Hannah Gadsby - “Happiness Is A Bedside Table”
19th April 2013
This was the second or third time I'd seen Hannah Gadsby, having seen her last year in her show “Hannah Wants a Wife” and I think the year before. Each time has been in the larger venue, which is a good thing for any comic I’d say.
This time the Supper Room a room and whose stairs to it I am quite familiar with (I Love Green Guide Letters).
This was however the first time I’d arrived late enough to have to queue outside the foyer of the venue and more than a floor down the stairs.
Swimming isn't the theme of Gadsby's show, but it is the theme that I took away from it.
And also her ending to her show, which interestingly is similar to Joel Creasey's show last year.
Which, at the end of his show he left the venue for a moment (when the lights faded to black) and then returned wearing swimming trunks and floaties and mock crying.
It made sense within his show's story.
Hannah does something similar except her is knee length bathers. Which was quite surprising given how many layers she had on. See, she stripped off down to her bathers on stage.
Again, within the show's context it made sense.
There was also, unlike Creasey’s show no crying.
Returning to the show, I once again laughed in places where no one else was laughing.
Well I was building up to laughing it was more a quick breathing in and out, not quite an audible laugh, just building up to it.
Especially with her porridge story, throughout the latter parts of that I was laughing when everyone else was just staying fairly silent listening to her tell the story. I have been in that situation, so I could laugh at the little bits of the joke without waiting for the end of the story.
Other points where I laughed inappropriately was where basically I was filling in and imagining different parts of Hannah's story for myself. A quite active imagine I have and engaging entertainment also engages the other bits of my brain as well.
Which has a result of me laughing when there is no one else laughing or where there may not even be an intended point for me to laugh.
I don’t think that it’s bad, it’s good that she (and other comedians) are engaging on such a level. Or maybe I should’ve remained silent and laughed at the appropriate point like all the other audience members (that’s be a bit boring and gestalt-like wouldn’t it?)
I did have a few questions, some answered and some lingering.
On The Little Dum Dum Club she mentioned being on The Pill (at least I think it was on the Club's podcast), finally got an answer as to why; hormone imbalance. Not funny, well it was when Hannah told it, but not really in this context.
Hannah has props for her show, well it's one prop, the eponymous beside table.
Upon it are several things such as a rabbit, a glass of water, a light and the three drawers and they all have relevance to her stories. I didn't really think much of it when I first went in and sat down, but as the stories unfolded they made more sense.
Jacqueline and Claire deserve a mention. They were late audience members who sat right up the front. The wet weather made them late.
If you're driving in or coming from a distance you should be prepared and leave a little earlier, it's what I do, what I've done in fact for each of the shows I've gone to see.
During one of Hannah's low moments stories I really wanted to hug her, and punch her ex-girlfriend.
Hannah's show made me *feel* for her and made me laugh. Some brilliantly captured characters also from "Kiwi" (who wasn't a NZer) and talked in the third person about himself, to her father (who along along with her mum was in the audience) who is a man of very, very few words, but for story telling purposes was much more vocal.
I applaud Hannah for being able to get up every day of the festival and do a show like this, especially dressed as she was as revealed at the end.
19th April 2013
This was the second or third time I'd seen Hannah Gadsby, having seen her last year in her show “Hannah Wants a Wife” and I think the year before. Each time has been in the larger venue, which is a good thing for any comic I’d say.
This time the Supper Room a room and whose stairs to it I am quite familiar with (I Love Green Guide Letters).
This was however the first time I’d arrived late enough to have to queue outside the foyer of the venue and more than a floor down the stairs.
Swimming isn't the theme of Gadsby's show, but it is the theme that I took away from it.
And also her ending to her show, which interestingly is similar to Joel Creasey's show last year.
Which, at the end of his show he left the venue for a moment (when the lights faded to black) and then returned wearing swimming trunks and floaties and mock crying.
It made sense within his show's story.
Hannah does something similar except her is knee length bathers. Which was quite surprising given how many layers she had on. See, she stripped off down to her bathers on stage.
Again, within the show's context it made sense.
There was also, unlike Creasey’s show no crying.
Returning to the show, I once again laughed in places where no one else was laughing.
Well I was building up to laughing it was more a quick breathing in and out, not quite an audible laugh, just building up to it.
Especially with her porridge story, throughout the latter parts of that I was laughing when everyone else was just staying fairly silent listening to her tell the story. I have been in that situation, so I could laugh at the little bits of the joke without waiting for the end of the story.
Other points where I laughed inappropriately was where basically I was filling in and imagining different parts of Hannah's story for myself. A quite active imagine I have and engaging entertainment also engages the other bits of my brain as well.
Which has a result of me laughing when there is no one else laughing or where there may not even be an intended point for me to laugh.
I don’t think that it’s bad, it’s good that she (and other comedians) are engaging on such a level. Or maybe I should’ve remained silent and laughed at the appropriate point like all the other audience members (that’s be a bit boring and gestalt-like wouldn’t it?)
I did have a few questions, some answered and some lingering.
On The Little Dum Dum Club she mentioned being on The Pill (at least I think it was on the Club's podcast), finally got an answer as to why; hormone imbalance. Not funny, well it was when Hannah told it, but not really in this context.
Hannah has props for her show, well it's one prop, the eponymous beside table.
Upon it are several things such as a rabbit, a glass of water, a light and the three drawers and they all have relevance to her stories. I didn't really think much of it when I first went in and sat down, but as the stories unfolded they made more sense.
Jacqueline and Claire deserve a mention. They were late audience members who sat right up the front. The wet weather made them late.
If you're driving in or coming from a distance you should be prepared and leave a little earlier, it's what I do, what I've done in fact for each of the shows I've gone to see.
During one of Hannah's low moments stories I really wanted to hug her, and punch her ex-girlfriend.
Hannah's show made me *feel* for her and made me laugh. Some brilliantly captured characters also from "Kiwi" (who wasn't a NZer) and talked in the third person about himself, to her father (who along along with her mum was in the audience) who is a man of very, very few words, but for story telling purposes was much more vocal.
I applaud Hannah for being able to get up every day of the festival and do a show like this, especially dressed as she was as revealed at the end.