Monday, September 24, 2018

NANETTE

For the last month or so I’ve heard all this positive buzz about a new Netflix comedy special called NANETTE delivered by Australian comedian, Hannah Gadsby. When I hear hype like that I always have two reactions: “ Uh oh, it won’t be nearly as good as they say,” and “Please please please be as good as they say.”

In this case, it started out the former then soared into the latter. By the end I was giving it a standing ovation alone in a room.

Gadsby is quite popular in Australia although I must confess this is the first I’ve heard of her. Her opening jokes and style were fine. Her delivery seemed a little tentative but the material was quite good. Still, twenty minutes in I’m thinking, “What’s so special about this?”

And then the show takes a turn. Gadsby steers us into darker territory, more personal, more reflective, more explosive. By the last half hour I was absolutely riveted. Insights and truths and pain burst forth like a tsunami. I don’t want to tell you anything specific about the material. I want you to experience it for yourself.

Within the hour set she transforms. Her delivery, her tone, her body language – it’s a butterfly emerging from the cocoon.  She's brilliant, she's hilarious, she's fearless. 

One note of caution: the subject matter gets rough at times. I don’t mean vulgar or smutty – but she does go after certain groups and ideologies (and famous artists) with guns a'blazin'.  

The special was indeed SPECIAL.  But it does pose the question:  What's next for Hannah Gadsby?   This was not the kind of stand-up concert that lends itself to sequels.   I'll be curious to see where her career... and life goes from here. 

22 comments :

  1. Ken: ISTR asking for your comments on it a while back, so glad you got to see it. It's quite an experience. I will never view the history of Western art in the same way again...

    wg

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  2. I hadn't heard of this till now. I'll check it out on your recommendation.

    By the way, I recommend The Good Cop, the new comedic procedural drama with Tony Danza and Josh Groban. I've only seen the first episode so far but it's really good.

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  3. As someone who's seen it, and loved it, congrats on an excellent non-spoiler review. I'm also stymied as to how she follows that up, but I never could have conceived of what she does in "Nanette" in the first place (part of the point), so I'm content to wait and see.

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  4. She presented at the Emmys and was hilarious. I haven't seen the Netflix show yet, but I definitely will.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsmEUpth2pQ

    Pam, St. Louis

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  5. I'm a little surprised by your reaction since criticism I've read of the special echoes your regular complaint that too many contemporary comedies lack jokes. Are those critics wrong about a lack of jokes in Nanette, or is there something special about it that obviates the need for traditional setups and punchlines?

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  6. Janet Ybarra9/24/2018 10:36 AM

    Would it spoil anything but why is it called NANETTE?

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  7. AAAAAAAHMENNNNNN. What a unique, funny, and then stirring experience. I saw it three weeks ago, and she’s still in my head. I don’t know what she does next, if anything, but she’s not to be taken lightly.

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  8. Well Ken, I followed your recommendation and saw NANETTE and have to say to your readers that yes, they should definitely see it if they get the chance. Like you I don't want to spoil it for anyone , I'll only say that she sets the stage ablaze with insights that are at time both telling and uncomfortable and at the end you're wholeheartedly applauding her.

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  9. I loved Hannah Gadsby in the superb Australian half-hour comedy series Please Like Me. (Her character, also named Hannah, is basically herself. She enters during the second season of the amazing series. It is available on Hulu, iTunes, amazon) I just watched the Netflix show, Nanette. She says early on in the stand-up show that for her own health she needs to stop doing comedy, and then does. It is riveting, revealing, powerful, and quite unpleasant. I started off thinking I would surely want to recommend Nanette to everyone I know, and now that I've finished it I can't think of a single friend I want to risk doing that on. I admire her show but I didn't like it.

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  10. Watched it today and was deeply affected. I am already recommending it to friensd. Thanks Ken!

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  11. Thank you for the recommendation, Ken. It was amazing. There is a wonderful NYT article/interview I read afterwards where she discusses continuing with comedy. She is not a big fan of Louis CK, but she says if he comes back and finds an audience, she will continue to do comedy because it would mean her work is not done (?) I’m also not sure how she follows this up.

    NANETTE is the name of a barista she once saw.

    There is something very special about it that obviates the need for traditional jokes.

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  12. That was intense!

    Thank you for the recommendation. I never would have found this without your blogpost.

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  13. I'll have to give her a second try. It was lost on me as comedy. Therapy, yes. But comedy?

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  14. Off subject, but the AV Club has recently picked the 10 best episodes of "Frasier". https://tv.avclub.com/10-episodes-of-frasier-for-when-you-hear-the-blues-a-ca-1825181117
    Ken, do you think they got it right?

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  15. Thank you for the recommend. Watched it and think it's the best thing I saw on Netflix this year.

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  16. Probably wrong, but I got the impression Hannah is not from the "separate the art from the artist" school (she has a BA in Art History and Curatorship)...just wondering what your thoughts are on that, Ken (if you have the time or inclination).

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  17. Andy Rose: There are jokes. Some of them *very* funny. I think it's worth watching if only for her deconstructive discussion of how comedy works.

    One of my favorite lines is about 1990s public discourse via letters to the editor: "Slow Twitter. Brutal."

    wg

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  18. Thanks for this post, Ken -- My wife and I started this last month and bailed about 20 minutes in because we were looking for funny ha ha that night, and this wasn't heading in that direction. Watched the rest by myself last night, and about a minute in said, "ah, this is where it starts to get really good!"

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  19. Two other Netflix recommendations: Neal Brennan: 3 Mics (One-liners, stand- up comedy and very serious moments) and James Acaster repertoire (Stand-up, sometimes bizarre, sometime surreal, always smart and clever)

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  20. Anyone who wants to see more of Gadsby: she appears (as an actress) in the Australian sitcom PLEASE LIKE ME.

    wg

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  21. Thanks for the recommendation. I liked it - and her view of 'Art' (and sexual politics) is completely mine, but it was more like one of the better TED talks.

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