Behind every joke, there is a story. Hannah Gadsby’s award winning “Nanette” comes to Netflix June 19. / Netflix
Monica Lewinsky has revealed that Hannah Gadsby's show Nanette brought her to tears after she saw the Aussie comic perform in New York.
Speaking at Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit in Los Angeles, Lewinsky said she had had a visceral reaction to Gadsby's game-changing stand-up show.
"I have never gone to a stand-up comedy show and bawled my eyes out as much as I did," she told Gadsby. "And given my history, that was pretty surprising."
In Nanette, Gadsby lashed out at the comedians who made Lewinsky their punchline instead of Bill Clinton, "the man who abused his power".
Hannah Gadsby and Monica Lewinsky appeared on stage together at an event in Los Angeles. Photo / Getty Images
"I really want to thank you for that," Lewinsky said on stage in Los Angeles. "On social media, actually, I've noticed, even if people don't reference Nanette, there have been many more people who have referenced their regret at having seen me at just a punchline. I think that comes from what you put into the world."
Lewinsky became emotional as she thanked Gadsby.
"When we have an easy punchline, I think we have to acknowledge that we're dehumanising actual human beings," Gadsby said.
"It was a genuine attempt to extend an apology from an art form that profited off shaming you," Gadsby said. "And there's so many people like that."
Gadsby also pointed to the late British singer Amy Winehouse as an example.
"[She] was a person we found so easy to laugh at in the midst of witnessing something quite devastating, and we keep doing this and we have to work out ways [to change it]."
Hannah Gadsby onstage at the Emmys last month. Photo / Getty Images
Gadsby's fame in the US has soared since Nanette began streaming on Netflix in June with celebrities such as Emma Thompson, Kathy Griffin, Roxane Gay, Ellen Page and Transparent creator Jill Soloway all waxing lyrical about the show.
Gadsby also appeared onstage at the Emmys in September, but said she found her new-found celebrity "very foreign."
"I find [it] uncomfortable," she said.
Lewinsky also asked Gadsby whether she would host US comedy institution Saturday Night Live.
The comedian shook her head.
"It's not a real question because I won't be asked," she said.
"I'm not a friend of them. They're not fans of my work," she said. "It's fine. We'll cope."
