Hannah Gadsby’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Intro Australian comedian
Is Comedian 
From Australia 
Type Humor 
Gender female
Birth 12 January 1978, Smithton, Australia
Age: 42 years
Star sign Capricorn
Residence Smithton, Australia; Launceston, Australia; Hobart, Australia; Canberra, Australia
Education
Australian National University
Notable Works
Nanette  

Hannah Gadsby (born 12 January 1978) is an Australian comedian, writer, actress and television presenter. She rose to prominence after winning the national final of the Raw Comedy competition for new comedians in 2006 and since toured internationally as well as on television and radio.

In 2018, the release by Netflix of a film version of Gadsby’s stand-up show, Nanette, expanded her international audience.

Starting in 2019, she is touring the US, Canada, and Australia with her new show Douglas.

Early life and education

Gadsby was born and grew up in Smithton, a small town on the remote north-west coast of Tasmania, the youngest of five children.

She attended Smithton High School from 1990 to 1995, then moved to Launceston College in year 12, where she suffered a nervous breakdown.

She began tertiary studies at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, but moved to the mainland to attend the Australian National University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History and Curatorship in 2003.

After this she worked in bookshops in Canberra and became a projectionist at an outdoor cinema in Darwin for a while. She then spent two years picking vegetables and planting trees along the east coast of Australia, before she found herself homeless (which she later attributed partly to her ADHD) and ill enough to require hospitalisation.

Career

Stand-up

It was on a visit to her sister in Adelaide in 2006 when Gadsby entered Raw Comedy in 2006, progressing through the heats to win the national prize. As the winner, she was sent to the So You Think You’re Funny competition at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where she won second prize. From that point on, she performed numerous stand-up shows at festivals around Australia, such as the Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Sydney Comedy Festival.

Gadsby created the stand-up show she named Nanette partly as a response to the uncivil public debate which took place in Australia before the law was changed to allow same-sex marriage, and also after her diagnosis of ADHD and autism, in a performance described as ground-breaking. In 2018, Netflix released the film version of Nanette, which brought her to the attention of international audiences. On Rotten Tomatoes, Nanette received an approval rating of 100% based on reviews from 46 critics.

In March 2019 Gadsby previewed her new show, Douglas, in Adelaide, before touring the US and Australia, where many shows were sold out in advance. In the show, she explores new personal revelations “with empathy, wit and some extremely relatable metaphor”, and creates something “bigger than comedy” according to one reviewer of the preview show. Gadsby says that she doesn’t care what people call the show, aiming at men who complained on social media that Nanette was “not comedy but a lecture”. In May 2019, Gadsby announced that Douglas will be released on Netflix in 2020.

TV roles

Gadsby co-wrote and co-starred in the Australian ABC television TV show Adam Hills Tonight through three seasons from February 2011 to July 2013. She had regular segments called ‘On This Day’ and ‘Hannah Has A Go’ and also featured on the couch, contributing as host Adam Hills interviewed his guests.

She co-wrote (with Matthew Bate) and presented a three-part series on ABC TV, Hannah Gadsby’s Oz, which aired in March 2014. Produced by Closer Productions, this series set out to “debunk the myths of the Australian identity perpetuated by [its] national art”.

She co-wrote 20 episodes of fellow comedian Josh Thomas’s series Please Like Me (2014-2016) and featured as Hannah, a fictional version of herself.

Guest appearances

Gadsby has appeared as a guest on numerous TV shows in Australia and elsewhere, including Rove Live (2009), Good News Week (2009), Spicks and Specks (2010), Agony (2012-2014), QI (2018), The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (2018), and New Zealand TV 3’s game show, 7 Days. She was a presenter at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2018, presenting the award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series.

Gadsby was also a guest on Conan O’Brien’s podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend in 2019.

Between 2009 and 2013, Gadsby presented comedy art tours in conjunction with the National Gallery of Victoria, with themes such as paintings of the Holy Virgin, Dadaism, Modernism, Impressionism and the nude in art. She has given talks on art and opened exhibitions.

Gadsby has written and presented two documentary specials for the Artscape program on ABC TV: Hannah Gadsby Goes Domestic (2010) and The NGV Story (2011.)

Hannah Gadsby’s Oz (see above) was art-related.

In 2015 she wrote and performed Hannah Gadsby: Arts Clown, a series for BBC Radio 4 based on her comedy art shows.

Personal life

Gadsby is openly lesbian and often refers to her sexuality in her stand-up routines.

She was diagnosed with ADHD and autism in 2017. She refers to her autism in her 2019 show Douglas in a way aimed to help people understand neurodiversity as part of a normal variation of the human condition.

Gadsby is an active supporter of various charities. Organisations she has assisted include Big Brothers Big Sisters of Melbourne, Edmund Rice Camps of Victoria and the Sacred Heart Mission. She has performed on The Breast Darn Show in Town twice.

Live shows

  • 2007: Hannah Gadsby is Wrong and Broken, Adelaide Fringe
  • 2008: Meat, The Musical with Amelia Jane Hunter. Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Enmore Theatre
  • 2009: Kiss Me Quick, I’m Full Of Jubes (solo show). Melbourne International Comedy Festival, New Zealand International Comedy Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Melbourne Fringe Festival
  • 2009, 2010, 2011: The History of the National Gallery of Victoria (art history lecture). NGV, during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
  • 2010: The Cliff Young Shuffle (solo show). Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Adelaide Fringe, Sydney Comedy Festival, Brisbane Comedy Festival, New Zealand International Comedy Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival,
  • 2011: Mary. Contrary (solo show). Edinburgh Fringe Festival
  • 2011: Mrs Chuckles (solo show). Belvoir St Theatre, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Adelaide Fringe, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Wild West Comedy Fest (Perth), New Zealand Comedy Festival, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Soho Theatre (London).
  • 2012: Mary. Contrary (art lecture). National Gallery of Victoria during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival
  • 2012: Hannah Wants A Wife (solo show). Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Perth International Comedy Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival
  • 2013: Mary.Contrary (art lecture). Ten Days on the Island Festival, Kings Place London
  • 2013: Nakedy Nudes (art lecture). National Gallery of Victoria during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Art Space Mackay
  • 2013: Happiness is a Bed Side Table (solo show). Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Perth Comedy Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Canberra Theatre Centre, Soho Theatre London, Brighton Comedy Festival, Sydney Comedy Store
  • 2014: Nakedy Nudes/ Mary.Contrary/ Australian Art (art lecture). NGV Art Lecture Series, Melbourne
  • 2014: The Exhibitionist (solo show). Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Ten Days Spiegeltent Hobart, Canberra Comedy Festival, Perth International Comedy Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Soho Theatre (London)
  • 2015: Hannah Gadsby Live (solo show). Comedy Store Sydney
  • 2015: Art Lite (art lecture). Adelaide Cabaret Festival
  • 2015: Donkey (solo show). Brisbane Comedy Festival, Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Perth Comedy Festival, Darwin Festival
  • 2016: Dogmatic (solo show). Adelaide Fringe, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Canberra Comedy Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Perth Comedy Festival, Belvoir Theatre, Wagga Wagga, Soho Theatre London
  • 2017–2018: Nanette (solo show). Perth Fringe Festival, Adelaide Fringe, International Women’s Day – Sydney Opera House, Ten Days On The Island – Hobart, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Canberra Comedy Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Wollongong, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Soho Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne, Sydney Opera House, Soho Theatre – Return Run, New York Soho Playhouse
  • 2019: Douglas (solo show). Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide; Arts Centre, Melbourne; numerous venues in the US; back to Australia in December

Filmography (TV)

Writer and performer

  • 2011: Hannah Gadsby: Kiss Me Quick, I’m Full of Jubes (series 1, ep. 1 of Warehouse Comedy Festival series of live stand-up performances)
  • 2012–2013: Adam Hills Tonight (series – co-writer and presenter in 22 episodes)
  • 2013: Hannah Gadsby: Mrs Chuckles (series 2, ep. 9 of Warehouse Comedy Festival series)
  • 2014: Hannah Gadsby’s Oz (documentary mini-series)
  • 2014–2016: Please Like Me (sitcom series – co-writer and actor in 22 episodes)
  • 2015: Hannah Gadsby: Renaissance Woman (documentary mini-series) – also producer
  • 2018: Hannah Gadsby’s Nakedy Nudes (documentary mini-series)
  • 2018: Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (film of live stand-up)

Actor

  • 2009–2010: The Librarians (TV series) – as Carmel (2 episodes)
  • 2013: Underbelly – as Charlie (3 episodes)
  • 2014–2016: Please Like Me (TV series) – as Hannah (22 episodes)

Works and publications

  • Gadsby, Hannah (2018). Ten Steps to Nanette. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-742-37403-1. OCLC 1014018703.

Awards

  • 2006: Triple J’s Raw Comedy, winner
  • 2006: Edinburgh Festival Fringe, So You Think You’re Funny? – Second place
  • 2007: Adelaide Fringe, Best Emerging Comedy Award
  • 2008: Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Moosehead Award for Meat the Musical – with Amelia Jane Hunter
  • 2008: Sydney Comedy Festival, Directors’ Choice Award
  • 2010 Festival Directors’ Choice Award – Winner – Melbourne International Comedy Festival
  • 2010: Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer – nominee for The Cliff Young Shuffle
  • 2011: Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Barry Award (best show) nominee at Melbourne International Comedy Festival
  • 2011: Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer – nominee for Mrs Chuckles
  • 2013: Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer – nominee for Happiness is a Bedside Table
  • 2013: Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Barry Award (best show) nominee for Happiness is a Bedside Table
  • 2017: Adelaide Fringe, Best Comedy for Nanette
  • 2017: Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Barry Award (best show) winner for Nanette
  • 2017: Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer for Nanette
  • 2017: Edinburgh Festival Fringe Comedy Award – joint winner for Nanette
  • 2019: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for Nanette
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