Prakriti Sharma
Comedian Hannah Gadsby's one-hour Netflix special Nanette is not your run-of-the-mill stand-up comedy show. In fact, you could consider it anything but. In this one hour, Gadsby manages to deconstruct whatever one might have thought they know about jokes and comedy. She brings up the emphasis on self-deprecation that is so pervasive in this performative genre and how that has actually restricted her from being able to tell her story (of coming out, of abuse) despite giving her such a wide platform. The burden of creativity and, more specifically, the influence of their own comedy in an artist's life is something that has been overlooked for far too long.
The idea of self-deprecating jokes is no new concept in the world of comedy. Most comedians create their jokes out of incidents and events that occur in their own lives. Churning jokes and punchlines out of what would have been painful life events in one's life might allow one to believe that they have moved on/are in the process of healing. However, more often than not, the mocking (and in a sense, comedy-fying) important events in one's life simply leads to a more blurry understanding of the event. As Gadsby mentioned, the consistent re-telling of her coming-out story actually prevented her from healthily accepting the experience.
''And what I had done, with that comedy show about coming out, was I froze an incredibly formative experience at its trauma point and I sealed it off into jokes. But unfortunately, that joke wasn't sophisticated enough to help me undo the damage done to me in reality.'' - Hannah Gadsby, Nanette
Is this the price to pay for being creative? Self-deprecating jokes that lower your own self-esteem, an impairment of your ability to cope with important experiences, and possibly a mental illness?
This solidifying of an event, for the sake of comic relief (both that of the audience as well as the performer) is something that can have devastating effects on both social and cognitive development. It does so while providing the illusion that if one can joke about painful things, they feel as if they have conquered their demons (Carter, Psychology Today) when in reality, it has either been repressed or transformed into an experience that never occurred.
Gadsby even recalls one of her audience members suggesting her to stay off medication since, as an artist, she had to be able to feel. The same audience member also exemplified his suggestion with an example: Van Gogh’s paintings. He went on to claim that if Van Gogh had medicated, the world wouldn’t have his ‘sunflowers’.
While his example was untrue (since Van Gogh did heavily medicate), this points to a larger problem of the issue of creativity and 'good output' being expected at the expense of the artist. Having to shame either oneself or an experience one has had in order to be funny is highly detrimental to one’s self-esteem and mental health. The notion that creativity must entail suffering has led to artists not being able to look after their own well-being as they are supposedly duty-bound to feel and perform for the audience’s enjoyment.
This has become ingrained into the psyche of many comedians as well. Patton Oswalt said, "I'm married, and there's nothing worse for a comedian’s career than happiness … I just can't be funny anymore." The inherent belief that to be funny you must also be depressed/unhappy/unfulfilled is an ironically tragic comic culture to be a part of.
What makes Nanette so special and paradoxical is that Gadsby is using this same detrimental platform to air her story and her pain, to let people know of what goes on after the joke is over. The manner in which she deconstructs a joke into two parts – a beginning and a middle – further highlights the inability of a comedian to be able to completely accept the experience which is being mocked as there is no end, no closure.
It should be encouraged that comedians try and change the world of comedy by shifting the focus of off self-deprecation and self-hatred and on to more positive and, possibly, more constructive ways of comedy. If not that, then it should at least be allowed for comedians to take the kind of breaks they need in order to retain their mental well-being while trying to do what they love: make other people laugh.
References
Carter, J. (2016, April 04). Are Comedians More Depressed?
Gadsby, H. (2018, June 19). Nanette. Retrieved November 25, 2018, from https://www.netflix.com/in/title/80233611
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