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Tig Notaro’s Hello Again Is Hilarious, Even Though It Doesn’t Stick the Landing

By Clare Martin  |  March 27, 2024 | 2:06pm
Photo by Emilio Madrid, courtesy of Prime Video
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Tig Notaro’s Hello Again Is Hilarious, Even Though It Doesn’t Stick the Landing
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Tig Notaro’s dry, almost monotone delivery perfectly matches her self-effacing humor. Over the course of her new Brooklyn-taped hour Hello Again, Notaro is nearly always the butt of the joke. Sometimes she’s being shrugged off by one of her seven-year-old sons, mishearing an anecdote from Reese Witherspoon, or hallucinating tractors post-surgery, but no matter what, she’s making us laugh. 

Notaro’s exquisite storytelling has always been her best strength, and it continues to be in this new special. It helps that she has such strange tales to tell, and her pacing and ease on stage heighten her set. Her analysis of life’s everyday quirks makes for excellent comedy: her son’s middle-of-the-night questions prompt a possible lifestyle change, and a medical practitioner’s confused hand gesture becomes a sign of good intent. Whatever life sends her way, Notaro can and will make it funny. 

As droll as Notaro can be, though, there are some welcome moments of whimsy in Hello Again that stand out as definite highlights of the special. At one point, Notaro’s imagination takes us on a journey where a 911 call turns into her leaving her wife and kids for a completely different life—I won’t spoil anything, but her word choice and flights of fancy here are simply hilarious. 

Speaking of Notaro’s spouse, Stephanie Allynne directs the special, and her attention to detail here is key in ensuring that jokes land. Notaro’s subtle yet effective facial expressions really sell certain punchlines, and their impact would be lost in a wider shot, but thankfully Allynne fills most of the specials with close-ups. That said, Notaro also goes a bit broader with her physical comedy in Hello Again than in previous hours, though not cartoonishly so (certainly not as animated as her literal animated special Drawn from 2021). The juxtaposition here—the notoriously deadpan comic squatting and slowly crab walking across the stage—makes these jokes all the funnier. 

Overall, this is a solid special that will please Notaro fans, though the closing bit is a let down. A large piano is wheeled on stage, and Notaro announces that she can’t sing or play the instrument as she sits down to tickle the ivories. She vamps and vamps until the punchline, but it doesn’t pay off. The joke would be funnier if it hadn’t already been done nearly 10 years ago (and better) on H. Jon Benjamin’s sidesplitting 2015 album Well, I Should Have…, which features the Bob’s Burgers actor attempting some jazz piano. It feels like Notaro ran out of material and crafted the piano bit as a time filler, and it ends up dragging down an otherwise enjoyable special.

Despite ending on a lackluster note, Hello Again is another entertaining hour from one of the best comics around.

Tig Notaro’s new special Hello Again is now streaming on Prime.

Clare Martin is a cemetery enthusiast and Paste’s assistant comedy editor. Go harass her on Twitter @theclaremartin.

 
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