Chapter 8: Gertrude

Mitch describes some behind-the-scenes challenges he ran into while touring the American south with Hannah Gadsby.Endnotes:Todd Barry, Thank You for Coming to Hattiesburg: One Comedian's Tour of Not-Quite-the-Biggest Cities in the World (New York, Gallery Books, 2017) p.70. Capsule Review: the title pretty much covers it. Specific anecdotes about life on the road in 55 cities, mostly smaller-sized, mostly American. Tone is typical Barry knowingly false bravado complaining about minutiae such as limited coffee options in rural outposts and shabby green room decor. Slack Score: 12.6; Snark Score 4.5; Overall FCA ranking: 303Hannah Gadsby, Ten Steps to Nanette; A Memoir Situation (New York, Penguin/Random House, 2022) p. 214. Capsule Review: Exhaustive personal history of life in homophobic Tasmania in the ‘80s and ‘90s as an  impoverished, undiagnosed, autistic lesbian. Often excruciating, occasionally humorous, extremely thorough, touching on seemingly every aspect of her formative years. Slack Score: -14.2; Snark Score: 6; Overall FCA ranking: 16James Acaster, James Acaster’s Classic Scrapes (London, Headline Publishing Group, 2017)  p. 301. Capsule Review: A series of challenging or embarrassing scenarios (“scrapes”) that Acaster has found himself in, in more or less chronological order, that are mildly amusing though solidly crafted. Has a skydiving anecdote similar to my own.  Slack score: 9.3; Snark Score: 13.7; Overall FC ranking: 139unstoppablefarce.com #comedy #standup #speculativefiction #speculativememoir #neilhamburger #longmontpotioncastle #elephantgraveyard #hannahgadsby #trauma