Hannah is trying to figure out America
The Netflix sensation behind ‘Nanette’ on her friendship with Emma Thompson, Louis CK’s comeback and how to dress like her on Halloween
Early in 2018, Hannah Gadsby arrived in the US to perform her show, Nanette, for one month. Or that was the plan, anyway.
Four months on stage in New York City, one Netflix special and a surprise appearance at the Emmys later, and Nanette has started a global conversation about the legacies of trauma, while Gadsby, a standup comic from Tasmania, has become a household name.
Gadsby was at the Australians in Film awards in Los Angeles recently to accept the Create NSW Annette Kellerman Award for inspiring Australian women, presented to her by Monica Lewinsky.
Does getting together at an event like this reinforce the idea — that all Americans seem to have — that all Australians in Hollywood know each other?
Well, don’t they? Hearing the accent
I feel like I know people. I don’t know what Americans think; I’m still struggling with how they make tea.
It’s not with electric kettles; they don’t really use those. No they don’t. It’s really weird. I met
someone who had one and they’re like, ‘No, we don’t use it because it gets too hot. We just boil [water] on the stove.’ How have you adjusted to the idea of celebrity, post-Nanette?
Now there are headlines about everything you say and who you know. It’s odd. I know how boring I am, so to be interesting on such a level is weird for me. It’s... fine. It’s when strangers want to hug me that I find odd. I’m struggling with that the most, I think. The content of the show... I really did put a lot out there. And I know that it’s really touched people and it’s really changed people’s thinking and helped people — I’m aware of this. But when you meet them on the street and they’re getting tearful, you’re like, ‘Oh my Lord. Sorry.’ And then they want a hug and ... that’s weird. But I understand how it’s happened.
What is your relationship to the internet like?
Oh, platonic. What do you mean?
That’s where it seemed like the bulk of discussions about Nanette were happening, it’s where we spend a lot of time — Just being a female comic, I’ve been getting horrific stuff online for my whole career. Being a physical woman in comedy, you get that really hostile [feedback]. And I learned how to deal with that. I was really blown away by how little I got from Nanette. There’s been a bit, but to scale it’s been overwhelmingly positive. I’d learned to ignore the ones that really want to be violent; you learn to recognise those as unnecessarily hostile. But I only ever check social media when I feel OK in the world.
There looked to be a second wave of affection for you following the Emmys. What are your memories from that night?
That was kind of incredible. Again, I didn’t think about that until after it happened and I realised that I’d been introduced to a whole new massive audience in the US and I thought, ‘Oh, golly, when does this stop?’ Because it’s a live, televised show, I was just trying to keep quiet till I did my actual job. And I just walked out there and [saw that] all the audience is lit up for television cameras and I thought, ‘Oh this room is flat.’ As a comedian you want a lively audience, and it was quite late in the night, so I changed gears and slowed it down; you know, no point being needy. And it kind of worked.
I’m invested in the idea of you being friends with Emma Thompson. What is your favourite of her movies?
I really like Sense and Sensibility... I can never get over the bit in Love Actually when she cries over the Joni Mitchell CD.
What tips would you give anyone planning to dress as you for Halloween?
I think move slowly, that’s the real trick. I move really slowly. And talk slowly. I’m a zombie, it’s a zombie kind of a thing.