There are a number of elements that have Tig Notaro excited to return to the area, but above all else, she’s really just looking forward to being able to say hello to a Massachusetts crowd again.
Bringing her Hello Again tour to Medford on Friday (January 21), Notaro will open things back up for The Chevalier in 2022 as the first artist to take to the Forest St. stage in the new year. And while the “new year, new me” cliche isn’t in play, Notaro’s outlook on her comedy, and her life in general are refreshed – but by no means is that forced. To the comedy vet, it’s just natural.
“My perspective is always changing a little bit, just because I’m alive, but I think it’s still a pretty good mix of expected and unexpected,” Notaro tells Vanyaland. “It’s not like a whole new me is showing up. Just new stories of my personal life, family, ongoing medical stories that I find to be hilarious, and just observation of the world, without being heavy on the pandemic side of things in any stretch of the imagination. I don’t know if people want to escape the pandemic for an hour by listening to pandemic comedy. There’s a lot of nonsense in it, which brings me joy, and I’m just having a really good time doing this new material, and I’m genuinely excited to bring it to town.”
While it may not be an “all-new” Tig making her way to town, the Don’t Ask Tig and Tig and Cheryl: True Story podcast host is feeling a little different about her latest batch of material than that of the last decade or so. Although her widely-praised 2012 album Live told the story of her cancer diagnosis, and her subsequent efforts chronicled the experiences with her health challenges that followed, Notaro is finally feeling, with this new slate, the freedom to steer things in a less thematic or declarative direction — and that alone adds a completely new layer of excitement for the Mississippi native.
“For the past 10 years, I’ve felt like I’ve been crawling out of a hole of different health issues and trying to stabilize my life and get to a place with some element of security,” says Notaro. “I feel like, with this hour, it just feels very straightforward, without bringing along this aspect of needing to really proclaim anything or establish anything in terms of where I am. It’s just exactly where I am, and I don’t really know how to explain it, but it just feels like I’m on the road doing my latest stand-up, instead of maybe feeling connected to where I was 10 years ago.”
Yes, being able to get back to doing what she loves on the road amidst the pandemic is huge in her book, but another big part of Notaro’s excitement is the fact that she’s admittedly blown away by the response from her audience in terms of their eagerness to follow protocols in order to attend her shows. In fact, she feels a sense of pride towards it, knowing that her fans are more than willing to come together for something positive, and that’s making the venture back into the world all the more worth it.
“There’s really just nothing better than walking into a packed theater with brand new material, and there’s also something really exciting about people pulling together during this time and following the safety protocols to be present in the world and enjoy themselves when there’s so much to not enjoy about what’s going on right now,” says Notaro. “It just makes me extraordinarily appreciative each time I walk into a venue to have that added element of strangers pulling together for the greater good, so that layer makes it all the more exciting to me.”
TIG NOTARO: HELLO AGAIN :: Friday, January 21 at The Chevalier, 30 Forest St. in Medford :: 7 p.m. :: $35 to $60 :: Chevalier event page and ticket link