Ten Steps to Nanette

In a very similar kind of vibe to Hannah's point in Nanette, I just don't have space for queer autistic trauma right now.

Bravo, Hannah. Bra-flipping-vo.

I have never watched any of your comedy specials, but you can be sure that they are next in queue. (I had “discovered” you via John Mulaney's Everybody's in LA which led me to Hannah Gadsby's Oz which led me to your memoir situation...)
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Note to self: I believe this is the first time I've felt that somebody else has truly understood and been able to articulate the severe sound sensitivities I have lived with for my entire life. So many sounds aren't just annoyances, they are physically and mentally painful and at points downright excruciating.

As gut-wrenchingly brilliant and cleverly constructed as the show, and then some. Her work has always had a profound impact on me and this was no different. Equal parts powerful, moving, heartbreaking and hilarious. I'd give it 6 stars if I could!

Hannah Gadsby had a lot of strikes against her; she grew up queer (and deeply closeted), on the autism spectrum, and with undiagnosed ADHD in conservative, homophobic, closed-minded Tasmania, Australia. But Gadsby doesn't want your pity, she wants to explain how she created a ground-breaking Netflix special from the traumas she experienced (and the unconventional but genuine love she received from her parents and 4 older siblings). And then she pretty much wants all cishet white men to fuck off.

The book runs a little long (and never gets around to the fun stuff like how she met her wife), but it helped me understand what it's like to have an atypical brain and to experience the world very differently from normies. Gadsby's description of the creative process she uses in her comedy (or “comedy”) is enlightening. Sadly, reading about the virulent anti-queer attitudes and legislation that Tasmania and the rest of Australia experienced in the mid 1990s only magnifies the horror of what's happening now with queer rights at risk.

I think it helps to have seen Nanette to get the most out of this book. It's not necessary, but if you missed it when it made such a splash in 2018, you should definitely watch it. Whether on stage or on the page Gadsby tells her unique truth, and you can't walk away unscathed.