Hannah Gadsby Wants to Keep You Guessing
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The post Hannah Gadsby Wants to Keep You Guessing appeared first on Consequence.
Like all of us, Hannah Gadsby is a different person today than they were five years ago, as evidenced by their new Netflix special Something Special, a cheeky title that hints at a newer and happier outlook on life. “I’m aware that this show is not necessarily what people expected from me, and I’m delighted by that,” they tell Consequence. “I like catching people off guard. That’s the only consistent thing about my comedy, is that you really don’t know what I will do. Because I’ll do whatever the hell I want.”
Gadsby of course broke out in the comedy scene with 2018’s Nanette, a deeply personal and raw show which created a whole new conversation around what it means to do stand-up comedy. Today, though, they find the whole question of “What is comedy?” to be “just a waste of time.”
“It’ll be whatever it needs to be,” they continue. “People always need to laugh, and people find different ways of doing that. We’re going through a real upheaval about how we communicate broadly. So I think comedy’s going to change and I think that’s healthy. We have to adapt to the different environments that we’re performing in. But I’m just a little guy, you know. I am just gonna do what I do and what happens around that will just be what it needs to be. It feels too big for me to understand.”
For them, the best way to be a part of “the conversation” is to just keep doing their own comedy, “and that’s exactly what I’m doing. I really am just doing my own thing.”
Something Special finds Gadsby back on Netflix (after speaking up publicly in response to the company’s platforming of Dave Chappelle), telling stories about their recent marriage proposal and wedding as part of a light and joyful hour about happiness. “I think people coming out of the pandemic were really confused,” they say. “I was confused. Nobody understood it. We still don’t understand it. So I really wanted to do a show that felt safe.”
Below, Gadsby explores the process of bringing Something Special from the tour to the screen, as well as where things stand with their next project, a stand-up special featuring six international genderqueer comedians to Netflix. They also reveal that while they might not be sure what happens after that, they definitely want to keep surprising us.
What was the journey of assembling this special like?
Well, it began as a live show, as per usual. We started in the same room that I started Nanette in, which felt prophetic. It was just coming out of lockdown in Australia, and we sort of did this tour around Australia, and I built the show there and then toured the world. So it was as usual, I wrote the show on the stage.
What goes into that experience? I mean, are there things that come to you in the moment on stage that then end up becoming a bigger part of it? Or, even when you’re not on stage, are you still working out the material?
I’m always tinkering with the show as a whole. Sometimes a piece that lives in the show won’t change, but I might change where it is in the show. And then always I keep finding tags and jokes… That’s the real fun of what I do. That’s what I really love, particularly in the early part of a tour when I’m still working a show out, it’s very alive and I’m obsessed with every part of it and just tinkering. That’s the fun part.
In terms of translating the live show to a film special, what are the key parts of that for you?
Tightening it up. You know, sometimes I can get a bit long in the tooth on stage, but an audience in the room is much more able to enjoy that. You leave too much space on a screen, then people just go, what else is on? So you just gotta really tighten it up a lot. But I try not to think about it too much. This is a live show that has been filmed, and that’s what we really focus on capturing.
When you talk about tightening it up, that’s something that of course can be done in editing, but are you also actively pushing for that in your performance?
Yeah, I really have to be disciplined. I train like I’m going to the Olympics, because a lot of my material has many, many different punchlines and different ways to come in and out, and I’m not always consistent with how I do that. So going into the filming, it’s just like, “I’m definitely gonna do that bit and then do that bit next.”
I’ve read that there was material from, that you were working on in the live shows that didn’t make it to the film special — I’d love you to talk a little bit about what didn’t make the cut.
Well, it was a very long tour, 18 months. So material came into the show and then, you know, it sort of became less relevant. I was here [in America] during the reversal of Roe v. Wade, so I talked a lot about that. But then in Europe that ceased to be as much of a topic.
They don’t have to worry about that so much.
No, they’ve nailed that. So, you know, I’m really very much talking about the audience or talking to the audience wherever I am. And so what ended up being filmed is, I think, the best show around this, the story I wanted to tell.
When you’re putting it together, how important is the topical element? Are you trying to make sure this is as evergreen as possible?
Yes. I think the news cycle is so fast now that it’s really hard, unless you want to be really specific.
I ask a lot of stand-ups this question because I’m always fascinated by the answer, even though the answer tends to be relatively consistent: Once you’ve done material for a film special, is it burned? Do you never perform it again on stage?
I’m sorry to be consistent… Music’s different, but it’s really hard to sing along to a joke. And also if people know your punchlines — this has happened to me before — they respond before you give the punchline and it really throws the rhythm off. And then of course, you know, there’s people who don’t know the punchline. So you’ve still gotta say the punchline even though people are like, ‘We know where you’re going.’ It just doesn’t work. Comedy does rely on the element of surprise.
It’s so funny you put it in terms of music, because I do feel like the times I’ve heard comedians say that they will pull out an old bit, it does sound like a “Shut up and play the hits!” moment.
Yeah. I don’t know that I have, because also I put my shows to bed and then I’m thinking about the next thing. My material is so specific to where I am in a given moment. I couldn’t do Nanette now — like, I couldn’t do the material around that now. Because I’m a very different person. I’ve moved through that. So, you know, in three years’ time I could go, “What’s happiness? Why would I talk about that?” [Laughs] I’m hoping that’s not the case.
I’m hoping so too. Maybe the next one’s just full children’s special.
Oh, wow. Curveball.
I mean, you said you want to keep people…
Yeah. You just kept me on my toes.
Hannah Gadsby: Something Special (Netflix)
This isn’t maybe exactly a chicken-or-the-egg situation, but it’s similar — do you think that, in making a special, it changes you as a person?
Yeah, absolutely. Particularly Nanette, which was so singular, and the success I’ve experienced… It’s really changed my life. And when your life changes, you change with it. But also, we are always changing and I’m part of my mission as a comedian is never to paint myself into a persona corner. I always want to just be fairly honest about where I am. And I think this show is pretty much that.
So do you have a sense of how making Something Special changed you?
I think it’s made me realize that I can focus on the positive. I’ve always been a bit of a negative nanny in the past, so I feel like I’ve got more range now as a performer. So I think, you know, the way you speak will always influence how you move through the world. And we’ll see. I mean, I might become a monster. [Laughs]
That would be another curveball.
Yeah. Just a kraken.
Next up, you’ve got your Netflix special you’re putting together, featuring genderqueer comedians from around the world. Talk to me about what that process has been like so far.
We’re still in the process, so I feel like it might be too early to comment on that, but we’re very excited about it. We’re gonna film in the UK, we’ve got a venue. We’re looking for distinct voices, and that’s actually really exciting, because when you’ve reached a certain level of success in comedy, you’re no longer in the rooms. You can go back, but that’s not where you’re doing your comedy, you’re doing comedy on the tour, on larger stages. So for me, it’s given me a chance to go back to that world, which is fun and exciting. Comedy has moved on, there are exciting voices and I can’t wait to show them.
I’m curious about the scope of your deal with Netflix, because there were two things were announced as part of the original announcement — Something Special and this other special.
That’s it. That’s the scope.
So do you have a sense of what comes next for you?
Well, I guess it depends on how well this does. I’m definitely going home for a nap. This tour was so long, it was 18 months, and now I’m going to enjoy not doing anything for a little bit. I think the best creativity comes out of boredom, so I’m gonna go home and get bored.
That’s exciting.
It is so exciting. How fun is boredom?
Hannah Gadsby: Something Special is streaming now on Netflix.
Hannah Gadsby Wants to Keep You Guessing
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