Tig Notaro: Happy To Be Here (2018) (2018)

May 24, 2018 6:35 AM

Comedian Tig Notaro performs a stand-up set at the historic Heights Theater in Houston.
posted by elsietheeel (17 comments total)

I watched it. I love Tig from way back and every new performance feels like a gift to me. Rarely have I laughed out loud this much while watching stand up and doing dishes.

The endless Indigo Girls joke... it never got old. I laughed through the whole thing. I kept thinking I would get sick of it, but no. Like the Stool Movement joke she used to do but with higher stakes and stretched further.

The Night-Night Ribbons got me as well. Nobody does dry humor like Tig!

Also, the image and her and Stephanie going up to Ellen and a bunch of celebrities and saying "We're bored" and walking away... so good. She is so good!
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:41 AM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

So, last year, my wife and I saw Notaro perform in Minneapolis. It was on the same tour as this special. The Mpls show was derailed about halfway through by a loud, persistent heckler who basically hijacked the evening. Notaro kind of masterfully leaned into the weirdness and created her own special, odd one-of-a-kind situation by managing the ongoing situation, and that was awesome to witness; but it did feel weird that we hadn't really seen the show that had been intended.

So it's pretty awesome to be able to watch this special and see the full set of material that we started to see.

And the Indigo Girls gag is in some ways a yearlong payoff to the setup version of it she did in the Minneapolis show.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 9:03 AM on May 24, 2018 [4 favorites]

We saw her last year also, and while we didn't have an actual heckler, there was a drunk (or just stupid/ridiculously oblivious?) couple sitting right behind us that weren't paying attention and were chit-chatting about whatever* at normal volume through almost the entire show. We were nowhere near the stage so it didn't affect Tig's performance at all, but it certainly affected our enjoyment of it...So I'll be delighted to be able to experience it without the random unrelated commentary!

* WHY WERE THEY THERE. THE TICKETS WERE LIKE $40.
posted by doctornecessiter at 9:15 AM on May 24, 2018 [3 favorites]

This was a fun show. My wife tired of the Indigo Girls gag midway through and muttered something about not liking Indigo Girls anyway, but when they played "Shame On You" she realized she had mistaken Indigo Girls for someone else (perhaps Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians?). I have more patience for the shaggy dog routines that actually have a surprising, funny payoff, like "and that's how a bill becomes law!" at the end of Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal's horsey dance, or the classic Simpsons rake gag.

Tig is really, really good at those long con jokes. I imagine they've gotta be a relief from the confessional work that brought her mainstream notice. I mean, honestly, I listened to a recent movie podcast with Tig as the guest, and the first fifteen minutes was her crying because she'd just gotten good news from her oncologist, when all she wanted to do was talk about the movie Mask. It's heartening to me to have someone who can be funny in spite of everything life can throw at someone, but it's even more heartening when they're just as funny during a respite—it says "yes, people can come through the other side of a shitstorm and still remain who they were when they entered."
posted by infinitewindow at 10:49 AM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

The endless indigo girls joke definitely made this special worth it (even if I had no interest in watching the indigo girls play).
posted by dis_integration at 12:37 PM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

I saw this tour in Ohio when I was deep in the depths of dissertation depression, and I don't know if I've ever laughed harder.
posted by ChuraChura at 6:37 PM on May 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

We watched this last night. We thought it was really sweet and funny. The stories about her home life were delightful. The Indigo Girls bit did go on a bit too long. In the end, I kind of felt the gag was filler as it seemed to take-up an inordinate part of the act. But, it was humorous filler, and it did pay-off eventually.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:29 AM on May 25, 2018

I saw the tour too, and in the months since will periodically think "Who here....." and laugh and laugh. She's so great.
posted by something something at 7:21 AM on May 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

So... can bees sting other bees?

I will never tire of that question.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:29 PM on May 25, 2018 [3 favorites]

"Car car?"
Our household is a Tig Positive household.
Her specials, "One Mississippi", everything, and as a long time Trek fan who loves the new ST: Discovery, I can't EVEN BELIEVE that she is going to be on that show.
SHE'S LIVING THE DREAM.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 12:36 PM on May 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

I really enjoyed this and in particular thought the stories about her home life were sweet & funny. My other half was sort of eh about a lot of it but couldn't stop laughing through the "who here..." Indigo Girls bit.

The first thing I ever saw of Tig Notaro's was that "no moleste" sketch which is still one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I love her tone of voice & I think I could listen to her talk about pretty much anything all day long.

It's heartening to me to have someone who can be funny in spite of everything life can throw at someone, but it's even more heartening when they're just as funny during a respite—it says "yes, people can come through the other side of a shitstorm and still remain who they were when they entered."

This struck me too - it's not that I don't want her to talk about hard stuff, but it's cool that she doesn't have to do confessional stuff all the time and that she can make silly jokes about "sex... with a baby" and just have fun with her show. Go Tig!
posted by the cat's pyjamas at 3:09 PM on May 26, 2018

Just wanted to let you all know I'll be going to bed in about 10 mins... soo...
posted by Crystalinne at 1:08 AM on May 27, 2018 [8 favorites]

We're bored.
posted by doctornecessiter at 9:50 AM on June 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Question for those who have seen this material live: is it always the Indigo Girls every time...And did they tour with her and perform at the end? My memory of our show in DC (with the frustrating Chatty-Kathys behind us clouding a lot of my memory) was that for us it was Bruno Mars, because when she mentioned Bruno Mars being in the circle of mega-famous people at Ellen's party, someone in our crowd cheered awkwardly so she latched onto it. Then sporadically for the rest of the show she would return to that bit...But I don't actually recall any chunk of that sustained length for the "is someone actually backstage waiting to come out?" thing.

(Neither the Indigo Girls nor Bruno Mars performed for us that night.)
posted by doctornecessiter at 11:38 AM on June 1, 2018

It was the Indigo Girls (and they did not emerge) when I saw the show in Ohio.
posted by ChuraChura at 12:23 PM on June 2, 2018

The Indigo Girls bit seemed so familiar and realized it was because I'd encountered it on the blue previously.
posted by paisley sheep at 1:34 PM on June 2, 2018

Question for those who have seen this material live: is it always the Indigo Girls every time...And did they tour with her and perform at the end?

Taylor Dane in Minneapolis, and she, alas, did not appear.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 1:39 PM on June 2, 2018 [2 favorites]