What to watch on Netflix this week: Have a laugh with Hannah Gadsby: Douglas and Space Force

Hannah Gadsby: Douglas

In 2018, Hannah Gadsby broke comedic form with her special, Nanette, in which she refused to pull her punches when it came to her lines. The show was designed to pull the rug out from its audience by setting up jokes, letting them land, and then revealing the aftermath of the stories she told and the internal struggle Gadsby has dealt with in her life.

As Gadsby stated in Nanette, self-deprecating humor is no longer her go-to form of comedy. In fact, she’d declared she quit comedy. Cue two years later and Gadsby has another Netflix special, Hannah Gadsby: Douglas, proving that her brand of comedy hasn’t let go of her or us yet.

In Douglas, Gadsby lets the audience in on a fact about her: She’s autistic. Her neurodivergence explains her issues with alienation, some of the circumstances she’s found herself in, and the way she performs gender which is non-confirming. And just like Nanette, Gadsby isn’t pulling her punches to make others comfortable with her trauma or her life experiences. The humiliation tied to self-deprecation is no longer her brand of comedy which forces her to make room for a style that fits who she is now.

As Gadsby told New York Times Magazine:

"“I’m different. I’ve changed, and my position in the world has changed. I’ve become a high-status comedian. I built my career on writing jokes apologizing for myself. It’s what most people do. You have to explain who you are, and you point to a difference that you have. That’s your angle. But when it becomes the only reason you speak, it becomes an issue; all your material revolves around why you’re different. The great freedom post-“Nanette” was that I’d put all that on the table. Even though what I’m talking about in “Douglas” — being a woman with autism — is not widely chatted about, “Nanette” was much different tonally. But that’s trauma.”"

Hannah Gadsby: Douglas will be available to stream May 26