Hannah Gadsby’s 2018 Netflix special Nanette won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special.
Nanette began as a live show in Australia before gaining international attention at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Gadsby used the performance to discuss art history, sexuality, gender, trauma, and the limits of self-deprecating comedy.
Netflix released Nanette internationally in 2018, turning Gadsby into a global comedy figure. The special was notable for moving between conventional stand-up, lecture-style commentary, and autobiographical storytelling rather than following a standard joke-heavy format.
Gadsby also won a Peabody Award for Nanette. The special is often described as a stand-up performance, although its structure deliberately questions familiar expectations about what stand-up should be.