I’d already watched the trailer and seen many comments encouraging people to see the full hour-long performance.
I was aware Hannah Gadsby was actively using stand-up comedy to undermine the culture of that medium, which is signalled early on:
“I have built a career out of self-deprecating humor, and I don’t want to do that anymore,” she says in the special. “Because do you understand what self-deprecation means when it comes from somebody who already exists in the margins? It’s not humility. It’s humiliation.”
I’m keen to sit through it a second time because I expect it’s like watching The Sixth Sense and noting all the appearances of dead people with knowledge of the twist in the story.
Quotes like the one above stop being a signal of discontent and actively signpost the surprising twist in Nanette, where Gadsby seems to open an emergency exit and lead most of the audience through it — then talk back to those still seated as they realise what has happened around them.
That's a thing I'm marvelling, how she describes personal impacts and unites much of the audience in recognising their injustice yet leaves them blinking uncomfortably in the light of Gadsby's revelations and wondering how mainstream Australia can callously discuss issues like marriage equality.
