Why Donatello Shouldn’t Be A Ninja Turtle (According To Hannah Gadsby)

In the 2020 Netflix comedy special Douglas, Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby jokes that Donatello technically shouldn’t be part of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The bit connects to a recurring theme about American culture and concepts of art, with the comedian using the High Renaissance as the punchline to her gag.

Douglas follows the controversial 2018 special Nanette, in which Gadsby proves an unorthodox stand-up routine. Her 2020 act features a 15-minute prelude that not only explains the entire show, but also addresses past criticism from men. From beginning to end, Gadsby makes sure the audience knows that she’s just telling jokes (a staple of modern stand-up comedy due to Outrage Culture), but also fully explains her life perspective, and why she’s often blunt with her social commentaries. In fact, Gadsby states that Douglas “is a show about autism.” Overall, the comic takes aim at both men and women, along with pop culture figures such as Taylor Swift and Louis CK.

After discussing Where’s Waldo?, Gadsby states that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles street gang premise isn’t her “issue,” but rather the High Renaissance thematic basis for the group of mutants named Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, and Donatello (“nothing says frescoes like nunchucks, am I right?”). According to Gadsby, Donatello doesn’t technically belong because the real-life inspiration – Italian artist Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi – wasn’t actually working during the two-decade era known as the “High Renaissance.” And there’s a good reason why Donatello didn’t produce any new work from 1500 to 1520, which is the foundation for Gadsby’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles zinger.

To Gadsby, Donatello shouldn’t be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle because the Florentine artist Donatello passed away in 1466 before the High Renaissance unofficially began. At that point in history, Michelangelo wasn’t alive, nor was the great Raphael. However, Leonardo da Vinci was already a teenage artist when Donatello died, which – to some – could be viewed as a figurative passing of the torch, at least in retrospect. Though Gadsby doesn’t get the year of Donatello’s death correct (1466 and not 1465), she’s right to assume that his peak “artistic prowess” doesn’t align with the High Renaissance masters.

For a comedic exclamation point in Douglas, Gadsby ends her intellectualized joke by screaming “He [Donatello] DOES NOT belong in their street gang! He’s dead!” But the comic doesn’t quite end there, as she backs up her argument by making the case for Tiziano Vecelli, otherwise known as Titian, a painter from the Venetian School of Art, who was born in the late 15th century and began producing well-known works during the High Renaissance era. According to Gadsby, Titian didn’t make the TMNT street gang because the target demographic “could not a handle a name that begins with ‘tit.'” She then brings the comedy full circle by returning to her belief that “We are not preparing our boys for the real world.”

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Q.V. Hough
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Q.V. Hough is a senior writer at Screen Rant. He’s also the founding editor at Vague Visages, and has contributed to RogerEbert.com and Fandor.

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