Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Hannah Gadsby: Something Special’ On Netflix, A Feel-Good Comedy Special From The Comedian Who Made ‘Nanette’?

Per the blurb on Netflix’s home screen: “A panicky proposal. A novelty wedding cake. A fateful bunny encounter. Hannah Gadsby shares tales of love and marriage in this feel-good comedy special.” Feel-good? Hannah Gadsby? Say it isn’t so? With Gadsby, there’s always a catch. As she jokes:  “I didn’t say who it’s a feel good special for…”

HANNAH GADSBY: SOMETHING SPECIAL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: This is Gadsby’s third comedy special for Netflix. Her first, Nanette, won an Emmy and the Peabody Award for Gadsby, while creating a firestorm within the comedy community over how much she deconstructed the art form of stand-up.

After her second special, though, there was a question as to whether she might make more for Netflix, due to the firestorms created by other comedians (namely Dave Chappelle, but also Ricky Gervais) for their transphobic humor. In 2021, Gadsby addressed Netflix chief Ted Sarandos bluntly on social media: “Fuck you and your amoral algorithm cult.” The following year, they reached a new deal, paying Gadsby not only for this special, but also for a forthcoming LGBTQ comedy showcase. Gadsby said then: “In a notoriously transphobic industry, I am looking to broaden the scope of opportunities for genderqueer performers from around the globe, as well as expand the diversity of offerings to audiences on one of comedy’s biggest platforms.”

In an interview with Variety, Gadsby acknowledged the change of heart was strategic: “If you want to change the conversation, you still have to be a part of the conversation.”

Something Special changes the subject, as the comedian would rather focus on the positive aspects of finding love and marriage during the pandemic.

“I have dragged you through a bit of my shit over the years, and you’ve stuck with me,” Gadsby says early in this hour-plus set. “It’s time for some payoff.”

What Comedy Specials Will It Remind You Of?: How many other autistic genderqueer comedians speak to a global audience these days

Memorable Jokes: The bulk of this performance centers on Gadsby’s marriage to producer Jenney Shamash (who directed this special), whom Gadsby calls Jenny or Jenno (we later learn about Australian nicknaming and slang conventions).

So we’re treated to bits about the couple’s wedding cake, shaped into a great white shark, with the couple depicted as two otters holding hands in the shark’s mouth. Why? “To trick a Christian baker into making a gay wedding cake,” Gadsby quips, adding: “I didn’t say who it’s a feel-good special for.”

Gadsby also walks us through the proposal. Or hobbles through it, thanks to three knee reconstructions —“I have a problematic gait.” — marveling at how wound-up traditional heterosexual couples get about every step in the wedding process.

We also learn a lot more about Gadsby’s own family, from a brother so pale-skinned their mother called him Casper, to how their mother takes money out of her bank account to pay for teeth, to how their father has an inability to tell coherent stories.

And we learn about Gadsby’s previous misadventures in dating before meeting Shamash, the girlfriend who caught Gadsby in a lie, the girlfriend who refused to be dumped, the girlfriend who did unthinkable things to a bunny hit by their car.

But we also find out what makes Shamash the one for Gadsby, including a curling metaphor in which Jenno frantically sweeps the ice in front of the giant puck that’s the comedian, keeping them on the proper course. It all comes around in fine form to land on the target, as we realize alongside Gadsby just how much they’re repeating the patterns from their past.

Our Take: By talking about their marriage and comparing/contrasting it with gender norms and cultural expectations and traditions, Gadsby is moving the conversation forward on LGBTQ rights without ever having to directly address Chappelle or Gervais by name.

That Shamash happened to be the first person to greet Gadsby to New York City for their off-Broadway run of Nanette meant that “Jenno” got to know the comedian before “the Netflix of it all completely turned my life upside down,” and also just as Gadsby was coming to terms with their autism. Which meant getting stuck together in the pandemic in Australia, or “in the bush” as Gadsby jokingly insists, made for ripe conditions for a romantic comedy. Even if you’d never suspect such a happy ending out of Gadsby.

Then again, such a misdirection lies at the heart of great comedy, doesn’t it?

Our Call: STREAM IT. If all you knew about Gadsby was hearing comedians debating whether Gadsby was even a comedian, then this might help settle that debate once and for all. After all, what’s more of an old-school stand-up staple than a recurring catchphrase? And Gadsby’s got a banger: “That’s why I can’t sleep with men.”

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. He also podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.