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Promotional art for Something Special
Cover image credit: via TMDB

Something Special

Hannah Gadsby

Netflix · 2023 · 74 min

Hannah Gadsby trades heavy tension for a cozy wedding story.

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Hannah Gadsby begins this set with an explicit promise: it is going to be a happy show. After the heavy, trauma-focused territory of Nanette and the self-referential autism advocacy of Douglas, this hour is framed as a peace offering to an audience they admit to putting ‘through a lot of shit.’ The focal point of this newfound peace is Gadsby’s marriage to their producer and director, Jenney Shamash. Instead of dismantled structures and direct confrontations, the hour delivers a surprisingly conventional romantic comedy narrative about how the couple got together, the logistics of a pandemic wedding, and the mechanics of a deeply unromantic marriage proposal.\n\nFilmed at the Sydney Opera House and released on Netflix in May 2023, the special trades the tension of Gadsby’s earlier work for low-stakes domesticity and lighter, character-driven storytelling. Memorable bits include a convoluted scheme involving a Christian bakery and a wedding cake designed as a great white shark swallowing two otters, alongside awkward celebrity encounters with Jodie Foster and romantic comedy writer Richard Curtis. Gadsby also details how autism continues to shape their daily life, whether it is failing to read facial expressions during games of Guess Who? or explaining why they hate rom-coms because of the wet noises characters make when they kiss. Critics generally received the hour as a refreshing palate cleanser, even if some felt the cozy, self-satisfied tone occasionally bordered on twee.

The set list

5 bits

  1. A panicky proposal linked to a gruesome dead rabbit encounter

    Gadsby details their proposal to Jenney, framing it through a grisly past memory of an ex skinning a rabbit hit on a drive and utilizing an onstage paper rabbit as a storytelling device.

  2. Tricking a Christian baker with a novelty wedding cake

    Explains having a wedding cake decorated with a great white shark holding two otters in its mouth as a method to circumvent a homophobic baker.

  3. Rejecting a birthday gift from Jodie Foster

    Reflects on social awkwardness around celebrities by recounting how they turned down Foster's gift of Bananagrams because they already owned the game.

  4. Contrasting family storytelling styles and impressions of mother

    Compares their family's fact-free 'rememberings' with their mother's cigarette-smoking, lie-filled delivery and Jenney's strict lists of facts.

  5. Explaining distaste for rom-coms to director Richard Curtis

    Tells Curtis they dislike romantic comedies because conflicts are avoidable miscommunications and because they dislike the wet sounds of kissing.

How it plays

Tone
Feel-good, breezy, romantic, self-deprecating, and frothy with occasional dark feints.
On stage
Impish, playful, witty, and dauntless, donning large glasses and grinning through silliness while sharing personal anecdotes.
Pace
Perkier and more physical than in previous specials, with crack timing and an exhausted delivery used strategically to accentuate physical comedy and stories about aging.
About
Love and marriage, Wedding planning and politics, Queer domesticity, Neurodivergence and autism, Family dynamics and storytelling traditions, Awkward celebrity encounters

What the critics said

While Something Special is more of a conventional routine than Hannah Gadsby's fans might've become accustomed to, the comedian retains their deft knack for intimate storytelling.

In the room: Mixed audience reception contrasting with strong critical reviews, with some viewers praising the warmth and stellar payoff at the close while detractors found the shift away from raw standup less compelling.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: guessworktv.com.au, rottentomatoes.com, vulture.com, pastemagazine.com, slate.com, primetimer.com, npr.org, en.wikipedia.org.

Backstory

Honed during their 'Body of Work' tour following their 2021 marriage to producer Jenney Shamash and their adult autism and ADHD diagnoses; framed as a deliberate shift to a lighter, feel-good show rather than trauma or anger, arriving after a public dispute with Netflix over Dave Chappelle.

Details

Released
Taped
Sydney Opera House
Runtime
74 min
Where
Netflix
Director
Jenney Shamash
Topics
Before
Douglas (2020)

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