Wisecracks

Canadian filmmaker Gail Singer examines the world of stand-up comedy from the perspective of some of the most successful female performers of the 1990s. Interspersing on-stage footage of modern-day comics with classic clips of pioneering funny women such as Lucille Ball and Phyllis Diller, Singer — via interviews with performers including Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar and Paula Poundstone — investigates the stresses and hardships often endured by female stand-ups.