COMEDIENNE

A vérité style documentary about two women trying to make it as stand-up comics in New York City. Filmmaker Katherine Matheson followed comics Cheryl Klein and Zora Rasmussen over a four year period as they hustled through clubs, improv spots and late night interviews. Crosscutting between two careers with vastly different trajectories, the film crafts an equally comical and sobering look at the realities of climbing the show business ranks.

2025  Art History  Cinema Studies  Cultural Studies  Directed by Women  Family Relations  Media Studies  Women's Studies 

"Two young comediennes- one rising, one floundering, both struggling and hoping--share their hopes and views with filmmaker Katherine Matheson ... Comedy, as she presents it, is not just an outward struggle toward fame and fortune, but an inward struggle in search of one's own identity and the unique thing that one has to offer. This is a valuable revelation woman artists are particularly attuned to in these times, and Matheson's COMEDIENNE is completely equal to it."

-F.X. Feeney, LA Weekly

"A bright little gem. .. All poor COMEDIENNE is going for it is charm, perceptiveness and great, good humor ... Matheson eschews narration and refuses to pass judgements. Rather, she lets her subjects tell their own stories ... her sympathetic but clear-eyed depiction of Cheryl, and her examination of Zora's anxious fears of success, lend emotional and psychological texture to this documentary."

-Joe Leydon, The Houston Post

"It is not a funny movie; it's a movie about being funny. And, in some cases, not being funny ... Producer-Director Katherine Matheson has put together a solemn study of the business of show biz. She spent four years filming

the trials and tribulations of Zora Rasmussen and Cheryl Klein, watching them pump themselves up before stepping out on stage and then watching them pick themselves up after falling flat on their faces ... It is clear that the third talent

on display here is Matheson. "Comedienne" is her first movie. Let's hope we don't have to wait five years for her next one."

-Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star & Tribune