Warning: this week’s discussion will include the subjects of transphobia, racism, anti-Semitism, anti-LGBTQ sentiment, and sexual assault.
This week, Andi and Lise were joined by Tara Scott, book reviewer extraordinaire (Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and The Lesbian Review), to discuss writers whose work they may still admire but who they have stopped supporting because of said writers’ personal views made public and/or actions. There are no easy answers, and everyone who consumes content should make their own decisions on whether to support that content or not. Here, the LGO crew grapple with what that means in their own consumption habits, and grapple, too, with what it means to find out one of your faves has said or done something that goes against their own personal views and/or that has potentially harmed others.
Andi and Lise are losing their minds over the My Favorite Murder podcast, which is hosted by comedians Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. MFM is a “weekly true crime comedy podcast” in which Karen and Georgia take turns on each episode to talk about a particular crime they researched. They also do mini-episodes that feature stories from listeners. The podcast has taken off and now there are live podcasts to audiences of thousands, and a fandom that operates not only as fans (murderinos), but as a community that launches projects, opens local chapters, and creates lasting connections.
Andi and Lise had their minds completely blown by “Nanette,” the comedy show/performance piece by Tasmanian comedienne Hannah Gadsby, currently available on Netflix. In this brilliant and searing examination of comedy and who it serves, “Art, [Gadsby] makes clear—from painting to comedy—does not liberate everyone equally. It can replicate the same privileges and exclusions as the culture in which it was made,” Moira Donegan says in her piece on “Nanette” in the New Yorker.
“Nanette” is a blistering tour de force in which Gadsby lays part of her soul bare and then leaves the audience to grapple with its role in perpetuating the marginalization of those it demands entertain us.
And in the wake of the 2016 election and the #MeToo movement, Gadsby’s indictment of homophobia and misogyny and her dissection of comedy has become a phenomenon and a statement. “I really was writing as though I was throwing a grenade,” Gadsby told Rolling Stone, “and I fully expected for the show to seal me off in the margins. I am so shocked and overwhelmingly stunned. It’s become bigger than me. And I’m happy for that.”
Both Andi and Lise are of the opinion that this is the first major piece of art—a blistering fusion of comedy and storytelling—to emerge since the 2016 elections and will probably come to define this era in ways we don’t yet even know.
Hannah Gadsby’s “Nanette” on Netflix (US; check your local Netflix site if you’re not in the US).
Gadsby’s just released memoir, Ten Steps to Nanette is available at various booksellers. Check your faves.