Laughing out loud by MATTHEW HAYS It's become conventional wisdom that stand-up comics from minority groups have a bit of an edge. Think African Americans like Richard Pryor or Chris Rock, or Jews like Woody Allen or Jackie Mason. For whatever reason, an outsider status seems to help foster the kind of twisted perspective on life that makes for a great routine. And this added twist hasn't been lost on gays and lesbians: in the past decade, the list of keen and witty queers on the stand-up circuit has burgeoned considerably. Toronto filmmaker David Adkin smelled an opportunity to document the comic talent when Hogtown's Buddies in Bad Times Theatre hosted a queer comics convention two years ago. Sweeping into town were such riotous figures as Lea DeLaria, Kate Clinton, Jaffe Cohen, Maggie Cassella, Christopher Peterson and Bob Smith (those who attend the gay stand-up events at Just For Laughs every year will recognize many of the names). Interweaving some of the funniest material with interviews with the comics themselves, Adkin's film, titled We're Funny That Way, gives a good indication of what it is that makes these folks tick. DeLaria recounts the tale of getting stuck in a hotel lobby with some right-wing right-to-lifers, who are also in town for a convention; when one of them asks her if she agrees that life begins at conception, she replies, "No, I think it begins when you mind your own fucking business!" Peterson does a surreally perfect Nana Mouskouri impression (as she sings "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"). Smith describes his plan for a gay math curriculum: "Margaret came out to her parents as a lesbian in 1978. Her parents made her visit a psychiatrist for 40 weeks at $65 a visit. How many Melissa Etheridge albums might Margaret have bought with the money they could have saved?" Adkin, a graduate of York's MFA film program, is experienced in the queer doc field. His Out: Stories of Lesbian and Gay Youth (1993) won awards on the international fest circuit, and Jim Loves Jack: The James Egan Story, artfully profiled one of Canada's oldest living gay activists. One of We're Funny That Way's best interviews comes with Smith, who reflects on the relationship between comedy and minority status: "I think there is a gay sensibility that comes from being a member of a minority group in a majority society, in the sense that Jewish comics or black comics or women--you're all looking from the outside in. I think that what I bring to stand-up comedy is the point of view of a gay who isn't the victim, isn't the butt of the joke. I'm making the joke, and that's an important thing. In stand-up comedy for years, gay men have always been the joke, and I just turn it around saying, laugh with me but you're not going to be laughing at me." Adkin's excellent documentary, We're Funny That Way, plays on Bravo, Wednesday, February 10 at 9:30 p.m. If you can't get Bravo through your cable service, phone your local deadbeat cable company and bitch your head off. COMMENTS: matt_hays@babylon.montreal.qc.ca