Hannah Gadsby is an old-school stand-up comedian: a leisurely teller of anecdotes, with punchlines delivered as often by a crumpled brow or a waved hand as they are in words. Here, a spot-on impression; there, a hilarious duck squint. Her comedy is fuelled largely by self-roasting; there’s an occasional dirty-minded joke and a few cutting insights, but mostly it’s Gadsby barbecuing her past lives, insecurities and shortcomings for the audience’s amusement.
A polished performer, in Happiness is a Bedside Table Gadsby delivers the holy grail of stand-up comedy: a script so subtle that an apparently rambling series of unconnected stories starts making connections. It’s like popcorn starting to go off in the microwave: first one, then a couple more, then suddenly it all starts happening at once and you panic and burn the popcorn. I mean, laugh and clap and shriek at the fantastically wonderfully brilliant conclusion. (I don’t want to talk it up or anything, but it was fantastic, and wonderful, and brilliant.)
Gadsby’s delivery occasionally gets so very leisurely, and her tone so creaky, that you could be forgiven for thinking she was doing an impression of an elderly Lions Club attendee describing the ongoing battle between the slugs and his prize-winning lettuces – an impression not unsupported by her natty waistcoat and tie. The content, however, couldn’t be any further from the Lions Club; Gadsby recounts her traumatic loss of innocence as a child, and then her slow growth into the glorious privilege of not caring as an adult.
This is a personal, touching, inspiring and smashingly funny show, and there’s probably a performance or two that hasn’t sold out yet. Probably.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Hannah Gadsby – Happiness is a Bedside Table
Melbourne Town Hall
28 March – 21 April
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
www.comedyfestival.com.au
27 March – 21 April
