Donkeys As Art Pieces

Hannah Gadsby

Hannah Gadsby is staging an all-new stand-up show, Donkey, which, depending on what press you read, is either about representations of the donkey in art or her bike.

“Well, it was gonna be about animals in art – and then it wasn’t,” Gadsby says drolly, in the middle of delivering macaroons while trying not to step on a puppy. “I got a new bike, so I said, ‘Oh, fuck it – I’ll call the bike Donkey and talk about that.’” She continues, “[The comedy festivals] ask us what the show is, and for a blurb, in October – and I was thinking about donkeys a lot in October. They were very present in my mind – so I just thought, ‘That sounds like a good idea.’ But then I lost interest in donkeys… I mean, I still like them, but I can’t talk for an hour about donkeys. I could, but my passion’s waned.” The comedian will no doubt make it work with that informal – and deadpan – style of hers.

The ‘donkeys in art’ concept did seem random to begin with. “I just think they get a rough go, like, they’re the symbol for the fool,” Gadsby demurs. Horses are invariably privileged over donkeys. “I actually think donkeys are more trustworthy than horses. Simpson wouldn’t have been able to save anybody on a horse”: they would have just bucked him off and ran out of Gallipoli at a trot.” Even Mary and Joseph had a reliable ol’ donkey. “I think the donkey broke Mary’s hymen!,” Gadsby quips.

"I lost interest in donkeys… I mean, I still like them, but I can’t talk for an hour about donkeys. I could, but my passion’s waned."

Gadsby, who hails from Smithton in remote Tasmania, has a scholarly background: she completed a BA in Art History and Curatorship at the Australian National University. Gadsby only then started to seriously perform stand-up – winning 2006’s RAW Comedy competition. She was introduced to a wider audience on Adam Hills Tonight. Gadsby, today known for her comic art lectures both here and in the UK, has also written and presented documentary programs. Last year’s Hannah Gadsby’s Oz on the ABC was everything Robert Hughes’ much-feted 2000s Australia: Beyond The Fatal Shore wasn’t, with its inclusive and contemporary perspectives on Antipodean art.

And Gadsby is doing more TV. She appears in Josh Thomas’ Please Like Me, the alt-sitcom that, picked up by pivot, has a grassroots following stateside, where traditionally shows are (badly) remade. “Good luck recreating Josh,” Gadsby cackles. “He’s such a unique voice that I just don’t think you could recreate that without losing a lot of what Please Like Me is, so they’re pretty smart keeping it.” Ask Gadsby if Please Like Me, nominated for an International Emmy, has opened doors for her and she’s unsure. “I’m not exactly acting – I’m just playing myself. So it’s not like they’re going, ‘Ooh, she can act…’ I assume it’s given me more exposure. [But] I don’t keep tabs on myself.”

Regardless, Gadsby has had one acting ‘role’. She cameoed in the ‘20s-themed Underbelly: Squizzy as “a cross-dressing photographer” – no dodgy Wikipedia fact. “I’ve never seen any of the Underbelly series,” Gadsby whispers, “but you do it, don’t you?” It looks good in her bio. “Yeah, that’s why I do anything!”

Gadsby is slowly working on a book. Five years ago she took a pitch to a publisher – and received an advance, despite then being a “nobody”. Alarmingly, the tome will document her “accident history”. Hmmm, maybe that bike, or Donkey, wasn’t so wise.