---- --------

Professor -------

ENGL 101

October 18th, 2018

“...To Have Heard a Story Like Mine.”

Comedy is meant to make us laugh. It is a relatively safe assumption that when we go to

see our favorite comedian on stage that has ridiculous life stories and commentary to match, that

we are going leave tired from laughing and invigorated with interesting and ironic ways of

looking at things. One does not go to doubt the likelihood of every story that is told, or pick apart

the structure of each joke that is delivered through a bit. When the comedian gives a hand gesture

or acts out an emotion, we react and enjoy the performance instead of reading into it for deeper

meaning. Often times the best jokes require little mental effort or are shallow word play. Hannah

Gadsby intentionally uses these assumptions about comedy specials, extremely contrasting irony

for immediate attention, and alternate structure from comedic stories in her show Nanette to tell

her own personal story and its message in a more gripping way than any regular comedy.

During the first half of Gadsby’s special, she is prevailing as a comedian and has the

audience very comfortable with lightheartedness and great comedy. Suddenly near the halfway

point (38:35), the tone radically changes and becomes suddenly tense and unusually unfunny all

of a sudden. The topic changes to very personal stories, sensitive topics, and the beginning of an

important message that demands the audience’s attention. She knows exactly what she is doing

and just before starting the section even makes a meta-joke about tension (37:13). She has been

setting up who she is and what her life has been like through the lense of a comedy special, and
 -------- 2

begins to explain why this is incomplete and needs to be changed. She uses her premise of

quitting comedy to show what is wrong with using a comedy special to tell a story. The reason

this bit and the continuing sections no longer feel like a comedy special is because they are not

funny, there is no irony or releasing perspective for her in both real life and the stories she is

telling in. Her message is serious and she especially makes it feel that way by contrasting it right

in the middle of what was previously a hilarious comedy. The audience’s assumptions of the

lighthearted show continuing on a steady stream of jokes, interesting lowbrow bits, mild life

lessons, and funny commentary for her life dropped the floor out from under them forcing them

to pay attention and feel the discomfort her experiences and messages carry.

Even with her first serious message about homophobia coming through, she changes tone

again with a brief funny bit leading the audience back up on the emotional rollercoaster. She uses

the ironic character people have created in their mind of Vincent van Gogh to transition from

society’s view of homosexuallity to the perspective of woman portrayed in art (43:59). She

presents a feminist perspective on art history, and by extension, on the world’s view of women to

reflect the irony of modern society and art history’s conflicting view of women. She is able to

remove the complexities of academic thought by just helping the audience visualize paintings in

her performance. Even on top of that, she also avoids many of the assumptions and negative

connotations that are commonly associated with this perspective by never even using the words

‘feminist’ or ‘feminism’ at any point in this bit. It was an intentional switch back to the comedy

of dramatic representations and underlying irony because the greater effect and attention instead

of maintaining the somber tone of the last bit.

While it may seem strange to change the structure of her special so radically between two

extremes, what is far more subtle and a different kind of ironic is the kind of messages she is
 -------- 3

trying to present in a comedy special: serious ones. She has structured every bit in her special to

be ironic, but in two completely different ways. Either there is an unexpected response that is

funny to the audience for various reasons, or she is telling the complete story without any

punchline as it actually happens, but in a comedy special. These stories are not funny because

they have no punchline to relieve tension, but are ironic in that they have unexpected lessons and

meaningful perspective presented in a comedy special. This is exactly why her joke about

comedy being lowbrow entertainment is ironic and funny (32:10). This meta-irony is no throw

away coincidence either; she intentionally leaves other self-referencial things in the show. In

particular when she mentions this is not the kind of special she expected to write, and that she

accidentally named it Nanette before writing it (1:10). The special was obviously not about

Nanette, and it was also not a straight hour of laughs. The show has its own identity and

important messages that were unexpected for both her and the audience.

Even with both the underlying irony of each bit and the overarching self-awareness of the

show, the structure and presentation within her individual bits have a huge effect on their

absorption and reaction from the audience. She explains this to the audience before presenting a

very direct example. When mentioning her last show about coming out, she tells why she can no

longer present the story in the form of a comedy because the fundamental structure of how

stories are told in jokes. Jokes cannot have a satisfactory conclusion like real life, they have no

ending, good or bad (39:51). The contrast is shown in particular with her two variations on the

story about the young man that almost assaulted her. The first time she tells the story, it is a joke

and has a beginning and middle (9:56). The punchline is about leaving him behind in his ironic

normativity and ignorance about sexuallity. When the story switches structure and is retold in a

serious, non-comedic sense, nearing the end of the special, there is an ending. She is attacked by
 -------- 4

the man and must go about her life with the feelings of shame she actually experienced and the

audience shares much sympathy with her now (59:11). Retelling the same story in this different

method allows the contrasting message to grip the audience in a way that no bit of a normal

comedy special could ever try to match.

Nanette is not a normal comedy special. It comes with a powerful and directly delivered

message that, while not always funny, forces the audience to feel the same passion, shame, fear,

and perspective that Hannah Gadsby has felt over sensitive topics in her life. The forum and

experience of a comedy show sets up a unique setting for talking about important and

controversial topics in a particularly funny way. More academic descriptions of certain

perspectives carry baggage and require critical thought that instead, can be discussed in terms of

real life experiences and jokes. Irony can be more subtly used, not for humor, but for creating a

strange feeling of tension that draws attention to what is being said. Finally, her skill in telling a

comedic bit or a serious story allows her to make the reality of the message felt.