Comedy Review

Hannah Gadsby's comedy show is the therapy you didn't know you needed

This Australian comedian's brave Netflix special, 'Nanette', into something much more profound than a simple joke-telling session

08 July 2018 - 00:00 By tymon smith

Trigger warning: if you think this is just going to be another easy-laugh Netflix special highlighting the work of some comedian you've never really heard of but are glad you've decided to watch, you're about to be disappointed and profoundly confronted with some uncomfortable truths.
Tasmania-born lesbian comedian Hannah Gadsby begins her performance in the familiar, self-deprecating, slightly uneasy manner that you might expect from a performer who knows that she has to get the audience to overcome some of their prejudices in order to get them on her side.
Giving them the knowing wink that plays with their own insecurities and hers ... before she completely flips the switch and turns her show into something much more than just a joke-telling session. She does this in a way that few comedians since Lenny Bruce and maybe Richard Pryor have managed to do, and perhaps more movingly and shockingly than anyone in the history of comedy.
WATCH | The trailer for Hannah Gadsby: Nanette..

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