Beloved comedian Tig Notaro’s first foray into stand-up on the road wasn’t just a bomb—it was a full-on disaster, complete with a car crash. The out entertainer shared the unforgettable story of her first road gig during a recent appearance on the SmartLess podcast, hosted by Sean Hayes, Will Arnett, and Jason Bateman.
The tale begins with Tig, fresh off her warm reception in Los Angeles’ hip comedy rooms, booking her first gig at a club in a strip mall in Denver. The now-defunct venue, Wits End, was a far cry from LA. The club provided a vehicle—”a station wagon from the ’70s that had clowns painted on it”—for comedians to use to get to and from their lodging. If there’s any silver lining to be found in this story, it’s the fact that Tig opted to use a friend’s car, instead.
Related: 5 Queer Comedy Specials From 2024 To Stream Right Now This Very Second
“I bombed. This is my first road gig. I bombed the entire weekend,” Tig recalled. Before her second show on either Friday or Saturday night—we can’t fault her for forgetting some of the finer details—Tig overheard the venue owner asking about an “emergency fill-in comedian.” Naturally, she thought something terrible must have happened to the original comic.
But it turned out the fill-in was for none other than Tig herself. “He walks up to me and gives me my check and fires me,” Tig said. “It was so mortifying.”
The indignity didn’t stop there. Tig stepped outside to face her friends waiting in line to see her perform. “I was just fired. My comedy was so bad, it caused an emergency,” she told them.
As if the situation couldn’t get worse, Tig proceeded to make a not-so-graceful exit from the club’s icy parking lot. “I [get in the car], and I drive off, hit an ice patch, spin out of control [like] in a cartoon,” she recalled with a laugh.
Related: Tig Notaro Admits She’s Really Bad At ‘Wheel Of Fortune’
Thankfully, Tig made it through the spinout unscathed, but she couldn’t help but imagine the alternative. “What if I had used [the club’s] car?” she mused. “Their car was a station wagon from the ’70s that had clowns painted on it that said, ‘Follow me to Witz and Comedy Club.’ If I had died in that moment, wrapped around a light post…”
Since that rocky gig some thirty years ago, Tig has become one of the most respected comedians in the industry. Her latest comedy special, Hello Again, premiered last year on Amazon Prime, and it was directed by none other than her wife, Stephanie Allynne.
Tig’s career might have gotten off to a rocky start, but as she keeps making audiences laugh, she’s shown that even the toughest gigs can lead to an unforgettable journey.
