I'm using this interview as an excuse to post about Tig Notaro. I got a Email tonight from Louis CK because we're buddies...and I bought something from the fat idiot once. Anyways it was about Tig Notaro and a special of hers, in fact a very special Special called "Live" (as in Live Forever, not Live like Saturday Night Live) that Louis CK is selling on his website for $5. How about I just leave the Email here for you guys...
"Greetings to the people and parts of people that are reading this. Hi. This is Louis. I'm a comedian and you bought a thing from me. Well, I'm writing to tell You that there is a new thing you can buy on my website louisck.com. It's an audio standup set by not me but another comedian named Tig Notaro. Why am I selling someone else's comedy on my website?
Well, Tig is a friend of mine and she is very funny. I love her voice on stage. One night I was performing at a club in LA called Largo. Tig was there. She was about to go on stage. I hadn't seen Tig in about a year and I said how are you? She replied "well I found out today that I have cancer in both breasts and that it has likely spread to my lymph nodes. My doctor says it looks real bad. ". She wasn't kidding. I said "uh. Jesus. Tig. Well. Do you... Have your family... Helping?". She said "well my mom was with me but a few weeks ago she fell down, hit her head and she died". She still wasn't kidding.
Now, I'm pretty stupid to begin with, and I sure didn't know what to say now. I opened my mouth and this came out. "jeez, Tig. I. Really value you. Highly.". She said "I value you highly too, Louie.". Then she held up a wad of note-paper in her hand and said "I'm gonna talk about all of it on stage now. It's probably going to be a mess". I said "wow". And with that, she went on stage.
I stood in the wings behind a leg of curtain, about 8 feet from her, and watched her tell a stunned audience "hi. I have cancer. Just found out today. I'm going to die soon". What followed was one of the greatest standup performances I ever saw. I can't really describe it but I was crying and laughing and listening like never in my life. Here was this small woman standing alone against death and simply reporting where her mind had been and what had happened and employing her gorgeously acute standup voice to her own death.
The show was an amazing example of what comedy can be. A way to visit your worst fears and laugh at them. Tig took us to a scary place and made us laugh there. Not by distracting us from the terror but by looking right at it and just turning to us and saying "wow. Right?". She proved that everything is funny. And has to be. And she could only do this by giving us her own death as an example. So generous.
After her set, I asked Mark Flanagan, the owner of Largo (great club, by the way) if he recorded the set. Largo is set up for excellent recordings. He said that he did.
A few days later, I wrote Tig and asked her if I could release this set on my site. I wanted people to hear what I saw. What we all saw that night. She agreed. The show is on sale for the same 5 dollars I charge for my stuff. I'm only keeping 1. She gets the other 4. Tig has decided to give some of that to cancer research.
Tig, by the way, has since undergone a double mastectomy. She is doing well. Her doctors say her chances of survival are excellent. So she went there and came back. Her report from the frontlines of life and death are here for you to... Enjoy."
Please Please Please if you can spare it, do something great against Cancer for this October Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Go to
https://buy.louisck.net/product/tig-notaro-live and buy this stand up Audio performance that Louis CK personally endorses as Freaking Awesome and it's Only $5. Thank you.
22 Comments
eric3579*promote
siftbotPromoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Friday, October 5th, 2012 8:03pm PDT - promote requested by eric3579.
BoneRemakeThe uploader is a fucking asshole.
*blocked
" uploader not available in your country up your ass youtube "
What are these youtube borders about again? sure enough it boils down to money. Why can I not watch it though ? licensing ?
siftbotThis video has been flagged as having an embed that is Region Blocked to not function in certain geographical locations - declared blocked by BoneRemake.
Boise_LibWow...just, wow.
seltarnot blocked on teamcoco's site http://teamcoco.com/video/tig-notaro-interview-09-20-12
MilkmanDansays...That's cool and moving.
...One question: In the description / message from Louis CK I read "The show is on sale for the same 5 dollars I charge for my stuff. I'm only keeping 1. She gets the other 4."
Obviously I don't know the full story, but that strikes me as a bit off. Why not give all of it to Tig? Barring that, why not withhold any costs associated with hosting the files for download and/or manufacturing CDs or whatever and give Tig 100% of the rest? Or finally barring that, don't flat out say "1'm keeping $1 and she gets $4" -- at least weasel out of it with a generic "Tig gets most of the profits, and some will be donated to cancer research" or some such.
I guess what I'm saying is, I don't see Louis CK's involvement being worth 20% off the top. If she feels that it is worth it, that's cool -- but I'd prefer to be blissfully ignorant of it.
seltarThe show was well worth $5!
KnivesOut@MilkmanDan It is a little weird that they would disclose the details, I guess, but then again maybe they felt like people would ask, so they should be up-front about. If Louis is keeping 20% of the proceeds, its probably because she or Louis doesn't want it to look like charity.
nach0ssays...Just bought it. I heard her tell a funny story on This American Life about run-ins with Taylor Dane.
StormsingerI'm tickled that Louis was up front about the arrangements, although it's not really anyone's business outside of the two of them. I'd say this is a perfect example of the best way to be transparent.
calvados>> ^seltar:
not blocked on teamcoco's site http://teamcoco.com/video/tig-notaro-interview-09-20-12
Pity, that one doesn't work for me either.
antAwesome woman!
solecist>> ^MilkmanDan:
That's cool and moving.
...One question: In the description / message from Louis CK I read "The show is on sale for the same 5 dollars I charge for my stuff. I'm only keeping 1. She gets the other 4."
Obviously I don't know the full story, but that strikes me as a bit off. Why not give all of it to Tig? Barring that, why not withhold any costs associated with hosting the files for download and/or manufacturing CDs or whatever and give Tig 100% of the rest? Or finally barring that, don't flat out say "1'm keeping $1 and she gets $4" -- at least weasel out of it with a generic "Tig gets most of the profits, and some will be donated to cancer research" or some such.
I guess what I'm saying is, I don't see Louis CK's involvement being worth 20% off the top. If she feels that it is worth it, that's cool -- but I'd prefer to be blissfully ignorant of it.
i think a dollar is perfectly reasonable. there is probably significant overhead in hosting a big file like that for (possibly) hundreds of thousands of people.
brycewi19Holy cow, I can't believe how much she has had to fight through.
I wonder if she'll revisit her "dem little titties" bit she has used in her standup before after all this!
Jinxsays...If there was any justice in the universe she'd be paid up on bad luck for a good 20-30 years.
yellowcsays...Because he built his success on being honest and he isn't going to let social norms get in the way of sticking to that, personally I find it a breathe of fresh air. He is already helping her out tremendously with exposure, there is no need for him to feel obliged to completely foot the bill for it, this isn't a charity, it is an act of personal compassion.
20% also seems like a lot but only because it is relative to the cheap price of $5. If they charged $10, Louis would still of kept only $1, as he is not taking the money for profit. He also says "I'm" but this really means, the people who help me run my business and who I need to pay will require that $1 to keep getting paid.
>> ^MilkmanDan:
That's cool and moving.
...One question: In the description / message from Louis CK I read "The show is on sale for the same 5 dollars I charge for my stuff. I'm only keeping 1. She gets the other 4."
Obviously I don't know the full story, but that strikes me as a bit off. Why not give all of it to Tig? Barring that, why not withhold any costs associated with hosting the files for download and/or manufacturing CDs or whatever and give Tig 100% of the rest? Or finally barring that, don't flat out say "1'm keeping $1 and she gets $4" -- at least weasel out of it with a generic "Tig gets most of the profits, and some will be donated to cancer research" or some such.
I guess what I'm saying is, I don't see Louis CK's involvement being worth 20% off the top. If she feels that it is worth it, that's cool -- but I'd prefer to be blissfully ignorant of it.
Yogi>> ^yellowc:
Because he built his success on being honest and he isn't going to let social norms get in the way of sticking to that, personally I find it a breathe of fresh air. He is already helping her out tremendously with exposure, there is no need for him to feel obliged to completely foot the bill for it, this isn't a charity, it is an act of personal compassion.
20% also seems like a lot but only because it is relative to the cheap price of $5. If they charged $10, Louis would still of kept only $1, as he is not taking the money for profit. He also says "I'm" but this really means, the people who help me run my business and who I need to pay will require that $1 to keep getting paid.
>> ^MilkmanDan:
That's cool and moving.
...One question: In the description / message from Louis CK I read "The show is on sale for the same 5 dollars I charge for my stuff. I'm only keeping 1. She gets the other 4."
Obviously I don't know the full story, but that strikes me as a bit off. Why not give all of it to Tig? Barring that, why not withhold any costs associated with hosting the files for download and/or manufacturing CDs or whatever and give Tig 100% of the rest? Or finally barring that, don't flat out say "1'm keeping $1 and she gets $4" -- at least weasel out of it with a generic "Tig gets most of the profits, and some will be donated to cancer research" or some such.
I guess what I'm saying is, I don't see Louis CK's involvement being worth 20% off the top. If she feels that it is worth it, that's cool -- but I'd prefer to be blissfully ignorant of it.
I think it's more than that, it's respect for a fellow comic. I listened to it again tonight and it's even better the second time. The honesty and the bald faced reality of it is simply beautiful. I just love it and I love that Louis recognized how great this was and put it out on his website. Louis is doing the right thing with that site and he deserves our support. Everyone should go to his show when it's in their town. I've got my ticket.
Hive13I am listening to her Live show right now. I just bought it from Louie CK's site. Amazing show.
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