I slept late on Thursday morning and couldn’t find my motivation to get dressed. While enjoying my breakfast of Purely Elizabeth blueberry lemon oatmeal, I watched part of comic Tig Notaro’s standup special, “Tig Notaro: Boyish Girl Interrupted.”
Tig is one of my favorite comics. Her quirky timing along with her charming, not quite deadpan delivery, always has me in stitches. I’d never actually watched this special, though, and was totally unprepared to see her slender form dressed only in blue jeans, her top having been discarded at a point prior to my tuning into the program.
Tig is a breast cancer survivor, and I don’t think I knew that until I saw her bare chested on the television. Was I shocked? Yes. Women don’t just bare their chests, even chests without breasts, on television. Right? Well, apparently Tig does.
At first I had a difficult time watching the special. It’s like I didn’t know where to look. Didn’t she know her shirtless appearance would cause discomfort among some viewers? “Holy cow, lady, put your top back on,” I thought in a really loud internal voice.
But then I forgot to be uncomfortable. And I began to cheer her bravery in the midst of her comedy. What a badass.
Now I need to see the special from the beginning. I imagine the reactions of her audience as she first removes her button down shirt. There’ll most likely be some gasps. People won’t know where to look. But me? I’ll be cool with it. I’ll tell those uncomfortable folks to just chill. Tig’s got a point to make and you’re going to want to be looking when she makes it.
Peace, people.
Praying for Eyebrowz 