Comedienne (1983) Reviews

An informative and sobering look at the careers of two aspiring comediennes, this documentary was filmed over a four-year-period, with no way of knowing at the beginning what the future would bring. The comic material of both female performers develops and changes over time, evolving from a welter of partially-analyzed real-life experiences to a particular style and approach. What works is kept, what does not work is tossed. One comedienne notes how she is a "refugee" from Brooklyn who majored in Spanish men at college, and the other mentions how everything that made her cry in life now makes her audience laugh. As one career rises and the other falls, life goes on, and the two women grow and change in this engaging, and often poignant four-year story. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi