After an amazing Netflix debut with the critically acclaimed Nanette, Hannah Gadsby is back with her latest stand-up special, Douglas.
Right off the bat, Gadsby wonders why exactly we’re here. Having included most of it in her previous show, she is fresh out of trauma and wonders what exactly her audience is expecting from her “difficult second album”. Thankfully, she tells us. Her outline of the show is just as informative as it is comedic and serves to add an extra layer of laughter throughout her performance.
Having set our expectations for us, Gadsby then delivers, just as she promised she would. She delivers her performance with a confidence that is brilliant to see. As with Nanette, the art of comedy adapts to fit her and not the other way around. One of my favourite parts of her overall performance is her facial expressions. The sheer delight on Gadsby’s face when she knows she’s delivered a good joke warms the heart just as much as it tickles the funny bone.
And of course, it wouldn’t be a Gadsby show without raw honesty and a nice healthy sprinkling of critiquing the patriarchy. Despite her initial wonders of why exactly her packed-out audience at LA’s Ace Hotel theatre are there, Gadsby knows her audience. One of the main points of the show focuses on her recent autism diagnoses, which Gadsby works into the show perfectly, never making autism itself the butt of the joke. She paints her struggles with autism in a relatable yet optimistic light while also using it to condemn the Anti-Vax movement. Her audience is left laughing, of course, but not without some deeper thinking involved. Though there were no ultra-hard hitting tear-jerking moments in Douglas, Gadsby still delivers points of raw truth effectively and in a very relatable way. Even members of her audience who may not have had the exact same experience are able to understand the point, as well as being able to distinguish the difference between the point and the joke.
Gadsby also puts her art history degree to great use during her closing segment of the show. Laser-pointer in hand, she glides through quick and witty analysis of various renaissance paintings, leaving her audience in fits of laughter and setting up her aforementioned mic-drop moment perfectly.
Where Nanette was a gut-punch, Douglas is a light jab. This follow-up special is far from lacking, but instead, it combines the old with the new and develops Gadsby’s style of comedy in a delightful way. It’s clear that Hannah Gadsby has more to say, and that she’s enjoying the process of figuring out how to say it.
The Verdict
Douglas is a great performance, with Gadsby once again changing the boundaries of what we expect from comedy.
Rating: 8/10
Words by Hannah Herraghty