Why Douglas is an excellent follow-up to Hannah Gadsby's Nanette, which you should see first

It’s probably a good idea to see them in sequence, that is, to first watch Hannah Gadsby’s first hour-long special (Nanette) and than watch her slightly longer special, Douglas (2020, both on Netflix). They’re unlike any other comedy routine, and, though she bristles at the label, each is something like a one-person play: The first a mix of some really funny routines, most focused on the life and troubles of a lesbian woman, with some personal monologue that’s insightful and frightful and extremely moving – as well as pointedly political – about trauma she experienced in childhood and young adulthood and about her strained but loving relationship w/ her family. The sequel or follow-up, Douglas, is in many ways a more conventional comedy routine, with some hilarious sections on the must unlikely of topics, for ex. “Where’s Waldo?” and Renaissance art (HG was an art-history major, and it’s amazing how much material this background provides for both shows). Much of Douglas is strangely “meta-comic,” as she comments are her own art and on the routine that she’s presenting; it’s not nearly as confessional and introspective as Nanette, but it does include a divergence into the topic of autism, with which HG tells us she’s been diagnosed – it’s both funny and painful to hear her account of her difficulty in “fitting in” in various settings, such as elementary school, where her persistant and insistent line of questioning befuddled even the most patient of teachers.