Podcast Summary: The Comedian Hannah Gadsby Goes Big Time, and Renounces Comedy

Podcast: The New Yorker Radio Hour
Date: June 19, 2018
Host: David Remnick (WNYC Studios and The New Yorker)
Featured Guests: Hannah Gadsby (comedian), Emily Nussbaum (TV critic), Amanda Petrusich (music critic)

Overview

This episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour explores the rise of Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby, particularly through her groundbreaking show Nanette. The conversation delves into Gadsby's critique of stand-up comedy as both an art form and a societal phenomenon, the pain and vulnerability behind her comedic persona, and her experience breaking new ground in how difficult subjects like trauma, misogyny, and power dynamics are addressed on stage. The episode also includes music festival recommendations from Amanda Petrusich, but the main focus is the in-depth profile and interview with Gadsby by Emily Nussbaum.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Summer Music Festivals (00:32–07:29)

• Amanda Petrusich provides a lively, irreverent rundown of her favorite summer music festivals: Pickathon (Happy Valley, Oregon), Pitchfork Music Festival (Chicago), and Sonic Seasonal (Philadelphia).
  • She highlights the unique qualities of each festival, focusing on diversity, curatorial idiosyncrasy, and offbeat music (02:16–06:54).
  • ("Every attendee gets one plate and one cup that you reuse for the entire weekend." – Amanda Petrusich, 02:12)
• Notable Quirk: Festival talk sets a casual, humorous tone, with jokes about festival discomforts and the joys of watching music from a comfortable chair.
• This segment serves as a prelude to the main feature on Hannah Gadsby.

2. Who is Hannah Gadsby? (07:29–09:15)

• David Remnick introduces Gadsby to American listeners: already a star in Australia, now about to break through in the US with her Netflix special Nanette.
• Emily Nussbaum describes Gadsby’s role in the TV show Please Like Me and her evolution as a stand-up comedian, noting that Nanette is a stark departure from ordinary comedy—funny but also emotionally challenging.

3. The Structure and Ambition of “Nanette” (09:15–13:10)

• Gadsby reveals her decision to stop using self-deprecating humor as a way of seeking permission to occupy space:
  • ("I've built a career out of humiliating myself and putting myself down in order to seek permission to speak ... I have decided I don't want to do that anymore. I will not do that anymore, not to myself." – Hannah Gadsby, 09:15)
• Nussbaum explains how Nanette alternates between soothing and shocking the audience, using stories that begin as jokes but are gradually revealed as painful truths about prejudice and trauma.
• Gadsby shares how, as someone hard to categorize (Tasmanian, larger woman, lesbian), she played with stereotypes for comedic effect, which eventually became limiting:
  • ("When you disrupt, that's instant tension. So that's actually handy. But as my career evolved, it became a real block." – Hannah Gadsby, 10:20)

Autism and Crafting Her Comedy (11:07–11:37)

• Gadsby discusses her late autism diagnosis and how instead of foregrounding it as a subject, she wanted to demonstrate what her “brain can do”—creating “a real clear acknowledgement of how emotion works and how I feel it.”

4. The Nature and Limitations of Stand-Up Comedy (12:18–15:32)

• Gadsby deconstructs how jokes work, their reliance on tension, and the ethical pitfalls of never moving beyond a punchline:
  • ("A joke simply needs two things, a setup and a punch. ... But fucking hell, guys, I'm making you tense over and over again. This is an abusive relationship." – Hannah Gadsby, 12:18–13:10)
• She argues that laughter can mask pain rather than heal it, emphasizing the importance of storytelling for catharsis.
  • ("Laughter is the honey that sweetens the medicine story. ... Stand up comedy ... is one of the rare occasions where a group of strangers get to sit in a room sharing an experience." – Hannah Gadsby, 13:30–14:03)
  • ("The story ... needs three—a beginning, a middle, and an end. ... That is what elevates you. That's where catharsis lives. ... Comedy doesn't do that. ... We stop short, set up, punchline, beginning, middle, there it sits. ... It deals with tension, hence it feeds trauma." – Hannah Gadsby, 14:33–15:27)

5. The Ethics of Comedy: What Jokes Are Acceptable? (15:32–16:18)

• The pair discuss the limits of acceptable jokes (rape, genocide, violence), with Gadsby critiquing comics who justify harmful jokes by audience laughter:
  • ("You can make anyone laugh if you make them tense enough because they want to get rid of the tension." – Hannah Gadsby, 15:50)

6. Vulnerability and Risk: Performing Personal Trauma (16:18–18:49)

• Nussbaum asks about the emotional difficulty of performing such vulnerable material. Gadsby explains how hard it is to resist the urge to relieve tension, how she strategically uses "callbacks" to subvert audience expectations, and her experience with abusive heckling:
  • ("In this show, I subverted that ... I used a callback to drop them into a huge hole and not give them the laugh. ... And also I was getting really horrific heckles ... always after I just told my audience that I'd been sexually assaulted." – Hannah Gadsby, 16:40–17:25)
• Gadsby reflects on the violence of those heckles and how they pushed her toward a more intentional, controlled performance.

7. Authority and Status on Stage; Art History and the MeToo Movement (18:49–21:11)

• Gadsby discusses transitioning from playing a low-status comic (self-deprecating humor) to a more authoritative figure, inspired by her comedy art lectures.
• She draws a pointed line from artistic misogyny (Picasso) to contemporary abuses of power (Trump, Polanski, Allen, Louis CK, Cosby), refusing to "separate the art from the artist."
  • ("I can draw a straight line from Pablo Picasso to Donald Trump by way of Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Louis CK, Bill Cosby. They're all cut from the same fucking cloth and I'm sick of it. These men control our stories." – Hannah Gadsby, 19:59–20:11)
  • ("I will not separate the man from the art. And even if I did, the shit sticks." – Hannah Gadsby, 20:40)

Navigating Problematic Influences (21:11–21:40)

• Gadsby admits her favorite comic was Bill Cosby, but once his crimes were known, she easily let go of the artist himself—though she can't ignore the influence.

8. Telling Your Own Story and Its Impact (21:48–23:12)

• Gadsby discusses reliving trauma through performance and the neurological and emotional cost of her vulnerable storytelling:
  • ("Yes, I am reliving trauma every night. And I'm not a trained performer, so I don't know how to do that, protecting myself ... I don't know what I've done to myself with this show. ... I've spoken to psychiatrists and people who, you know, research trauma and they don't know what I've done with this show." – Hannah Gadsby, 21:48)
• She notes a positive outcome: deeper connection with her audience, realizing that sharing her unique story resonates with many.

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On comedy’s structure:
  "A joke simply needs two things, a setup and a punch. ... I manipulate it, like I make you tense, then I make you laugh over and over again and you're like, oh, thank you. I was feeling a bit tense. But fucking hell, guys, I'm making you tense over and over again. This is an abusive relationship."
  —Hannah Gadsby, 12:18–13:10

• On refusing self-humiliation:
  "I've built a career out of humiliating myself and putting myself down ... I have decided I don't want to do that anymore."
  —Hannah Gadsby, 09:15

• On trauma in comedy:
  "Comedy doesn't [provide catharsis]. We stop short, set up, punchline, beginning, middle, there it sits. ... It deals with tension, hence it feeds trauma."
  —Hannah Gadsby, 14:33–15:27

• On art and misogyny:
  "I can draw a straight line from Pablo Picasso to Donald Trump ... They're all cut from the same fucking cloth and I'm sick of it. These men control our stories. ... I will not separate the man from the art. And even if I did, the shit sticks."
  —Hannah Gadsby, 19:59–20:40

• On vulnerability and audience reaction:
  "In this show, I subverted that. I used a callback to drop them into a huge hole and not give them the laugh. ... And also I was getting really horrific heckles ... always after I just told my audience that I'd been sexually assaulted."
  —Hannah Gadsby, 16:40–17:25

Important Segment Timestamps

• Summer Music Festival Overview: 00:32–07:29
• Who is Hannah Gadsby? & Nanette’s Challenge: 07:29–09:15
• Gadsby on Self-Deprecation & Identity: 09:15–11:07
• Autism and Emotional Comedy: 11:07–11:37
• Deconstructing Stand-up: 12:18–15:32
• Acceptability of Jokes: 15:32–16:18
• Performing Trauma / Heckling: 16:18–18:49
• Authority, Art, and the MeToo Movement: 18:49–21:11
• Problematic Influences: 21:11–21:40
• Personal Impact of Storytelling: 21:48–23:12

Tone and Style

• The episode balances irreverence and deep seriousness, shifting from light festival chatter to intense, meaningful critique.
• Gadsby’s observations are quick-witted, unflinching, and often laced with dark humor, while Nussbaum provides thought-provoking, empathetic counterpoints.

Takeaways

Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette is not just a comedy show. It's a pointed examination of stand-up’s limitations, a challenge to its traditions, and an exploration of the costs and necessity of vulnerability. Gadsby's willingness to lay bare her trauma and critique the mechanics—and ethics—of humor signals a significant moment in the evolution of comedy and cultural storytelling.

(For maximum impact, listeners are encouraged to watch Nanette, now available on Netflix.)