Comedian Hannah Gadsby Returns to the New York Stage This Fall with Stand-Up Show WOOF!

Comedian Hannah Gadsby (Nanette, Douglas, Something Special) will return to New York City this fall with their latest stand-up show WOOF!, directed by Jenney Shamash, Gadsby's wife and frequent collaborator. The show will play a strictly limited four-week engagement at the Abrons Arts Center from September 27 through October 20. The official opening will be on October 6. 

More than six years after Nanette propelled them to international stardom, Hannah Gadsby is learning how to process the new world, with all its catastrophes and hypocrisies, from a new perspective. Hannah now finds themself yet again in a place of cultural dissonance, and we all know Hannah does their best work while casting their atypical eye over the fundamental contradictions of life. 

“Most people would be trying to level up at this point in their career,” Gadsby said in a statement. “But not this contrary Nancy. You see, I get the impression the world is ending, so I have decided to go down the nostalgic route over the ambitious one. So, New York City, you’re part of a tour where I am revisiting many of my old haunts, such as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and my cousins in Sandy Bay. And so it is that I am returning to a room in New York very much like the last one I ever performed in before ‘Nanette-flix’ hit the stream and changed everything. It has become one of my favorite cities to perform in. Is that interesting? I think everybody loves New York—I’ve seen the t-shirts. But what definitely is interesting is that this is my best ever show. Hands down. I might quit after it. For fun this time.”

Gadsby was last seen on the New York stage in their show Body of Work, which ran at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2022. They also performed New York runs of Nanette (2018) and Douglas (2019), both of which were produced as Netflix specials. Their third special, Something Special, premiered on Netflix in 2023.