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Hannah GadsbysDouglas, her first new special since the comedians wildly successful showNanette, has a challenging job.
Given that nearly impossible task,Douglasmostly fulfills the brief, which is plenty impressive all on its own.
Itll feel familiar toNanetteviewers.
Gadsby usesDouglass hour in a more scattershot way thanNanettes hermetic closed loop.
Its less organized toward a single all-encompassing goal.
It is emptier thanNanette.
Later, she tells her audience, shes going to announce that she has autism.
Itll have the rhythm of a big reveal, but no one will be surprised by it because aha!
she already told everyone a second ago.
Its a neat little equipment, and I mean neat both in the sense of cool and painstakingly tidy.
Theres an anxiety underneath that prelude.
Gadsby enjoys a cultural reference, and theyre inserted throughoutDouglas.
Most of her references are Renaissance or 20th century, but Gadsby herself seems most like an Enlightenment thinker.
How absurd, that this space would be named after the man who found it.
How absurd, her own doctors refusal to accept Gadsbys experience on what might be amiss with herownanatomy.
The opening observational comedy, for instance, is not very good.
Material thats fully up-its-own-ass, like unevenness and emptiness, sounds like a bad thing.
is a real back-patter), the shows comparative goofiness is a welcome direction for Gadsby.
