What Makes Tig Notaro Tick?

Stand-up comedian Tig Notaro made headlines in 2012 when she stepped on stage for a sold-out show and started her set by saying, “Hi, I have cancer, thanks for coming, I have cancer.” Following that career-defining performance, Notaro became somewhat of a comedy legend for her unabashed transparency mixed with impeccable deadpan delivery. Shortly after her diagnosis, she received a double mastectomy with no reconstruction, later stating that “I made so many jokes over the years about how small my chest was that I started to think that maybe my boobs overheard me and were just like, ‘We’re sick of this. Let’s kill her.’”

For Notaro, it’s comedy that’s been the throughline for channeling life’s hardships into poignancy, providing a unique platform to help make sense of it all, while bringing her millions of fans along for, an Amazon Prime series loosely based on her experiences. When the double mastectomy left her with no nipples, Notaro figured the best way to deal with it was to bear all—literally removing her shirt—during yet another career-defining stage performance.