Few comedians (besides maybe Jon Stewart) can really pull off that thing where they stare at you after saying something slightly outlandish, then shift a little and stare at you some more, unafraid, for too long ‘mdash; and that’s the entire punch line. But grumpy lesbo-next-door Tig Notaro pulls off the artfully awkward silence like a pro, equipped with a worried brow, hard jaw and hobbity shag (resembling, in her own words, ‘somewhere between Bruce Jenner and Baby Suri’), only breaking out the killer dimples when the second wave of laughter didn’t echo just right.
Take this gem:
‘I was walking through my neighborhood, I was walking down the sidewalk, and I was passing this guy. And right when we passed each other, he said to me, ‘Ah. Them are little titties. I thought you was a man.’ And it’s like, OK. OK if you think that. And OK if you say that ‘mdash; to yourself. But that thought had to go through several layers of filters in his mind. And a checklist. And he still decided, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna need to say this.’ Like, think of all the things he decided not to say. Things like, ‘Good afternoon.’ Or, um, ‘Oh ‘mdash; I was gonna say something, but I decided not to.’ Nope. He went with, ‘Ah. Them are little titties. I thought you was a man.”
Believe me ‘mdash; it’ll be a lot better with the awkward silence.