ABOUT THE FILM

Laughing Matters…More! follows on the heels of the wildly successful docu-comedy Laughing Matters. The original film, featuring pioneer lesbian comics Kate Clinton, Karen Williams, Marga Gomez and Suzanne Westenhoefer, sold out theaters and won awards at gay and lesbian film festivals all over the world after word-of-mouth made it one of the most sought-after films of 2003.

Laughing Matters…More is a reality-based romp with four of the hottest lesbian comics working today—Elvira Kurt (a Second City alum named Canadian female comic of the year and a writer for Ellen DeGeneres); Sabrina Matthews (the darling of Comedy Central); Rene Hicks (the first African-American woman nominated for Best Female Stand-up at the American Comedy Awards) and Vickie Shaw (the hilarious Southern-Baptist-lesbian-mom-turned-crossover-comic). All have extensive television and stand-up success.

The film takes a “reality” approach to showcasing the comics, capturing not only their hilarious on-stage performances but also their wild and witty personas off-stage in behind-the-scenes footage, one-on-one interviews and at least one segment where all four converge for spontaneous and improvised discourse. The comics selected are all clever, funny lesbians with a bitingly keen view of the world, delivered in their own unique styles.

This is the second in a series of comedy films. The next film will showcase gay men. Like straight comics, gay comics find humor in everything from relationships to religions, from politics to going to the grocery store. But gay comics finally have an advantage—they also delve into fresh, uncharted territory—the ironic, zany, lighter side of this big fat gay world.

Producer/Director Andrea Meyerson
Andrea Meyerson is a filmmaker and event producer whose concerts and comedy shows adorn some of Los Angeles’ most elite stages and whose films have aired on here! TV and MTV’s Logo network and screened at film festivals around the world.

Andrea founded All Out Films in 2002, producing and directing the award-winning films: Laughing Matters (2003) and Laughing Matters...More! (2006), showcasing the talents and personalities of outstanding lesbian comedians. Her most recent work includes Laughing Matters... The Men (2007) and Kate Clinton: 25th Anniversary Tour (2007), both set to air on MTV’s Logo network.

Through StandOut Productions Inc., a company she founded in 1996, Andrea produces concerts and live comedy shows featuring some of the country’s best-known entertainers, including Joan Armatrading, Roseanne Barr, Nell Carter, Kate Clinton, Sophie B. Hawkins, Janis Ian, Holly Near, Vicki Randle, Toshi Reagan, Suzanne Westenhoefer and Cris Williamson. By combining the efforts of her two companies, she’s begun creating original content for the Logo network, such as L.A. Women's Fest, an all-day comedy and music festival, and Suzanne Westenhoefer: Live from the Ladies Room, scheduled to air later this year. 

Andrea is also a pioneer in the lesbian community, having started Women On A Roll in 1995, one of the largest grassroots lesbian social and cultural organizations in the country.  She has been recognized as one of the Ten Amazing Women in Showbiz by PowerUp, a prestigious organization that promotes the visibility of gay women in entertainment; and honored by the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center with the L.A.C.E. Award (Lesbians Active in Community Empowerment), for making significant contributions to the gay and lesbian community. In 2006, Andrea was among those selected to receive the WIN Outstanding Women Award from the Women's Image Network (WIN) and was one of four finalists for PlanetOut's Entrepreneur of the Year. This year she was the first out lesbian to receive the Women of Achievement Award, presented by the YWCA for empowering women and eliminating racism.

Catherine produced and directed the award-winning film, I Can’t Marry You, narrated by Betty DeGeneres, which aired on PBS stations nationwide. It also played in a multitude of film festivals, and screened on a twenty city tour to GLBT Centers across the country. The film is being distributed through Wolfe Video.

As producer and director of the first gay TV show in the U.S. (Way-Off Broadway), which aired in Miami in 1987, Catherine has always been a strong advocate of gay programming. She left TCI Cable in 2000, after a 17 year cable advertising career as a top account executive in the country, to join forces as Vice President of Advertising for start up gay cable network C1TV in Miami. Catherine also worked for Bravo/AMC in New York City, as well as gay media company, Rivendale.

Director of Photography Sandra Chandler
Sandra Chandler is a graduate of the USC school of Cinema & Television. She has been shooting film and video for 20 years. In addition to Laughing Matters…More! her credits include, HBO’s All Aboard! Rosie’s Family Cruise, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Young and the Dead, 101 Rent Boys for Cinemax; and currently on PBS The New Los Angeles. Sandra occasionally teaches documentary camera at USC.

Interviewer Laurie Schenden
The veteran Los Angeles journalist worked as a columnist, editor and news editor for the Los Angeles Times for more than a decade and has written entertainment news and features for The Advocate, Curve magazine, Spotlight magazine and other publications. Laurie conducted the on-camera interviews for the hit docu-comedy Laughing Matters, and teamed with Andrea to create the storyline for the film. She’s also worked in a similar capacity on the film biography of Christa MacAuliff, Teacher in Space. She received her BA from Michigan State University and studied screenwriting at UCLA.

Editor Donna Mathewson
Donna comes to film editing after a long career as a Silicon Valley software engineer. She attended film school at Academy of Art University in her home town of San Francisco, matriculating as the film department valedictorian in 2004. She cut her first feature length film the same year. Moving to Los Angeles in the summer of 2004, she quickly found work editing Pleasure Drivers for Andrzej Sekula. Laughing Matters...More! represents her fifth feature length film.