Tig Notaro, Gilded Balloon - comedy review

American comedian Tig Notaro's UK debut show was comedy at its finest, with twists, turns and playful multiple endings. If the terrain was potentially mundane the delivery, relaxed yet pin-point precise, made her compelling
20 August 2013

Tig Notaro joked at the start of her UK debut that she thinks there is a horse in her house that eats her hair. But most of the audience were wondering not about horses but about elephants in the room.

The American comedian is famous for talking about her breast cancer onstage. A recording of the 2012 gig in which she first tackled the subject has become a bestseller. The topic soon popped up, as Notaro, a skinny 42-year-old wearing jeans and hoodie and now in remission, wondered if her breasts became cancerous as revenge for her making jokes about being flat-chested.

Elephant addressed to huge, relieved laughs, she moved on to the meat of Boyish Girl Interrupted, an hour of sublime stand-up deconstruction as she dissected the vicissitudes of her vocation, from irksome agents to misguided Las Vegas residencies.

There was nothing misguided here, though. If the terrain was potentially mundane the delivery, relaxed yet pin-point precise, made her compelling.

This was comedy at its finest, with twists, turns and playful multiple endings. It was probably more scripted than it seemed but it takes lots of skill to appear this spontaneous.

As if to confirm her comedic supremacy, the closing routine simply involved pushing a stool around to see, Stewart Lee-style, how many laughs it prompted.

To some she was pushing her luck as well as furniture, yet a mix of charm and cheek made it work. Not as radical as her double mastectomy material but almost as unforgettable.

Until Sunday (0131 226 0000, edfringe.com)

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT