Film

Hysterical

Name: Hysterical
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2021
Cast: Nikki Glaser, Judy Gold, Carmen Lynch, Kathy Griffin, Bonnie McFarlane

Comedy

Hysterical follows six of stand-up comedy's sharpest women—Nikki Glaser, Kathy Griffin, Bonnie McFarlane, and others—offstage and on, charting how they clawed toward visibility in a male-dominated industry. It's warm, funny, and unexpectedly moving: a portrait of women who refused to be decorative. For anyone who loves comedy or wants to understand what it costs to be heard.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love stand-up history and want to hear working comics talk shop about the grind of getting laughs in rooms that doubted them.

Skip it if you want a tightly plotted arc or fresh insight into comedy, since this is a loose, anecdote-heavy hang that rarely digs past the surface of its subjects.

What it asks of you: Ninety minutes of easygoing conversation with the occasional stage clip; it runs light and breezy, so it rewards a relaxed evening more than close study.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Shrill2019

A comedy series about a fat woman taking up space, refusing apologies, and finding her voice. It shares Hysterical's DNA—women claiming authority over their own narratives—but does it through scripted comedy.

But Cancelled after three seasons, so it ends on its own terms but leaves you wanting more.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel2017

Set in the 1950s, it traces a woman discovering she's a brilliant stand-up comic. It's a love letter to the form and to women finding their voice—the historical remove gives it perspective Hysterical captures from the inside.

But Increasingly preoccupied with plot machinery; the later seasons lose focus on what made it sing.

Louis C.K.: Chewed Up2008

Louis C.K.'s special that proved stand-up could be confessional, dark, and deeply personal. Foundational to modern comedy's willingness to get real offstage and on.

But Given everything that's emerged about him, it's complicated. Some viewers will understandably skip it.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Hysterical

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Blow Out1981

Both are about women and men fighting for control of their own image and story in systems designed to silence them. Blow Out does it through paranoia; Hysterical does it through testimony.

A Hitchcock-style thriller about a sound engineer who discovers he's accidentally recorded a conspiracy. It's visceral, technical, and obsessed with the power of what you capture and how you use it. Same subtext as Hysterical—who gets to control the narrative, who gets to be heard, what happens when you refuse to look away.

But It's a 40-year-old thriller, not a comedy. If you want laughs or contemporary energy, it won't deliver either.

Funny Woman2023

British dramedy about a woman entering stand-up in the 1950s. It examines the same territory—ambition, sexism, the price of visibility—with period detail and darker stakes.

But Heavier tone than Hysterical; some viewers find the period setting puts emotional distance between them and the story.

Singin' in the Rain1952

Hysterical documents what women had to overcome starting almost exactly where Singin' in the Rain's subplot left off. One film shows the problem buried in entertainment; the other shows women naming it directly.

A studio-system musical that includes a devastating sequence about a woman's talent being stolen and repackaged by a man. It's hidden inside a joyride of a film, but it's about the exact machinery Hysterical exposes—how women's labor and voices get erased. Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds make it glow.

But It's a 1952 musical. If that era or that form feels too distant or too cute, the serious stuff underneath can read as sanitized.