Full Description
Making Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women is a laugh-out-loud, impeccably researched documentary that explores six legendary American Jewish women comics. Director Rachel Talbot, with the Jewish Women’s Archive as producer, has created a tribute to Molly Picon, Fanny Brice, Sophie Tucker, Joan Rivers, Wendy Wasserstein and Gilda Radner, women whose comedy defied cultural expectations and changed the rules. Get ready to duck when the zingers fly and guffaw at this hilarious, insightful documentary—an exhilarating mix of contemporary performance, interviews and rare archival footage. What is it that makes funny Jewish women so funny…and so Jewish? Is it a nose wrinkled just so, accompanied by a devilishly sexy grin or a jolting and sarcastic punch line? Is it the acerbic humor of generations of immigrant and first-generation women who fought for a place in America with their brains and their wit, and at the same time needed to make a living? Making Trouble celebrates three generations who, for all of the reasons above, successfully went from vaudeville and the Yiddish theatre to Broadway, from Ziegfeld’s Follies to Saturday Night Live. Our wacky guides on this comedic journey are four of today’s leading Jewish comedians—Judy Gold, Jackie Hoffman, Cory Kahaney and Jessica Kirson—who meet in New York’s Katz’s Delicatessen in a scenario straight out of Woody Allen’s Broadway Danny Rose. The witty foursome’s repartee crackles with jokes and their sheer delight at the comedic acumen and legacy of their predecessors. Fasten your seatbelt and hold onto your ribs! Director Rachel Talbot produced (with Ken Bowser) Hollywood, DC (Bravo, 2000), about the relationship between Hollywood and politics, which aired the night before the 2000 presidential election; and Easy Riders, Raging Bulls (BBC/Trio, 2003). Talbot was the supervising producer on NBC’s The First Five Years of Saturday Night Live (2005), and Saturday Night Live in the 1980s (NBC, 2005). Making Trouble marks her directing debut.
