How do you follow a landmark comedy show? Hannah Gadsby's first outing after the global hit Nanette was Douglas, about their autism. Then Body of Work, which was more akin to back-to-basics stand-up. And now here's Woof!, which strikes a balance, blending weighty personal themes with laugh-out-loud playfulness.
The main motif here, according to the Tasmania-born comic, is the idea that they might be losing their mind. But there are so many tangental avenues – from whales to Taylor Swift to abortion rights to grief to sleep apnoea to gender to social media to celebrity – that I wondered if these disparate threads could ever be tied together.
Yet the segues are almost seamless. Which is particularly impressive considering that Woof! was hastily written earlier this year when an initial show was junked after a panic attack in an Airbnb, which Gadsby quips, is probably the worst place for a panic attack. Too many plastic plants and buddhas.
The show has evolved since I saw it at the Edinburgh Fringe in August. The title is a nod to Gadsby's dog but canine references were minimal last night. A stand-out section about the seismic impact of fame and "new money" is thankfully still in situ.
This kind of success was never part of the plan we are told. Where once Gadsby used to shiver in bed, they now have not one but two mattress toppers, which is almost too comfortable. Staying in classy hotels is still disconcerting. Gadsby used to work as a cleaner and says that unlike riding a bike, cleaning is a skill you can forget once you start paying others to do it for you.
What could be an indulgent, poor-me set purely about the star's anxiety and their concern that they are falling apart opens out when Gadsby offers thoughts on our content-obsessed society. We are "choking on data". How can we fight back in an increasingly shallow world where people stampede to post their opinions online.
Elsewhere there are layered observational gags about Cabbage Patch Kids (where did they all go?), comical swipes at Taylor Swift and a credible argument that the world was a better place when the news was nightly and not 24/7 trauma porn.
It was a commanding performance, heartfelt and downright mischievous, delivered with the kind of assured ease Gadsby fans have come to expect. There is routine about laser surgery that literally includes a sight gag about sight.
There are so many comedians talking about mental health nowadays it is hard to find someone saying something new on the subject. Gadsby manages it with a show that is both deeply personal and also utterly relatable. And, of course, gloriously funny.
Also tonight, Thursday and Friday. Tickets here: wtheatres.co.uk
