Review: Hannah Gadsby's Stand-Up Show 'Douglas' Is a Winning Follow-Up to 'Nanette'

The Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby's newest show "Douglas" is as randomly named as her first theater piece/Netflix special, "Nanette." Douglas is ... the name of her dog, who's her closest companion. But it's also part of the name of the Pouch of Douglas, a cavity in a woman's body that a man named after himself.

Those two things have nothing to do with each other, but they encapsulate the themes of the work: Gadsby's isolation and loneliness, and male privilege.

The scathing humor of Gadsby's show, which is part stand-up, part Ted Talk, part public therapy session, is rooted in unexpected connections. She takes aim at all flavors of entitlement, including that of Americans and straight people (she's a lesbian). But it's her autism that brings out the most pain.

Her condition makes it tougher to navigate the world, she says. But just living is made even harder by a culture that tolerates people who don't vaccinate their children because they're afraid autism will be the result. She asks if those against vaccinating can really look into her face and explain their rationale. She thinks not — especially because she sees autism as a kind of gift that expands her creativity. The problem with autism, she says, is not autism. It's how others treat those with autism as lesser people. As she puts it, "I no longer believe that I am falling short of expectations. I believe it is those expectations that are falling short of my humanity."

This is Oprah-stye insight, and occasionally threatens to devolve into angry self-pity. But she pulls it off, because her jokes are so surprisingly, sharply funny. In the tightest and most original section of "Douglas," Gadsby delves into Renaissance art, showing slides of famous paintings and making fun of all the half-naked women cavorting about the woods while the men around them are clothed. Her idea is that the structure of the patriarchy was set long ago; it's not the thought that's original, of course, but the connections she makes between absurd observations, the way she works in a joke about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — "They're not turtles! They're tortoises! Turtles have flippers!" — on her way to ranting about how men view women as objects for their pleasure.

"Douglas" won't change minds. It isn't designed to. Instead, it's a kind of fight song for those who feel oppressed. But even those who don't agree with Gadsby may find themselves laughing helplessly — which is what the best kind of comedy does.

"Douglas," written and performed by Hannah Gadsby, is at the Darly Roth Theatre through Sept. 7.