Tig Notaro Shares Her Favorite Jokes

Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman, and you're listening to Science Versus.

And today on the show, we have a special little treat for you.

So, last week, we went on our grand adventure to find the funniest joke in the world.

And as part of that quest, I interviewed comedian Tig Nataro, who has just released her fifth comedy special, which is called Hello Again.

And Tig and I had such a silly and lovely conversation that we just thought we'd share the whole thing with you.

Tig and I talked about how excited she was when she first realized that being a comic was a profession.

She told me how she builds her jokes, which honestly was not what I expected at all from a professional comic.

And of course, we shared a bunch of fabulous and really stupid jokes.

I really hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I enjoyed chatting to Tig.

There's going to be a couple of spoilers in this interview, by the way.

So if you haven't listened to our episode on the funniest joke in the world, you should really go back and do that.

Okay.

My chat with TigNotaro coming up after the break.

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My name is Tignotaro.

I am a comedian, an actor, and podcaster.

So I've heard you say that when you started doing comedy, you sort of were like, oh my God, I'm a comedian, and no one ever told me.

What is it about comedy that gave you that feeling?

That like, I'm home now?

I mean, I just,

I think I felt

like such an outsider in

school and in life in so many different ways.

And then it was amazing to

realize that there was a name for what I was doing in class and life that was.

driving people crazy or getting me in trouble or whatever it was.

Yeah, I remember my neighbor telling me that her mother thought I could be a comedian.

And I was like, oh,

okay.

You know, and it's weird now to be one and think back like

all my days in school.

That was, that was my early training.

Yeah.

Right.

And you were getting in trouble for it and everything.

Now you can get paid.

You've like that realization, I can get paid to do this.

That's wild.

It just feels,

you know, it just

feels good.

So tell me, so we're a science show and we're talking about the science of humor under this like ridiculous guise of we're on a hunt to find the funniest joke in the world,

objectively.

So on this quest, we're interviewing some of the funniest people we know about how they build jokes.

So for you, I've heard you say that you build a joke by just like based on a word, on a single word?

Yeah, I guess

it's either a single word or a sentence or phrase or something uh an idea a concept because I don't sit behind a computer and write out my material I just take a list of ideas onto stage with me and then I work them out right there in front of a live audience oh really yeah yeah so can you give me an example

let's see I was

on my new special, I have this story about having a medical issue come up and my wife calling 911 and a fireman showing up at the door.

And I couldn't walk because I was in so much pain.

And he scooped me up

in those big, strong arms.

And I was like,

I could get used to this.

Bada bing, bada boom.

Right then,

I thought, oh,

I get it now.

If you think you're shocked, how do you think I felt?

That is not my typical type.

And it was just really riding on a napkin, Fireman, and going on on stage and just telling the story.

And of course, there's many audiences that got to hear me fumble through this story and find the punchlines and the structure of the

incident.

But

that's what makes comedy fun to me is that uncertainty.

And I've been doing stand-up for about 28 years now.

So

I feel very comfortable on stage, but

I also

need certain things to kind of make it fun and exciting for me.

And that's one of those things that continues to make it fun and scary and exciting.

And I always describe it as like a fight or flight

response that I have where these punchlines come out because the story is there.

It's real.

I'm not making up these things.

Is it real?

Because I don't remember.

I've been watching a lot of your comedy.

And I think I've heard one of these.

You weren't fumbling through it.

So I guess by the time I heard it,

it was polished.

So it actually happened, that story, parts of it or all of it?

Oh, yeah, the whole thing.

I mean, basically, everything I'm saying on stage is true.

It's just,

you know, there's comedic twists and punchlines to real moments, but I'm not like creating this

fake story of a fireman carrying me out.

Like, I'm not,

to me, I'm like, I'm, I'm not, I'm not that good of a comedian to make up all of these intricate stories.

I, you know, I'm just, I'm just telling you this happened.

Yeah, that's what happened.

That's amazing.

And you're working through the crowd.

You're not sitting there with a, with a paper and pen writing out like, oh, this would be a funny turn.

This, it's all with the crowd.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, I might record my show.

on my phone and then go back and listen to it and and recognize these moments that

the reaction is way more heightened.

And then I'll think, oh, okay, I'll go back and say that again.

And then sometimes I'll go say it again and it doesn't, you know, explode in the way that it did the first time.

And then I'm left thinking, okay, do I move on or do I try it again?

And I always feel like it's a good thing to try something at least three times to see if it was just an off night or maybe my delivery,

pacing was off somehow.

Sometimes it's as simple as a single word that you just have to change out and then it is solid.

Interesting.

Tell me about this because there's this, in the scientific literature, there are some very dry but inherently funny papers that are trying to find like funny words.

Like what is a so when you say like you're switching out a word,

that's that's amazing that just that can turn it on a dime, that then people laugh all of a sudden.

Well, yeah, even aside from stand-up, I have a podcast.

And in one of the episodes,

one of my co-hosts just casually mentioned that there was a bulbous frog.

Um, in, in, I don't even remember the story.

I was so,

so

bothered by the word bulbous.

And I couldn't move on.

I said, I'm sorry, we have to go back.

What do you, what do you mean a bulbous frog?

Please, Also, the delivery

of this word, it kept like, yes, and the bulbous frog, and it was so bulbous.

And I was like, stop saying that word.

Like, it made me sick to my stomach, but I also recognized it as a funny word.

When I hadn't really thought about the word as being funny, but when it this frog kept being described as bulbous,

it just switched the vibe of this story immediately.

And I think it's just an extra sense that you develop as

a comedian, a writer,

performer, whatever it is, where you're like, oh, yeah, this is, I feel like there's something here with this word.

And then, so there are these like, these theories of humor.

Do you think about it like, you know, surprise is when, you know, there needs to be some element of surprise.

Or some academics say, you know, you need some incongruity.

Like the audience thinks you're going one way, but then you take them in another direction.

Are you thinking about things like that?

Oh, if they, if they guess the punchline, then there's no surprise.

We have no joke here.

Or it's really just more filling out the room for you.

Yeah.

I mean, I had a joke years ago.

I certainly think the element of surprise is

hand in hand with comedy, but I also think that

That's what is so fun and surprising about comedy is sometimes the thing that you think is going to be obvious or that you're going to need need to be surprised about.

You're still amused.

And I had a joke when I first started doing comedy about: are you familiar with Safety Man?

No.

It's an inflatable man.

Safety Man is a funny word in Harry.

Yeah.

And even more ridiculous when you realize what it is.

And

he comes in a...

in a tote bag.

You open the tote bag and you inflate

a full-size man to put in your car for safety reasons or in your house or something like that.

So that people.

Oh, so it's like home alone.

It'll be like a, so you can feel like

burglars will think there's a man in your car.

And so when I used to talk about safety man, I would talk about how,

you know,

the person that is planning to rob or attack you will probably be more scared off when they see you pull this bag out and blow a man up to size.

The person hiding in the bushes is going to be like, we're going to let this one go.

And whenever I would tell that story, oftentimes I got the feedback where people would say, I knew what was coming, but when you walked us through the process,

I was still laughing uncontrollably.

And I always felt that with the audience where I thought they know they can picture exactly where it's going.

And they, nobody is like, oh, that ruined everything.

It's equally as amusing, I guess, when you're along for the entire ride.

Yeah.

And with Safety Man right there with you.

Yeah, exactly.

Wow, they don't sell Safety Man anymore, right?

He hasn't made it.

No,

I looked him up and there's vintage Safety Man.

like I think you can go on eBay and stuff like that and there's like old safety man

things you can buy but it's like who's put their mouth on that you know

oh yeah because you're supposed to sit there blowing it up yourself

yeah yeah yeah

after the break tick shares some of her favorite jokes with us they are so fabulously silly you're just gonna stick around for them

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Hi, welcome back.

Today we're sharing my interview with comedian Tig Notaro, who I interviewed for our episode on the funniest joke in the world.

If you haven't heard that episode, stop right now and go back and listen.

because there's about to be a huge spoiler in it.

Because I am about to tell Tig which joke won this big science experiment to find the funniest joke in the world.

So do you, so there was this big competition.

Yeah.

Like, so 20, so I came up with this stupid pitch.

We're going to find the, or this incredible pitch to find the funniest joke in the world.

And then I realized 20 years ago, some academics in the UK actually tried to do an experiment to find the funniest joke in the world.

Thousands of people voted from around the world.

Do you want to hear the joke?

I I would love to.

Okay, and I want your thoughts.

I want your thoughts on that.

It better be one of mine.

All right.

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses.

He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed.

The other guy whips out his phone, calls for emergency services.

He gasps, My friend is dead.

What can I do?

And the operator says, Calm down.

I can help.

Let's first make sure that he's dead.

There's a silence.

Then a shot is heard.

Bang.

Back on the phone, the guy says, okay, so now what?

Saw it coming.

Still found it amusing.

It's not what your audio thoughts were.

Well, it actually reminds me of one of my favorite,

I don't know, they call them pedestrian jokes like this.

Come here.

Where a couple is in bed,

middle of the night,

and somebody knocks on the door, and the husband gets up, goes to the door, and then comes back, gets in bed.

And his wife said, Who was that?

And he said, Was some stranger who wanted me to help him.

He wanted me to give him a push.

And she said, And what did you say?

And he said, I said, No.

And she said, Well, what if we were, you know, in need of a push?

And I think you should help this person.

And he was like, Okay, fine.

And he gets dressed.

He goes out to the door, opens it, and yells into the darkness.

And he says, says, Hey, are you still there?

And the guy off in the distance yells, yeah.

And he said, Do you still need a push?

And he said, Yes.

And he said, Where are you?

And he said, I'm over here on the swing.

It's so dumb, but I think it's so funny.

Is that your entry into the world's funniest joy?

That is.

That is one of those jokes I share all the time with people.

Is it really?

I promise you.

There's also, I don't even know who this comedian was, but when I first started in stand-up, I remember going to a club.

Basically, all these shark attacks happen close to shore.

And he's like, well, that's where all the people is.

I remember him saying that.

And I was like, oh, yeah, that's, it's funny, but I guess it's also just factual.

So what do you think it is?

That's right.

Because there's nothing surprising about that.

Is it like the shock of recognition that makes us laugh?

Like, is that what's funny?

I think there's things that you know subconsciously or you just take for granted in your life.

And then when somebody stops and points things out that you, that you've been surrounded by day in and day out for decades and you just didn't even think about it.

Or maybe something amused you

in the back of your mind, but you just, it just didn't, just didn't register.

And then a comedian goes on stage and just walks you through the ridiculousness, and you're like,

right.

How did I not see that?

It is one of the greatest feelings, I think, about comedy.

When somebody points out what's under your nose forever.

Yeah.

Do you want to hear?

So I've been like watching a lot of comedy and like reading a lot of comedy books and blah, blah, blah.

So, a joke that I think is better, we've just got to beat the hunter joke.

That's all I have to do, and then I still get paid.

You know what I mean?

Like, that's what the scientists found.

I think the swing beats the hunter joke, right?

Like, it's a funnier joke already.

I think so.

I mean, I'm not going to stop telling it.

I think so.

Okay.

So, what was number one for me

was

two monkeys are sitting in a bath.

One monkey says,

and the other says, we'll put the cold tap on then.

That's good.

That's good.

You know, I have to say,

I don't know how, is this show

PG?

You can be rude.

You can be rude.

I feel like this, I feel like this is across the board.

Everybody is amused by this joke.

And maybe you've heard it since you've been studying.

Tell me, tell me this joke.

Let me think.

How does it go?

It's very simple.

What is worse than performing oral sex on Willie Nelson?

What is worse than performing oral sex to Willie Nelson?

Is hearing, I'm not Willie Nelson.

After all is said and done, that's what you hear.

I'm not Willie Nelson.

That might be the best joke.

That's your new entry.

Yeah, that's

really good.

It'd be so bad.

It'd be so bad.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

And God, I mean, I love Willie Nelson.

I love that man.

And he's an attractive man, but you've got to picture

when you, when you say you've got to picture that Willie.

You've got to picture that Willie.

But also, you know, just like

somebody in their 90s, I guess, with long braided hair

and a bandana on their head.

Like it, and they're not Willie Nelson.

It's it's rough times.

Well,

what a perfect way to end.

We found it.

We found it.

I think we did it.

Yeah, I think your job is done.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for having me.

That was my interview with comedian Tig Nataro.

If you haven't heard our episode on the funniest joke in the world, go back and do that.

What are you doing with your lives?

Tig's podcast is called Handsome.

Go check it out.

And we will be back in your ears in just a couple of days with a classic sides versus episode.

Please let us know what you thought of this app.

Do you want to hear more of these kinds of interviews?

Get an insight into how we build our show?

Let us know.

We're over on Instagram at science underscore BS, or you can find me on TikTok at Wendy Zuckerman.

I'm Wendy Zuckerman.

Back to you next time.