With the jock jam “Get Ready for This” blaring, Tig Notaro ambles on stage at Toronto’s Comedy Bar. The song’s bombastic energy is an absurd contrast to the comedian’s understated style, which she emphasizes by re-enacting her entrance while singing the tune. The bit earns the first laugh in what will be a gleeful night of nearly non-stop hysterics from a hyped-up crowd.
Since August, Notaro has workshopped new material in Toronto during breaks from filming her role as Commander Jett Reno on the upcoming “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” after playing the same part in “Star Trek: Discovery.” Her character’s sarcastic quips align so well with Notaro’s humour that many fans falsely believe she writes her own lines.
“It’s not a stretch,” she says, laughing. “I always tell people I’m a version of myself in everything I do.” When asked about the most surreal aspect of being in the “Star Trek” universe, she deadpans, “That I’m in the ‘Star Trek’ universe.”
Her dry and laconic brand of anecdotal comedy is on full display on her recent Prime Video special, “Hello Again,” directed by Stephanie Allynne, Notaro’s wife, with whom she shares twin sons.
“Working with Stephanie was the greatest feeling,” she says. “We elevate each other nicely and have similar sensibilities.” The couple have collaborated so often, Notaro says, that working together feels like second nature.
“I trust her, obviously, with my life, our children, and in work she has the best ideas and taste,” Notaro says, before proudly sharing that Allynne received an Emmy nomination for directing “Hello Again.”
Filmed in Brooklyn, N.Y., the special features awkward moments, hallucinatory text messages, health scares leading to shocking personal discoveries, and the everyday embarrassments of parenthood. The city of Toronto makes an appearance when Notaro’s faulty hearing has her behaving bizarrely while interacting with airport personnel.
In June, Notaro was among 100 comedians invited to Rome to meet Pope Francis. She initially declined the invitation thinking it was spam but changed her mind after running into Jim Gaffigan at the Emmys. “He told me other people were going, and when I heard names like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Sedaris, Conan O’Brien and Stephen Colbert, I thought, ‘OK, I’ll be all right.’”
The experience, she says, was like being at camp. “It was such a joy being with some of the most hilarious people walking the planet, walking through the Vatican and meeting the Pope,” she says. “It was like kids in class making jokes, whispering, and saying inappropriate things.” Notaro revelled in being surrounded by her peers, especially O’Brien who she thinks is “the funniest person.”
Long before achieving success, the Mississippi-born Notaro struggled in high school, failing three grades before dropping out and earning a General Equivalency Diploma. Her GED — which was partially eaten by her cat — now sits in a wooden frame in her home office. “(The diploma) basically means that I did what my parents told me to do, what they put importance in,” she says. “It also gives me confidence in myself, that I followed my instincts and my own path.”
The worst time in Notaro’s life was paradoxically the launching pad for the best time in her career. Within four months in 2012, she first contracted pneumonia, which led to a potentially fatal intestinal infection. Barely out of hospital, she learned her mother was in an irreversible coma after a bad fall. Physically ill and reeling from grief, Notaro then received the diagnosis that would forever alter her life, her career, and her body: Stage 2 bilateral breast cancer, with an invasive tumour in her left breast. If that wasn’t enough, before receiving the diagnosis she had broken up with her girlfriend. But Notaro credits her former flame for urging her to seek medical attention. Her 2016 Prime Video series, “One Mississippi,” is a semi-autobiographical version of this period.
Four days after her diagnosis, Notaro opened her show at the Los Angeles nightclub Largo by saying, “Hello. I have cancer.” The instantly legendary set was released as “Live” (as in to survive) and became the bestselling comedy album of 2012, earning the comedian her first Grammy nomination. Her second Grammy nod came in 2017 for her special “Boyish Girl Interrupted,” in which Notaro, who’d had a double mastectomy with no reconstructive surgery, performed topless as a statement about her cancer journey.
Notaro refers to “Live” as the “skeleton of who she was after her breast cancer diagnosis”; her 2015 documentary, “TIG,” as the “organs”; and her 2012 memoir, “I’m Just a Person,” as the “meat.” When asked what the “skin” is, she says, “I guess comedy is always the protective layer, and my family and friends are so protective of me.”
She safeguards her health by following a vegan diet that helps manage her chronic pain. Notaro also keeps herself busy by growing as a performer. On the Apple TV+ series “The Morning Show” she plays Amanda Robinson, the chief of staff to Paul Marks (Jon Hamm); the ensemble cast received a 2024 Screen Actors Guild nomination. And she co-hosts the podcast “Handsome” with comedians Fortune Feimster and Toronto’s own Mae Martin.
The Comedy Bar audience’s love for the disarming comedian is undeniable. But the love isn’t one-sided. Notaro’s grateful for the friendly and welcoming crowds — what she refers to as “the Canadian way.” She looks forward to adding more shows to her residency and encourages fans to check the Comedy Bar’s website for updates.
“It’s nice because the way that I work on my comedy is just to go on stage and work it out,” she says. Notaro follows her instincts, testing ideas while remaining open to what might happen on any given night. Of Toronto audiences, she says, “They’re completely along for the ride.”
Toronto Black Book
Tig Notaro shares some of her favourite spots in the city.
Comedy venue (not called the Comedy Bar)
Danforth Music Hall, 147 Danforth Ave.
“I’m not really aware of the comedy clubs in town aside from Comedy Bar but I love the Danforth Music Hall, a really great room I typically do when I come through on tour.”
“Glad Day: so well curated and just a great vibe.”
“Planta all the way. Love their kelp Caesar salad and spicy ‘tuna’ rolls.”
