Hannah Gadsby's Netflix stand-up special Nanette is a radical, transformative work of comedy

The Atlantic

The Australian comic's word-of-mouth hit special, taped at the Sydney Opera House, is radical because of what she does in the middle of the 70-minute special. "She doesn’t just put her jokes on hold, she excavates them, showing the audience the rotten holes in her humor," says Sophie Gilbert. "She doesn’t indict people for laughing, but the subtext is clear. She indicts herself. Her entire 10-year career, she explains, is based on self-deprecation, but she doesn’t want to do that anymore." She dismantles and subverts everything about how humor is supposed to work. ALSO: Nanette will change stand-up comedy.