CELEBRITY SPOTLIGHT

I’m an ‘elder’ and I’m only 45, but we have to do our bit to help relieve the pressure.”

In many ways, Gadsby’s presence on stage is a billboard for intersectionality. They are frank about their identity as a genderqueer lesbian and their 2017 autism diagnosis, aspects of Gadsby’s personhood that has made it challenging for the entertainment world to figure out where they belong.

“Before I even began my career, I was difficult to categorize my entire life, and not for a lack of trying,” Gadsby says. “But I think that’s where my comedy begins — it’s me trying to be what people would prefer I be, and my persistent failure is what has gotten me here. I think I’m… close. I’m always close, but just always fall short. But I think that’s where comedy lives, so it’s not a problem.”

Neurodiversity has been a central topic in all three Netflix specials. “And I’m really keen not to tell autism, and rather to show it. That’s what this show really is. It’s showing autism.”

At one point in “Something Special,” Gadsby recounts two separate stories involving awkward encounters with Jodie Foster. In one, Gadsby crumples up a bit of cardboard where Foster had written down her phone number, right in front of Foster (one of Gadsby’s sensory issues relates to feeling “very irritated” when they have to hold small and irregular-shaped objects against their palms). In another, Gadsby responds to a birthday gift from Foster by saying “I’ve already got Bananagrams!” and then chucks the present to the side. The stories are universal on one hand — virtually everyone can conjure up encounters they’d like to do over — but resonate strongly with the neurodiverse community.

Foster, Gadsby says, was gracious about the incidents. “She was there with a wife and they just kept on being amazing, kind, generous people,” they remember.

“She’s very competitive at charades, though. I will give her that,” Gadsby adds.

Throughout the special, Gadsby stresses how important it has been to have Jenno by their side as both their romantic partner and producer of their shows, describing their relationship like the sport of curling. “I’m the giant puck,” they say in the show. “And every morning, we have a little team meeting and go, ‘This is where you need to go, this is how fast you’re gonna go there, this is the line you’re gonna take,’ and then we send me out, and there’s not a fucking thing I can do about it.”

Perhaps neurodiversity is Gadsby’s secret super power? “Maybe. Although we’ve just told everyone, so, rats!”

“But, no. You’ve always got to keep trying to make connections. That’s what we are as humans, and it’s a particularly difficult time to do that. All I can say is hang in there, and it’s not your fault.”