Mississippi Quote of the Day: Tig Notaro's First On-Stage Joke

For actor-comedian Tig Notaro, 2012 was not a very good year. That February, she contracted pneumonia, followed by an intestinal disease that caused her to lose a half pound every day. When her mother died that March, it seemed like things couldn’t get much worse. Then, she was diagnosed with breast cancer that July.
Notaro, a native of Jackson, Miss., who spent her early childhood in Pass Christian before moving to Texas, has survived it all. More recently, she has rediscovered her Deep South roots with a popular TV show, “One Mississippi,” on Amazon Prime. Set in the fictional Gulf Coast town of Bay St. Lucille, the semi-autobiographical series earned a 100% Fresh rating on RottenTomatoes.com for its second season.

Notaro, like most comedians, has always mined her personal misery for laughs, including the first joke she ever told on stage:
“My name’s Tig. A lot of people have trouble understanding it, especially over the phone. I was on this call with this guy, and he goes, ‘All right. I don’t feel comfortable calling you this, but I’ll see you tonight, Pig.’ I was like, ‘Oh, to tell you the truth, I don’t feel real comfortable with you calling me a pig, either, because my name’s Tig,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, that’s what I said, Pig,’ and I said, ‘No, it’s Tig with a T,’ and he said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Tit,’ and eventually I said, ‘Yeah, that’s right. It’s Pig Tit.’ ”

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Rick Hynum is editor-in-chief of HottyToddy.com. Email him at rick.hynum@hottytoddy.com.