The Netflix "comedy special" Nanette is a televised version of Hannah Gadsby's award-winning "stand up" stage show from 2017. It is so eye-opening, personal and encouraging that it feels unfair to squeeze it into a nutshell.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jan 31, 2021

Gadsby realized that turning her pain into comedy actually forced her to create a specific narrative of her own life that she repeated night after night until it became her reality.

| Dec 11, 2019

Gadsby grabs your attention with jokes and then slowly and expertly peels back layers to reveal a deep well of shame and anger.

| Nov 22, 2019

Hannah Gadsby spins her own life story into a clever, raging and confronting spiel against misogyny, homophobia and even the tired old tropes of comedy itself.

| Aug 5, 2019

She also claps back against the idols of her early life, men like Louis C.K. who've now become the problem. In other words, Gadsby's not holding any punches with this one.

| Dec 29, 2018

When Gadsby wrenches out her pain on stage, she reveals her strength, rage, and yes, winning humor.

| Nov 20, 2018

What follows is a tour de force of comedy as in-your-face truth-telling. And it moves well beyond the unwritten rules of the laugh-a-minute, observational and adolescent-inflected stand-up that has long dominated the form.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Sep 24, 2018

Gadsby is tired of censoring her own pain for the sake of making audiences feel comfortable. Nanette is a testament to this. It's time to make audiences feel uncomfortable in order to wake them up.

| Sep 24, 2018

It becomes so much more than stand-up... Very sophisticated, and something that I wasn't expecting.

| Sep 13, 2018

Gadsby turns comedy on its head.

| Aug 13, 2018

I am also exactly who this special is for. For Gadsby's fury is directed at people like me with laser-like acumen, humor and sobering grace.

| Aug 2, 2018

It's not a repudiation of history, but it is a reminder that history is over and that the strategies that served us well at one time may not be appropriate today.

| Jul 27, 2018

Righteously angry, she shows us the real woman behind the amused persona we first met.

| Jul 27, 2018

It's a startling performance, moving slowly but inexorably from barbed sweetness to outright rage, and it should take most viewers, especially men, right out of their comfort zone.

| Jul 23, 2018

Nanette isn't for someone who wants to laugh a lung out, and yet it's something everyone should see.

| Jul 19, 2018

The beauty of this piece is found in its verbalization of what so many of us self-deprecators, professional and amateur alike, feel on a daily basis-a need to excuse our own existence.

| Jul 19, 2018

Gadsby's show is a tricksy, self-conscious beast, full of sleight of hand... It is a strange, rare thing: a comedy show that hopes you don't leave laughing.

| Jul 19, 2018

That story is both funny and horrible, and Gadsby has told it over and over again. But this time, she doesn't just want to laugh it off.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jul 19, 2018

You can believe this was a show that existed only in this moment and you feel elevated from being a part of it.

| Jul 19, 2018

Gadsby explains how comedy works, how tension is broken to bring relief. By the end, there is no relief for the audience. But perhaps there is some for Gadsby. After years of telling jokes, she is finally telling her story.

| Jul 19, 2018