DeGeneres test dates were extended to four: June 4, 5, 12 and 13. Tig Notaro’s monthly “Tig Has Friends” slot momentarily shifts to Notaro and partner Stephanie Allynne’s “She Said, She Said” June 16.

Lyric Hyperion

From the heart of Silver Lake, “Haley Stiel Works on Some Things” June 1, Rachel Kaly brings “Major LOL Vibes” June 2, “Planet Courtney” takes orbit June 6, “Hannah Einbinder Presents Friends and New Material” June 21, “two rogue lesbian nuns take over” in “Divine Perversions: A Sapphic Mass” June 23 and Titi Lee turns “Good Girl Gone Baddie” June 30.

Nico’s

Atwater Village’s newbie wine shop only opened in January, but its Baby Battista bar venue has already become an alt hot spot. “Ever Mainard and Their Mostly Gay Friends” donate 100% of ticket sales to the Fund Texas Choice nonprofit June 11, with Mainard returning June 27 for solo-show-in-progress “Ottis.” (Mainard’s “Y’all Gay Podcast” co-host Ali Clayton releases debut comedy album “Country Queer” May 31, a mere 15 years into her career.) June 25 at Nico’s, Naked Comedy and Jeena Bloom’s “Cruising Comedy” promises “the hottest and hardest stand-up comedy action you can handle!”

UCB

The Hollywood sketch and improv mecca pits “Gays vs. Straights,” in a “gameshow death match” June 1, the venue’s first all trans/gender-nonconforming/nonbinary improv team delivers “QT’s Present…Joy!” June 2, Jesse Esparza and Dan Leahy a.k.a. “Two Loud Gays” perform “very loud, very gay” sketch June 4, the all-queer cast of “Conversion Camp” variety gets campy June 5, and “Dating Gayme” makes matches with a “1/2 Homosexual Dating Show, 1/2 Queer Improv Spectacular” June 16.

Summer Camp, 2024.

Written and Directed by Castille Landon.
Starring Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard, Eugene Levy, Beverly D’Angelo, Victoria Rowell, Maria Howell, Dennis Haysbert, Nicole Richie, Josh Peck, Betsy Sodaro, Tom Wright, Ray Santiago, Taylor Madeline Hand, Kensington Tallman, Gabe Sklar, Lindsey Blanchard, Artemis Davis, Gabrielle Days, and Zachary Connor.

SYNOPSIS:

Follows Nora, Ginny, and Mary, three childhood best friends who used to spend every summer at a sleep away camp together. After years, when the opportunity to get back together for a summer camp reunion presents itself, they all seize it.

There is value in exploring time-tested friendships in old age, but for whatever reason, movies like Summer Camp are less concerned with depicting characters who feel human navigating believable drama and more fixated on going for cheap, lazy laughs that typically play up the silliness of elderly shenanigans.

These movies almost always seem to feature Diane Keaton, who is arguably the worst offender when it comes to playing characters over the top. Naturally, this is frustrating since co-stars Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard, and Eugene Levy are at least bringing something authentic and relatable to their roles even if, at the end of the day, this is a ridiculous film about someone who secretly spends a quarter-million to reunite with cherished childhood friends who have struggled to stay in touch across the 50 years since they aged out of the titular summer camp.

That would be Jenny, a successful author of aggressively forward self-help books, now going by Ginny. Since childhood, she was always the one eager to live life freely whilst saving her new friends at summer camp from being bullied by the pretty girls, coming out of their shells, and trying out various activities like archery (which doesn’t go well and immediately gets a supervisor injured as a lame attempt at comedy.) Those friends are Diane Keaton’s Nora, who would go on to become a highly educated biochemist putting work before life, and Mary (Alfre Woodard), a nurse who gave up on more ambitious dreams of becoming a doctor to settle on married life that grew loveless and more like a second job over time.

Everyone is coming to the summer camp reunion, including past crush Stevie D (Eugene Levy, playing a likable wise gentleman) and even the bullies led by Beverly D’Angelo’s Jane. There is also an overexcited guard (Betsy Sodaro) put to the test as this is a movie where intended comedy comes from food fights breaking out, among other eye-rolling set pieces. Then there is a bumbling counselor, played by Josh Peck, who keeps getting reassigned to monitor different activities, constantly screwing things up in ways that, apparently, are also meant to be funny.

Written and directed by Castille Landon, the lessons shoved in one’s face throughout Summer Camp are nothing new for this subgenre and, unfortunately, come with the same flaws that generally sink these types of movies. Nora needs to be reminded how to ignore work and have fun (not happy about handing over all electronic devices at the camp, unable to check work-related emails). Mary needs to realize that her husband is nothing more than a dependent manchild who has deprived her of enjoying time with friends, and Ginny must realize that her readers are not the only ones who could use some reflection and self-help.

Smartly, there doesn’t appear to be a true primary character focus here, allowing the three friends ample time to reveal more about their lives while hanging out with others. Castille Landon doesn’t perceive them as more important to someone else. There are also a small handful of effective moments, whether it be from Mary arguing with her husband as he shows up to forcibly bring her home or Stevie vulnerably detailing how an obsessive dedication to work wasn’t worth it and how he now enjoys regularly spending time with his family even if he doesn’t necessarily like what they are doing for fun on any given day.

Summer Camp has nuggets of wisdom buried under atrocious humor, sometimes made more groan-worthy by the corniest needle drops. With a rewrite or two taking the material more seriously (which doesn’t mean eliminating jokes entirely), there is an interesting, refreshing story about old-age friendship to be told here. Instead, we get jokes about deer shit, Diane Keaton cluelessly using technology (which makes no damn sense considering how intelligent the character is supposed to be), and ham-fisted messaging. 

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embed/playlist

For Jerry Seinfeld, Sean Connery and Muhammad Ali were among the men who exemplified the “dominant masculinity” of the early ’60s. For his social media critics, the “Seinfeld” comedian does not.

“Ah yes, when I think Dominant Masculinity, I think Jerry Seinfeld,” one X (formerly Twitter) user sarcastically tweeted. “LMAO. It’s so transparent that the most insecure people always project this stuff.”

The “Unfrosted” star and director, 70, is facing a new round of social media backlash after he shared his views on masculinity, culture and social “hierarchy” in an interview with Free Press editor Bari Weiss. On Tuesday’s episode of Weiss’ “Honestly” podcast, Seinfeld said his nostalgia for the ’60s, for “a common culture” and more influenced his Netflix Pop-Tart film.

“There’s another element there that I think is the key element, and that is an agreed upon hierarchy, which I think is absolutely vaporized in today’s moment,” he said.

He added that his desire “to be a real man” growing up adds to the longing he feels for that era. In addition to Ali and Connery, President John F. Kennedy was a “real man” Seinfeld said he wanted to emulate.

“I want to be like that someday … I never really grew up,” he said. “You don’t want to, as a comedian, because it’s a childish pursuit, but I miss a dominant masculinity. Yeah, I get the [toxic masculinity], but still, I like a real man.”

Seinfeld, who has been vocal about how he feels “the extreme left and P.C. crap” are hurting comedy, was swiftly met online with backlash — and pictures of his memorable “Seinfeld” puffy shirt. “Yes the ‘dominant masculinity’ for which Jerry Seinfeld is well known…,” author Sarah Kendzior captioned a .GIF of Seinfeld in the frilly garment.

“This is my kind of dominant masculinity,” joked another X user who posted a photo of the comic wearing the puffy shirt in a “Seinfeld” episode with co-star Michael Richards.

One user shared photos of Seinfeld’s other over-the-top “Seinfeld” looks, while writer Rohita Kadambi joked that Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Elaine Benes smoking a cigar on the show is actually the definition of “Seinfeld Dominant Masculinity.”

Several X users also took shots at Seinfeld making his living off stand-up comedy and movie projects including “Bee Movie” and “Unfrosted.”

“The guy who gave us the bee movie wants more dominant masculinity 💀,” one critic said.

Seinfeld’s “dominant masculinity” comments also offered some users an opportunity to revisit the comedian’s controversial dating history. In the ’90s, Seinfeld dated Shoshanna Lonstein. He was 38 and she was 17 and a high school senior when they met.

“Saying he misses dominant masculinity is the first thing he’s ever said that made me laugh,” writer Rachel Wolf tweeted.

“A man who dated a 17 year old in high school when he was nearly 40 years old can never talk about ‘dominant masculinity’,” another X user said.

But a few people online supported Seinfeld and his views. One X user said they agreed to Seinfeld’s call for real men, which they said is “for the love of natural women who need you all.” In the YouTube comments section of the podcast video, several viewers expressed enjoyment of Seinfeld’s “insight and perspective” and lauded Weiss.

Several viewers also praised Seinfeld for tearing up while recalling a recent trip to Israel, which he said was “the most powerful experience of my life.” Earlier this month, during two public appearances, Seinfeld — a vocal supporter of Israel amid its ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza — was interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters.

During his “Honestly” conversation, Seinfeld also spoke about how he moved forward from negative reviews about “Unfrosted,” about his love for New York City and why he doesn’t mind those protesters.

“It’s so silly. They want to express this sincere intense rage, but again, a little off-target,” he said. “That’s, to me, comedic.”