top of page

The Mother of Comedy:

How Tig aims to depict a maternal comedian

Comedian Tig Notaro released a comedy album, Live (2012), with the opening line, “Good evening, I have cancer.” Three years later, the documentary Tig (Kristina Goolsby and Ashley York 2015) was released chronicling the events leading up to Live. A review from Peter Debruge for Variety states that “anyone who’s heard Notaro’s Live album wants to know the details of what she went through, and Tig serves up the context” (Debruge). While the documentary does give context to the notorious album, I will argue that the goal of the film--through the specific footage footage included in Tig--is to show Notaro as a maternal figure.

 

From the minute the film starts, Notaro is shown exhibiting parental attributes. In the starting scenes, we see Notaro talking to her opening comedians, Sarah Silverman and Zach Galifianakis, in an extremely relaxed voice. Notaro and Silverman later have an interaction where Silverman asks Notaro how much time of stand-up she should do before Notaro starts her set. Notaro turns the question around and asks Silverman how much time she wants to do. Although Notaro is not talking to her actual children, there seems to be a mother/children-like relationship between her and her openers. Notaro is the headliner of the show, but she is putting her opener’s preferences above her own to ensure that they will also have a good set. Many mothers choose a similar approach to parenting with a child-centered mindset where they will prioritize their kid’s needs (Saldinger 2004). A study published by Social Psychological and Personality Science found this method of parenting leads to “greater meaning in life when engaged in child care activities” (Ashton-James 2013). With the film’s underlying motive to show Notaro as maternal, I believe the filmmaker specifically started the movie with this scene to show that Notaro naturally exhibits certain meaningful parenting styles.

(Tig 2012)

As the documentary continues, Notaro makes it very clear that she is dedicated to having children. She is shown trying to become pregnant before she was diagnosed with any of her ailments. After her cancer was treated, Notaro decided to keep trying to have kids. Doctors told her she would need to take hormones, and those hormones could cause her cancer to return in a form that can’t be treated. Despite the risk, she still decided to give it a try. This showed Notaro’s desire and commitment to having her own children. An article in the Journal of Family Practice cited that approximately 57% of pregnancies in the United States are classified as unwanted, and “unintended pregnancies that result in live births have been associated with inadequate prenatal care” (Fischer 1999). Based on this information, actually wanting to have a baby can lead parents to be more prepared and willing to adapt their lives around their children. Notaro even says in the documentary that she “wants her life to change.” The filmmakers focus at least a quarter of the documentary on Notaro’s aggressively deliberate attempts to have a child in order to highlight her natural maternal instincts.​

(Tig 2012)

The documentary makes a point to show how important family is to Notaro. Several montages of Notaro with her mother can be seen throughout the film with a voiceover of Notaro commenting on how important their relationship was to her. She is also shown with her extended family in Mississippi where she seems comfortable and happy when interacting with them. Towards the end of the film, Notaro’s partner, Stephanie Allynne, is shown meeting Notaro’s family for the first time. Allynne is shown laughing and bonding with Notaro’s family while commenting on how loving and accepting they are. While there is little mention of Notaro wanting children in these particular scenes, they set up the implication that she is able to provide a caring and extensive family. Child health expert C. Arden Miller, MD writes that “nurturing families provide the essential milieu for the favorable rearing of infants and children” (Miller 1992). In using these scenes throughout the movie, I think that the filmmakers are heightening Notaro’s maternal qualities by showing how passionate she is about maintaining strong family connections in order to create an environment where her potential children will feel loved.​

(Tig 2012 Notaro’s mother)

(Tig 2012 Notaro with family)

(Tig 2012 Allynne with Notaro’s family)

The end of the documentary shows Notaro and Allynne preparing for parenthood. The couple is shown at an adoption agency and then moving into a large house together. They talk idealistically about plans for their future family. Notaro and Allynne are shown as a highly functional couple in these scenes. They are shown collaborating well while moving into their new house. These scenes, along with previous scenes where Notaro and Allynne make jokes about how they want to “put little pants” on their future baby, make Notaro look like she can provide a supportive home life for a child. According to Dr. Paul R. Amato “a high level of support from parents has been shown to be associated with socially valued characteristics of young children” (Amato 1988). Based on this claim, the filmmakers were able to show more of Notaro’s parental qualifications by showing these scenes. These parts do give context to Notaro’s more recent living situation, but I feel they were purposely shown to further display her as a maternal figure.​

(Tig 2012)

(Tig 2012 Notaro: “this is where children are gunna go”)

Showing Notaro as maternal is a stark change from how many comedians are viewed. In his album, Hilarious (2011), Louis C.K. does a bit on how he feels no compassion for a child who is not his own. Notaro is shown as directly the opposite of this through scenes in the film of her instantly bonding with several children who are not hers. Many famous comedians are childless (see Kathy Griffin, Lewis Black), or joke about their own poor parenting skills (see Louis C.K., Joan Rivers). Showing Notaro’s motherly qualities displays a personality unique from other comedians.

(Tig 2012 Notaro with her niece)

(Tig 2012 Notaro with her child)

Works Cited

bottom of page