AP PHOTO/CARLO ALLEGRI, FILE
Exit
widely-seen, stand-up comedy in
America for years. Louis C.K. was in
the audience at Largo, and the next
day told his nearly 2 million Twitter
followers, “[I]n 27 years doing this,
I’ve seen a handful of truly great,
masterful standup sets. One was
Tig Notaro last night at Largo.”
The endorsement of the man GQ
recently proclaimed to be the funniest person alive was immeasurable for Notaro, who is now cancerfree. She experienced the biggest
boost of her 20-some-year career
thanks to C.K.’s words, and his decision to release through his website the audio of her performance,
“Tig Notaro Live!” (pronounced as
in “Tig Notaro Will Live!”).
Stand-up might be one of the
most solitary ways to make a living,
so support for a fellow comedian
doesn’t always come naturally. Hell,
C.K. seized control of his career by
producing his TV show with minimal other people. But this time, he
used his pulpit to broadcast that
Notaro’s performance was a high
point in the history of stand-up. It
was a reminder that stand-up can
transcend mother-in-law humor,
deeply move an audience and even
affect a comic’s harshest critics:
other comedians.
Soon after he released Notaro’s
COMEDY
performance, C.K. was quizzed by
Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air on
the other “masterful” performances
he had witnessed throughout the
years. His answers — George Carlin,
Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock — were
hardly surprising, but his lifelong
comedy diet revealed the sensibilities that make C.K. the funniest
comedian of the new millennium.
I asked some of today’s leading
standup comedians about their own
favorite performances they’ve seen
over their careers. Ahead, see how
Mike Birbiglia, Jim Gaffigan, Andy
Kindler, Marc Maron and
Notaro herself responded.
HUFFINGTON
12.02.12
Louis C.K.’s
public
endorsement
of Tig Notaro
gave her the
biggest boost
of her career.