When I say something mildly embarrassing, I ruminate about it silently for the rest of my life. When Tig Notaro does it, she turns it into comic gold.
In 2023, Notaro toured with her new show Hello Again, which is now premiering as a special on Prime Video. The show collects bits Notaro has performed elsewhere, along with new material (at least, material I hadn’t seen yet), and it proves that she’s still comedy’s most lovable weirdo.
As in her previous shows, Notaro turns her comic eye on her own body, exploring her chronic health issues (Notaro is a cancer survivor). Sometimes, trying to find comedy in heavy subjects can backfire, but Notaro miraculously walks the line between laughs and relatability. What’s the upside of mysterious stomach pains in the middle of the night? Why, a rescue by a hot fireman who makes you question your sexuality! What happens when you get back pain? You find yourself scooting up and down a physical therapist’s hall while fans recognize you outside the windows! Notaro’s anecdotes aren’t just side-splitting comedy—they’re absurd and enthralling stories.
Notaro also knows exactly how far to push a joke. In a 2020 guest appearance on Conan, for example, she dragged a stool back and forth across the stage while offering meta-commentary on the number of laughs she was getting. And who can forget her Netflix special Happy To Be Here, when she strung the audience along for an agonizing—and brilliant—10 minutes with the promise that the Indigo Girls were about to join her onstage? Hello Again offers the same great comic timing, with a bit in which Notaro tries to get us to believe she’s secretly a virtuoso pianist.
Perhaps the most relatable bit, though, is Notaro’s story of how she once misheard Nicole Kidman’s comment about another actor’s height, and responded in a way that got her a roomful of confused stares. I think we’ve all fantasized about explaining to the world what we actually meant when something we said fell flat, and Notaro revels in bringing that fantasy to life.
Hello Again hits Prime Video on March 26.
(featured image: Prime Video)
