Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
On this episode of The Commercial Break.
Tig Notaro once did a whole show based on one chance encounter with singer Taylor Dane. It helped to further her career and solidify her as a stand-up great. She's publicly shared her struggles and successes both on and off stage. She was once referred to as the heart of stand-up comedy by Brian. Wow, Tig must have a big heart. She agreed to come on TCB. Or she just has empathy for Chrissy.
And so do I. Tig Notaro is your penultimate guest on TCB's Endless Day. I'll be back next hour with Brian and Chrissy to wrap it all up. Let's start Tig's episode now.
Chapter 2: What significant event in Tig Notaro's life impacted her comedy career?
The next episode of The Commercial Break starts now.
And on this very long day, Chrissy Tig Notaro is here with us. Welcome, Tig. Welcome, Tig, to the commercial break. Thank you. Thank you. Such an honor to have you here. And I do not say that tongue in cheek. I want to start off by asking a serious question and we'll get to the funny shit later. I...
sense that your career, and I think you have said this, your career really kind of hits and you put some gasoline in the tank when you are at your most raw and vulnerable and possibly maybe even you would consider the worst moments of your life, the worst time of your life, 2012, Largo, you walk out there and bravely say, I'm Tig Notaro, I have cancer. And like overnight.
And I saw that video and I was... Touched, confused, awestruck, beshucked. I don't even know how you say it. I thought, wow, they really just went out there and let it all loose. Did you have any sense in that moment in 2012, standing there on stage at Largo, that just being this vulnerable would lead to such a connection with so many people?
No, I had no idea. I mean, I really thought, I mean, just for some more context, I had been diagnosed with pneumonia and then an intestinal disease that is very deadly called C. diff. I had invasive cancer. My mother tripped, hit her head and died. And my girlfriend and I split up and that was in a four month period of time.
And, um, and I, uh, yeah, I, I went on stage just feeling like I had lost everything in the world. And, um, and, um, There was no part of me that thought this is going to be anything. I didn't even think the people in the audience wanted to hear about it, much less the life that it took on. Yeah, it went viral. A lot of people were blogging and tweeting about it. I remember that.
Yeah, and then it was released as an album and became the number one selling comedy album of the year.
Grammy nominated, am I right?
Yeah, yeah. But yeah, there was not... I was just... I was stunned. I was very stunned. But I did... When I thought about it, I was like, wow, there are so many...
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Chapter 3: How did Tig Notaro's vulnerability shape her connection with audiences?
I think there was a part of me that was kind of reaching out for help and support, um, because, um, even though I have incredible friends and family that were surrounding me, it was still, I needed, I needed help. I needed support. And, and it's, I think all the time about people that don't have the support that I had.
It's, it's really, after I went on tour or I went on tour after I was in remission and, I stood and talked to everybody that wanted to talk after the show. Cause I was like, man, you guys listened to what I went through and, and people lined up sharing their stories and their appreciation.
And, um, I'd never really done that before either after a show, after a tour or after, you know, um, any performances like really sat there and connected with people for hours.
Um, There was a real, I would bet, sense of catharsis in a lot of ways. And I think sometimes, I know this is kind of the sick, twisted mind of us as human beings, but I think sometimes in ways when we're able to connect with other people's pain, it allows us to... Vent our own, dull our own, but then say, you know what?
It's not as fucking bad as I'm making it out to be in my own head because this person or just like the simple connection that I feel bad, they feel bad. We're kind of in this together. Did you... Did you seek? I'm sure you did. I mean, I can almost answer this. I'm sure you did. Did you seek therapy during this period of time? Yes.
And I imagine that was helpful because the cancer alone, it's like you're facing the empty chamber of a gun. You're staring it down at all times. You just don't know what's coming next. And that's got to be really scary.
For sure. And, you know, that's what was crazy about that time period was cancer is such a obviously well-known disease, but C. diff isn't as known. And it actually ended up killing my stepfather 10 years later. And I was really suffering with that disease. And I remember before I was diagnosed, I remember telling people, God, if only I had cancer, people would understand that I'm struggling.
And then I, meanwhile, I had no idea I had invasive cancer. And I found that out like, you know, a month later. What is C. diff?
Can you explain to the audience for those who don't know?
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Chapter 4: What was Tig Notaro's mental state when she performed during her health struggles?
I can confirm right now, you'll never know.
It's one of the great moments in comedy is when Ira Glass says, and now, ladies and gentlemen, Taylor Dayne after you tell the story. And for those of you who don't know the story, go watch it on YouTube. And I'm not going to try and retell the joke because it's hers and she does it so much better. But multiple run-ins with Taylor Dayne. And you tell that story to great effect.
And I think that story is like, when you tell that, it is... I don't know, it's a prime example of where you are best is being your observational kind of pregnant pause here, you know, little nod to the crowd there. And it's so funny. What did you find funny as a kid growing up? Where did you get this kind of sense of humor? What was funny to you?
What's the first thing you remember being funny as a kid?
I mean, I was definitely a class clown and I was all, I think I really liked the kind of I mean, I liked so many different kinds of comedy. Yeah. Whether I was... chiming in and saying something weird. Or I really liked the kind of long game of seeing a bit play out. I remember an art class when I was in seventh grade, way too old to be doing this.
The art tables were round, and that was, you know, I don't know, eight kids at each table or something, six kids at each table. And we were doing some project with yarn. And you know how art class is kind of chaotic and a little different vibe?
Yeah, it's not very structured. Yeah.
So I went underneath the table because nobody noticed anything. And I took a huge string of yarn and I wove it in between the other students shoelaces. And I tied all of their shoelaces together underneath the table. So that kind of long game, like plant a seed and wait and see how that plays out. I love that kind of thing. But my mother was very funny.
And she was, she was a very big personality, really, really known for being funny and wild. And then my stepfather was very, just very contained. And, you know, just such, but he was all... That was your parents? Yeah, my mom was the wild one, the wild and crazy one, and my dad was very conservative. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he was funny too, my stepfather. He was very dry.
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Chapter 5: Did Tig Notaro seek therapy during her challenging times?
Oh, it's everywhere in my head. I'm just like, and not just that. I, yes, I'm, it's, There's positive and negative of being 54 with two 8-year-olds. But I feel like... You know how you see when parents turn into grandparents, they become more chill and relaxed about things. And I feel like I got to be a parent at grandparent age. And I also...
am so thankful that Stephanie is my partner because she is so phenomenal. She is such a great mother and she really, um, the decisions that she makes and the ideas that she has, I'm like, well, Wow, I would have done that all wrong. I would have done that all wrong. Yeah, you look like you make a great team. Yeah, I'm like, I am the luckiest person that you could possibly, the luckiest.
Unlucky person.
Yeah, I like to say everything you've said resonates so much with me. First of all, it's heartwarming. Second of all, it all resonates with me because with my wife, it all falls apart. Then I am just the tickle monster of raising my children on Doritos and skipping school every third day because I can't wake up on time to take them.
Second of all, yeah, I think older, like I told my dad one time, I remember having this like touching conversation with my father, probably about two decades ago. We had a complicated relationship, like a lot of sons and fathers do, and daughters and fathers, quite frankly, and parents and children have, right? Yeah.
Complicated relationships with weird things that happened and misinterpretations and miscommunications. He comes from a different generation, and he wasn't the most loving. And I was creative, and I don't think he understood that. And I, like you, had a hard time in school, so I decided that wasn't my thing. He didn't appreciate that.
And I remember having this conversation in my 30s with him where I started talking to him in a car. And... for some reason I just felt the need to say to my dad, I want you to know that I love you for everything you are and everything you're not. And that, and I'm going to, this is going to give me chills. This is going to make me upset.
And he had to pull over the car because he also got teary eyed and said, I made so many mistakes and I'm so proud of who you became. It was like the first time I'd ever heard my father say that. And you can't, you can't anticipate that. That your children aren't going to feel the same way, but you can hope that you do it a little bit differently and better.
But one of the greatest joys of my entire life is watching my father be a grandparent to my kids because he is the father that... He is the father that I never had with my kids. And that's just incredible to watch that he gets it. He got it. He gets it, right? And so in being older, I think now I have softened, the edges have softened.
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