Hannah Gadsby Goes Frothy and Feel-Good with Something Special
Photo courtesy of Netflix
Aussie comic Hannah Gadsby initially rose to fame outside their homeland for mastering and popularizing a type of comedy that redefines the meaning of stand-up. Their acclaimed Netflix hour Nanette shattered the expectations that come along with a comedy special by centering their trauma. The follow-up, Douglas, focused on Gadsby’s adult autism diagnosis, while also being just a bit too much in conversation with Nanette and the myriad hot takes around it. In short, both specials they’ve released as an internationally famous comic have been fairly heavy.
Something Special is a happy show, though, as Gadsby repeatedly assures us throughout their new hour-plus. (Personally, I am over most major Netflix specials being around 75 minutes long now. Brevity is the soul of wit and all that.) “I believe I owe you one,” they explain from the stage of the Sydney Opera House.
And their new stand-up is indeed feel-good; Gadsby regales us with anecdotes about how they fell in love with their producer and now-wife, Jenney (or Jenno, as Gadsby affectionately calls her), their parents’ respective storytelling talents, their love of backgammon, and many other quirky, relatively carefree vignettes.