kbobsmith

After watching Ed Wood (1994), I have decided to watch a handful of Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s films. Glen or Glenda (1953) was the first I chose to watch, as it was chronologically the first.

Being written by Wood, himself, the film is poignant, heartfelt, and, above all, a candid look into how Wood felt about his own experiences. This is a quasi-autobiographical, quasi-documentary about Wood's secret life. Though the movie's technical merits are few, it is also not as bad as its reputation may suggest. Wood's performance is good, Fuller is good, and Lugosi is a treat.

All of this, despite the story being less a narrative and more so snippets of one's "Glen or Glenda" experience before the cultural revolution that was the 1960s. This movie is an important testament to the idea of queer individuals having always been around. Queer people are not new. As the film states quite clearly, no one is to judge so long as one's way of life does not hurt another.

If you guys are just finding James from this special, you must find more. He has a collection of specials on Netflix, a comedy special on Vimeo (one of the funniest I've ever seen), and is on a complete series of Taskmaster (free on YouTube). This special is a bit disjointed, irregular, and post-modern. This is due to James having done this for a while. His previous routines (in the previous specials) are more "normal," but James is generally far from normal.

In "Hecklers Welcome", James has fully detached himself from his "Repertoire" days and he seems fully liberated (or fully on his way). I could not imagine this being my introduction to James, but, again, if it is, please seek more. Then, after consuming the other content come back here to this special. I don't hope that I'm implying that you must view James's other material first, but this material is enhanced by the viewing of his previous material. Parasocially, I am so proud of where James has ended up in his career and, while I hope selfishly that he continues doing stand-up, I would understand him hanging up the microphone.

James is one of the best comedians to do it, and, like a brilliant comet, may not be around forever. So, we must relish in his brilliance while we can.