Tig Notaro Brings Her ‘Hello Again’ Tour to Gulfport and Plans for a Little South Mississippi R&R
If you’re strolling near Cat Island Coffeehouse in Pass Christian this month and think you spotted Tig Notaro, you’re probably right.
The comedian, who was born in Jackson and raised for the first years of her life in Pass Christian, will bring her “Hello Again” tour to the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Immersive Media Performing Arts Center in Gulfport at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 14, and the coffee and book shop is one of her favorite places to hang out in South Mississippi.
“Those guys are so great and the coffee is unbeatable,” Notaro said. “Hands down the best latte in the country.”
The Emmy and Grammy-nominated comedian, actor, writer, producer, and director brings her wife and writing partner, Stephanie Allynne, and their two children to the Gulf Coast as often as possible. The pair were even married on a beach in Pass Christian in 2015 by Notaro’s cousin.
“I’m always happy when I get to come back to the Coast,” she said. “It’s one of the very few places I really feel like I get to relax. I just absolutely love it. My whole family does and we are just anxious to get down there.”
She moved to Texas as a young child when her artistic and free-spirited mother married her stepfather. She and her brother spent summers with family members in Pass Christian, Hattiesburg, and Jackson.
“Between all of those places, we were usually swimming in the ocean, having a bonfire on the beach, waterskiing in the swamps, meeting with family for a meal at the yacht club, fishing, and boating in the bay,” she said, adding Mardi Gras celebrations in Pass Christian and New Orleans hold a special place in her heart.
“I have so many incredible memories and it really hits me how specific it all was to this area,” she said as she reminisced. “Things that I absolutely don’t hear people say they have plans to do in the Los Angeles area where I live now. It was the best and I really cherish those times.”
Notaro’s stand-up performances are wry, sharply observed, and immensely relatable, which she credits largely to her mom and growing up on the Coast.
“I think it’s impossible to not be influenced by almost everything in life along the way, but the Gulf Coast for sure influenced me,” she said. “My mother was also a huge influence on my comedy. She was born in New Orleans and raised in Pass Christian. All senses of humor are a bit different in ways but anyone that knew her and knows me can see an unmistakable connection.”
Notaro has been hailed for her effortless storytelling and fearless stage presence, her subject matter ranges from the delightfully absurd to the monumentally serious. She wrote, produced, and starred in “One Mississippi,” a cutting-edge semiautobiographical comedy series on Amazon. She is a public radio contributor, podcaster, and Rolling Stone named her as one of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time.
Most recently, she joined the season three cast of the Apple TV+ drama “The Morning Show,” starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. She also hosts an advice podcast, “Don’t Ask Tig,” and a documentary film podcast, “Tig and Cheryl: True Story.”
And although you’ll currently find her in numerous popular streaming movies such as “We Have a Ghost,” “Your Place or Mine,” and “Army of the Dead,” Notaro doesn’t actually correlate herself with being an actor.
“As fun as it has all been, I really don’t connect with being an actor, so everything you see me in I’m lucky if I can even remember my lines,” she said.
But you will be able to see her at her best at her one-night-only comedy show in Gulfport, which will feature a mix of stories about her family, her health, and weird situations she’s found herself in over the years.
“And just a ton of nonsense,” she said. “Nothing too different or far out from the usual thing one might expect from me and I have very much enjoyed doing this particular show. It’s not anything about the pandemic, so people tend to appreciate that a bit and I’ll be taping it as a special in the next few months, so I’m pretty excited about that.”
