Tig Notaro finally gets to play the State Theatre
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t seemed like one minute I had interviewed Emmy- and Grammy-nominated comedian Tig Notaro about her show at the State Theatre, and the next COVID scuttled all our plans. Notaro is a well-known comic, podcaster (“Tig and Cheryl: True Story” and “Don’t Ask Tig”) and actor in films (“In a World,” “Army of the Dead”) and TV (“Community” and a recurring role on “Star Trek Discovery”). Notaro spoke to the Ithaca Times about COVID, her upcoming rescheduled show at the State, and the rather extraordinary circumstances surrounding her role in “Army of the Dead.” Notaro is performing at the State on May 26. For more info, visit stateofithaca.org. Ithaca Times: We had our first interview and then COVID shut us all down. Tig Notaro: Well, I started doing a couple of podcasts, and I shot a few movies and hung out with my family. I got a plant-based nutrition certification. That’s what I was doing. IT: How things get made has changed so much in the last two years. I have Blu-rays that have Zoom special features, and everyone’s masked up. What’s that shift been like? TN: It wasn’t fun, to say the least. But it did feel exciting to be able to get out and figure out how to make things work after being home for so long. I mean, it was hard, it was challenging, but also, I think that we felt thankful for being able to work. IT: Your plan was to bring [your wife] Stephanie and check out Ithaca as a possible new home, so I assume COVID paused all that. TN: Yeah, it did get paused. We’re still eyeing upstate New York, but yeah. Everything’s been pretty paused. IT: I hate asking comics to tell me their jokes, but can you talk about the set you’ll be doing at the State? TNL Well, it’s gonna be a mix of just family, stories about my kids and my wife. Health issues. A lot of nonsense swirled in there. Observations of life. But no specifics that I’m going to divulge. IT: Are you bringing anyone to open for you? TN: Nope, it’ll just be me, and I do about an hour and 20. Sometimes an hour and 30.
IT: I’m not the biggest Zack Snyder fan, but I really loved “Army of the Dead,” and I thought you stole it. TN: Thank you. It was really fun. IT: There’s something about your specific deadpan style being dropped into what Snyder does. TN: [Laughs] Yeah, I guess none of us knew what was gonna happen, green-screening me into an action film. I guess it seems to have worked out all right. They got the Oscar fan favorite this year, but I really, really loved it. Zack and I connected on a personal level, I think because when I went in and reshot those
Tig Notaro will perform at the State Theatre on May 26. (Photo: Provided)
MAY 25–31, 2022
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ABOUT TIME
scenes, it was just such a scaled-down experience. I had a much different time than most people had, not just shooting that movie, but any movie. [Laughs] All on a green screen. IT: I never would have believed it. It looks like you were right there with the other actors. TN: You didn’t know that? You didn’t know that I was filmed [separately]? IT: I thought you were on a rooftop with your helicopter. TN: Right. Well, the comedian Chris D’Elia was originally booked for that role, and then he got in trouble; he was asking out teenage girls on Twitter and stuff. So when Zack was editing the movie, he thought, “I can’t release this movie with this guy in it.” And so they erased Chris D’Elia from the movie and then brought me in, maybe a year after they finished filming, and green-screened me into the movie, so I wasn’t acting with anyone.
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