Hannah Gadsby: Something Special

If this was described as "a person walking around on stage talking about boring mundane day-to-day things that are not funny" then I would laugh and be like "are you serious? I gotta watch this". But it was described as a "comedy special", so I watched this thinking that someone was going to tell jokes and I was going to laugh.

Not only did I not laugh, but the audience didn't laugh either. There is one joke about the color blue.... wow, it was like watching that one lady back in 2016 who said "wiped the hard drive? Like, with a cloth?", which is essentially when the word "cringe" was invented in pop culture. The entire audience of this special looked at each other with a weird look on their faces thinking "Is this funny? Am I supposed to laugh?"

I hope that analogy gives you an idea of what you can expect to feel when you watch this thing. It is beyond dry. And I don't mean dry like the Office, but dry like static cling in your laundry. You are going to get electrocuted when you stand up from your couch to turn off the tv.

How did this person manage to secure a Netflix special? I just don't get it. I highly doubt you will either.

I watched both Nanette and Douglas (Hannah's previous Netflix specials), and I enjoyed parts of each show. I found myself laughing at the Art jokes quite a lot. Even some of the lesbian jokes were fun, but they also get tired fast.

But this special, was like watching paint dry! It was more like a chore.

There was a joke that got a chuckle out, but I forgot which one it was.

I don't get why she is repeating how good she is as a storyteller and how bad her wife is at telling stories. I got it the first time, it doesn't become funnier if you say if a bunch of times.

The jokes are very mild and boring, definitely not worthy of such a large audience. But maybe I just didn't get it?

From the outset I'll make it clear that I'm not a big stand up fan but my wife really likes Hannah Gadsby's offerings so I agreed to give it a try. It was far from 'Something Special', literally didn't even grin once but I guess I'm not her target audience. My wife wasn't laughing either for most of it, she did have the odd snigger here and there and I asked her if she thought ti was good, her reply was 'it's okay, not her best work'.

I think some comics miss the boat a little by appealing to a very narrow fan base, super narrow in Gadsby's case, she pretty much had me thinking 'I don't think she likes me even though we've never met' within 10 minutes.

I "got" Nanette and I really enjoyed "Douglas" but I don't know what the hell this was suppose to be. Yay, she got married, completely happy for her on that. I'm happy for her wife as well. That's wonderful. But the rest of it didn't land anywhere near humorous for me. I found it repetitive, morbid, and banal at best. She sounds liked she was trying way too hard for this special; the previous two felt quite organic and true to herself. This felt like a pop star was making an album to meet a record company contract and the only important thing was to fulfill that contract. I maybe snickered once. Ok, it was a chuckle but the rest of it was dismal. So disappointing.

I enjoyed Nanette and Douglas, so I was quite easy to win over. However I can find (understandably) that comedians with one or two strong specials can struggle to live up to their previous work, or delivery more of the same. With all of Gadsby's specials I have found they have their own unique tone and message.

I enjoyed the celebration of a relationship from start to present. I write about love in my own work and worry I come off as overly sentimental and boring so I found something special to be a lesson in how to talk about your partner in a way that people can relate to.

I also always get a lot from Gadsby's observations about being autistic, and that they explain their experiences in a way anyone can relate to.

Is it funny? Yes, I laughed a lot and find the special has re-watch value. Will you find it funny? I don't know but you will enjoy the performance and story.