The world — and yeah, comedy — has changed a lot since Hannah Gadsby released their genre-pushing special Nanette in 2018, forever redefining the way comedy can orient around trauma. Gadsby’s life has changed a lot too (married! famous!), but delightfully, their dauntless, cutting approach to comedy has not.
The consummate storyteller honed their new Netflix special Something Special for over a year in venues around the world during their Body of Work tour yielding what they call their first feel-good romantic comedy show — because, in their words, “I believe I owe you one.”
Following Nanette’s breakout success, which won everything from an Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Award to a Peabody (and an Emmy for good measure), Gadsby followed up with the searing Douglas in 2020, and last year released their aptly titled memoir Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation, which became a New York Times bestseller.
Gadsby’s latest, filmed at the Sydney Opera House in Australia, revolves around their recent nuptials to their producer Jenney Shamash, dressing down homophobic bakers, bogus wedding politics, queer domesticity and misadventures with roadkill with their signature unflinching approach still very much intact. “I didn’t say who it’s a feel-good show for,” they warn with a grin. “I feel real good.”
Something Special will be available to stream on May 9.
