‘Hannah Gadsby: Body of Work’ Review: A ‘Feel-Good Show’ With Less Trauma but Plenty of Laughs

thewrap.com:

Hannah Gadsby delivers a warning up front to the audience for her new show, “Body of Work,” particularly those who are expecting the raw confessional tone of her breakout 2018 Netflix special “Nanette” or its follow-up “Douglas.” “It’s going to be a feel-good show,” she says, “because I feel like I owe you one.” What’s striking is that unlike in her previous two shows, the Australian comic delivers a far more conventional routine on two fronts — not only is her material less emotionally charged than in her previous shows, but it’s also delivered mostly straight, without the meta framework and exploding-the-conventions-of-comedy mindset that marked her as such a strikingly original voice.

In her first performance at Brooklyn’s BAM Howard Gilman Opera House on Wednesday, Gadsby seems to acknowledge her changed circumstances — including the fact that she’s hobbling about the stage with a large castlike boot on her left leg after a bad fall in Iceland. “I will sit down from time to time, but it doesn’t matter.

I’m not a real stand-up,” she jokes, slyly acknowledging critics of her often unconventional approach to comedy. She also acknowledges her growing fame — and how ill-prepared she was to deal with it, particularly given her autism.

She recounts embarrassingly awkward encounters with Ruby Rose, Jodie Foster and “Notting Hill” director Richard Curtis that are both self-deprecating as well as humble brags.