Tig Notaro
Deadpan patience that pushes a room past comfort into surrender.
7 specials · 2004–2024
Start with Live, the breakout (2012 · 31 min · LouisCK.com)
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Tig Notaro operates at a deliberate crawl. She does not deliver punchlines so much as she tests an audience, waiting with blank patience for the crowd to catch up. She will drag a wooden stool across a stage, let the legs scrape against the floor, and repeat the action until the noise becomes funny, then annoying, and then deeply funny again. Her posture is relaxed to the point of apathy. When a bit stalls, she does not rush to the next setup; she stares at the room, letting the silence hang until the tension itself becomes the joke.
Specials
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Tig Notaro delivers quiet deadpan stories and eventually goes topless.
HBO · 55 min
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A cross-country road tour through backyards, basements, and living rooms.
Showtime · 60 min
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An early, dry showcase of Tig Notaro’s minimalist stand-up.
Comedy Central · 22 min
On stage
She occupies a rare space as an alternative comic who accidentally became a household name without speeding up her strange rhythms. Other standups watch her to see how little energy a performer actually has to give a crowd to keep them hooked. She plays major theaters, but her act still feels like it was designed for a basement where thirty people are unsure if they are allowed to laugh.
Her sets lean on repetition, odd hypotheticals, and a fascination with mundane encounters. She will spend fifteen minutes recounting brief, underwhelming interactions with the pop singer Taylor Dayne, mapping out every microscopic detail with flat restraint. Even when she performs topless to reveal her double-mastectomy scars, her delivery does not change, stripping the moment of sentimentality and forcing the audience to process the visual on her terms.
That refusal to be pitied defined her 2012 set Live, recorded days after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She walked on stage at Largo, announced her illness in the same tone she might use to read a grocery list, and forced a room full of strangers to laugh through the discomfort discomfort.
Turning points
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Improvised Largo Standup Set Diagnosed with Cancer
Four days after being diagnosed with breast cancer, Notaro took the stage at Largo to deliver a candid set that was released as the Grammy-nominated album 'Live'.
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Topless Standup Performance at NY Comedy Festival
Following a double mastectomy, Notaro performed part of her set topless at the New York Comedy Festival, which became a landmark moment of physical vulnerability.
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Post-Production Insertion into Army of the Dead
Director Zack Snyder digitally inserted Notaro into the completed film Army of the Dead via green screen to replace another actor.
At a glance
Fans also like
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Fortune Feimster
As co-hosts of the podcast Handsome, Notaro and Feimster share a warm, comedic chemistry and substantial fan overlap.
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Mae MartinCo-hosting the podcast Handsome alongside Notaro, Martin shares an offbeat, candid sensibility and collaborative comedic rapport.
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Kyle Dunnigan
Dunnigan was Notaro's longtime podcast co-host on Professor Blastoff and frequent writing collaborator.
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David Huntsberger
Huntsberger shared a weekly comedic podcast platform with Notaro for four years as co-host of Professor Blastoff.
Podcasts
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Handsome · co-host
Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster, and Mae Martin field questions from friends and answer them together while sharing humorous stories.
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Don't Ask Tig · host
Tig Notaro and celebrity guests offer advice on everything from heartbreak to everyday life challenges.
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Professor Blastoff · co-host
A weekly discussion podcast exploring topics ranging from science and philosophy to entertainment.
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Tig and Cheryl: True Story · co-host
Also on screen
- 2007–2010
- The Sarah Silverman Program
- 2014–2019
- Transparent
- Suburgatory
- Maron
- 2015–2017
- One Mississippi
A clip to start with
A clip of Tig Notaro