Pretty Little Episode #25

Tig and Fortune talk stand up comedy, what makes a house party enjoyable on today's Pretty Little Episode! Handsome is hosted by Tig Notaro, Mae Martin, and Fortune FeimsterSubmit questions to speakpipe.com/handsomepod http://speakpipe.com/handsomepodFollow us on social media @handsomepodMerch at handsomepod.com http://handsomepod.com/Watch Handsome on YouTube http://youtube.com/@handsomepodThis is a Headgum https://headgum.com/ podcast. Follow Headgum on Twitter https://x.com/headgum, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/headgum/, and Tiktok https://www.tiktok.com/@headgum. Advertise on Handsome https://gumball.fm/shows/handsome via Gumball.fm http://gumball.fm/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:02Speaker 00

  This is a HeadGum Podcast.

• 0:05Mae Martin?

  Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. Not checking whether I brought my sunglasses before driving west at the end of the day? A learning moment. I'm gaining confidence in my driving, but it helps when I'm not blinded by the sun beaming directly into my eyeballs.

• 0:18Tig Notaro?

  Yeah, checking first is handsome, so check Allstate first for an auto quote. It could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois.

• 0:35Mae Martin?

  Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. Not checking the program before sitting down to enjoy a school play? I'm in shambles. Turns out there's no intermission during this three-hour Shakespeare adaptation, and I really need to go to the bathroom.

• 0:48Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah, checking first is handsome, so check Allstate first for an auto quote. It could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois.

• 1:03Mae Martin?

  Handsome is brought to you by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all-in-one platform designed to help you stand out and succeed online with a handy, handsome website you can be proud of and show off to all your friends, clients, and loved ones. With Squarespace, you can scale up your business, claim your domain, and showcase your offerings with a premium, professional website.

• 1:22Fortune Feimster?

  With Squarespace's cutting-edge design tools, you can build a gorgeous online presence that perfectly fits your brand or business. Their SEO tools help your ideal audience find you. Since every dream needs a domain, Squarespace makes it easy to find the best name for your business at one fair, all-inclusive price. No hidden fees, no required add-ons. Squarespace offers countless extras like built-in donation tools for fundraising and online payments and invoicing to help you get paid on time. Squarespace makes it easy. So easy, we even made a handsome website ourselves in less than 20 minutes.

• 1:54Mae Martin?

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• 2:11Tig Notaro?

  Pretty little episode.

• 2:20Tig Notaro?

  Hi, it's Tig Notaro. I'm sitting here with my co-host.

• 2:26Fortune Feimster?

  It's me, Fortune Feimster.

• 2:28Tig Notaro?

  Yes, we are together. We are doing a pretty little episode. And I have a feeling it's gonna be really pretty, because Old Dead Eyes is with us.

• 2:39Fortune Feimster?

  How dare you? Biggie's right here. Luckily, I have my earphones on, so he can't hear you insult him like that.

• 2:49Tig Notaro?

  It is not an insult. It is the cutest face. I stand by this.

• 2:56Fortune Feimster?

  I was telling Tig, I posted a video of him where he was staring into the camera. And he didn't blink. His tail was wagging, but he just stared. And all these people started commenting.

• 3:10Tig Notaro?

  On his dead eyes?

• 3:17Fortune Feimster?

  And some people were like, she's wrong. He's adorable. And other people were like, I can see it.

• 3:24Tig Notaro?

  Listen, this is nothing about being adorable or not, you know? People claim I'm dead inside.

• 3:32Tig Notaro?

  And I'm not.

• 3:33Fortune Feimster?

  Yep.

• 3:34Tig Notaro?

  I take it as adorable.

• 3:36Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah.

• 3:36Tig Notaro?

  You should take everything as being adorable.

• 3:40Fortune Feimster?

  Okay, I will.

• 3:42Tig Notaro?

  How are you doing, Fortune? What's going on?

• 3:44Fortune Feimster?

  I'm doing good. Just chilling. Got back on stage at Largo last night.

• 3:51Tig Notaro?

  Nice. How was that?

• 3:52Fortune Feimster?

  It was good. It's nice to be working on material again. I feel like I took a proper break. I went about seven weeks with no performing whatsoever.

• 4:05Tig Notaro?

  Mm-hmm.

• 4:06Fortune Feimster?

  And had not done that in forever, so I think I needed it.

• 4:10Tig Notaro?

  How long has it been since you've taken a break like that?

• 4:13Fortune Feimster?

  Pandemic?

• 4:15Tig Notaro?

  Oh, really?

• 4:15Fortune Feimster?

  Mm-hmm.

• 4:16Tig Notaro?

  Okay. And so, your process, do you sit down and actually type out the words? Yeah, I was gonna say, seems like straight A nerd of you.

• 4:28Fortune Feimster?

  The overachiever part of me. Yeah, I think of a story um and I kind of talk it out loud. And then I'll sit down and write it out, like what I think the structure might be. Um, and then I'll put it on its feet. I'll try to memorize that. Put it on its feet and then discover punchlines as I go.

• 4:50Tig Notaro?

  Are you somebody that runs your new material by anyone before you go on stage? Are you just like on lockdown?

• 4:57Fortune Feimster?

  Um, I have a friend who is is very funny, who I'll I'll talk to her about. Like, uh, some of the those stories. And we'll go through like, um. She'll be like, oh, that's funny, or, you know, here here's a good structure for that. And then I and then I kind of go off and running with it. How about you? What's your process?

• 5:21Tig Notaro?

  What is my process? My process is I'll go about my life and then something will happen. I'll make a note on a napkin. And then I'll misplace the napkin. And then I'll note something else. And I'll just put my napkins together and then I go on stage. I don't think anything through beforehand. But I've been curious about like what that might be like to actually sit down and write out material.

• 5:55Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah.

• 5:56Tig Notaro?

  That's fascinating to me.

• 5:57Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah, I I like it just because the the like writer in me needs to to have the stru- I need to memorize something. I need to know where I'm going.

• 6:08Tig Notaro?

  Mm hmm.

• 6:09Fortune Feimster?

  Um, but yeah, it's helpful to like talk it out in the beginning. Because I don't want to like waste a lot of time.

• 6:16Tig Notaro?

  Uh huh.

• 6:17Fortune Feimster?

  And so it's helpful having that input of like, this is good, this isn't, and then like here's where this could be better. And then then I go off and. Do with it what it, what I make it into what it becomes.

• 6:32Tig Notaro?

  Yeah, I haven't done stand up in several weeks now. And I'm curious to get back on stage here in Toronto. Or, you know, in LA, wherever, and see if I can get back into the swing again after taking a few weeks off. But, um, well, cool. I look forward to hearing your new stuff.

• 6:58Fortune Feimster?

  It's a work in progress.

• 7:00Tig Notaro?

  Yes, yes, it is, but I'm sure it'll be a smash hit once again.

• 7:07Fortune Feimster?

  We'll see.

• 7:08Tig Notaro?

  Do you have a theme? That's, I think I've talked about it on, on the show. I'm kind of interested in doing like a themed one person show, but I don't know.

• 7:18Fortune Feimster?

  Not right now. I don't, I usually come up with that a year in, eight months in.

• 7:25Tig Notaro?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 7:26Fortune Feimster?

  Where in the beginning, it's just like, here's a bunch of fun stories. And then at some point I start trying to think, what am I trying to say? What is, is there a through line with all of this?

• 7:39Tig Notaro?

  Yeah.

• 7:40Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah. And then at some point I start coming up with what, can I bring this full circle? Are there callbacks? But that, that stuff all comes much later.

• 7:49Tig Notaro?

  Yeah, when you're playing around on stage.

• 7:51Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah, this beginning part is where I, I'm more clinical about it. And then I'm off, I'm doing my thing.

• 7:59Tig Notaro?

  And then you're off to the circus.

• 8:01Fortune Feimster?

  Mm hmm.

• 8:03Tig Notaro?

  Should we get started on this circus and?

• 8:06Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah.

• 8:06Tig Notaro?

  See what the, the handsome little ladies and themdies and?

• 8:12Fortune Feimster?

  Mm hmm.

• 8:13Tig Notaro?

  Hit us, Mr. Thomas.

• 8:14Speaker 04

  Hello handsome. My name is Tess. I live in Oregon, but I'm from Bruce, Columbia, Canada. And my question to you is, do you guys have any pre-show rituals that you do um on the day of before you perform? Uh like anything that helps calm you down um and kind of gets you in the moment? I am haven't performed yet, but I'm hoping to do some open mics in January. Um I'm in an improv class and I get super nervous the day that we do shows and I feel like I can't eat or do anything. So I was wondering if you guys had any tips for kind of pre-show jitters and how you calm down and get in the moment?

• 8:56Speaker 04

  Anyways, thank you so much. Your podcast makes me laugh and smile weekly. I love you guys.

• 9:02Tig Notaro?

  Love a weekly smile.

• 9:03Fortune Feimster?

  That's right.

• 9:04Tig Notaro?

  Laugh. We're here to dole them out. Um I

• 9:10Tig Notaro?

  I don't know. I mean, I I feel like, I mean, I'm inching up. I I think I'm at twenty-eight years of doing stand-up and I don't feel like I have a huge amount of nerves around it anymore. And um some people think that means like, oh, you don't care about what you're doing, but that's not it at all. It's just I feel comfortable. I think that for so long, I used to show up so early and people wanted me at shows early. And then I think after I had more success, I started to feel like I think I might be calling the shots here and I'm going to show up.

• 9:54Tig Notaro?

  Um when is most when is most comfortable for me? And that is kind of my pre-show ritual is to not show up too early because I think that that's for me where more of the nerves could start if I'm sitting there thinking too much about it. Um whereas I like to pull up, get out of the car, walk in the back door, and maybe, you know, grab my drink. And uh I mean, it's within like five minutes, I'm on stage. And then uh and then I finish, wrap up, and head on out.

• 10:36Fortune Feimster?

  Oh, yeah.

• 10:37Tig Notaro?

  Not too much going on for me.

• 10:39Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah, I don't have any kind of ritual. Um, Tom Papa, who I do the radio show with, was joking about how I just roll into the theaters and like fifteen minutes before. And go to dinner before with, you know, sometimes by myself or with friends and yeah, just don't get very nervous.

• 11:05Tig Notaro?

  Yeah. When does Tom show up?

• 11:08Fortune Feimster?

  Tom, I think is more like maybe forty five minutes to an hour before.

• 11:12Tig Notaro?

  He shows up that early?

• 11:14Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah, we were talking to Gaff again. He throws, he shows up two hours before.

• 11:20Tig Notaro?

  What in the hell?

• 11:22Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah.

• 11:23Tig Notaro?

  What in the hell? That is so much life gone, sitting in the green room.

• 11:29Fortune Feimster?

  I know. I just, you know, like I said, right now, in the early stages, I'm in the memorizing stage. So there's value in sitting to memorize, but um, when I'm in the pocket and I know what my set is, I just roll in.

• 11:50Fortune Feimster?

  And it's not that, you know, yeah, it's like fifteen, twenty minutes before the show starts. Cause there's usually, they usually start like ten minutes late and then there's an opener, so.

• 12:02Tig Notaro?

  Yeah.

• 12:03Fortune Feimster?

  But if I'm filming something, I'm more nervous.

• 12:07Tig Notaro?

  Uh huh.

• 12:08Fortune Feimster?

  And we'll go like to the gym to kind of

• 12:12Tig Notaro?

  Uh huh.

• 12:12Fortune Feimster?

  Get energy going and get a coffee and, you know, that kind of stuff, but.

• 12:19Tig Notaro?

  Do you always use an opener? Cause I've kind of been heading in the direction a lot recently of not using an opener.

• 12:28Fortune Feimster?

  Hmm.

• 12:29Tig Notaro?

  And then I just pull up.

• 12:33Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah.

• 12:33Tig Notaro?

  Five minutes later, I'm onstage, no opener. And I've been doing like an hour and a half.

• 12:39Fortune Feimster?

  No.

• 12:40Tig Notaro?

  And I was touring also with my Hello Again. Um, sometimes with no opener.

• 12:46Fortune Feimster?

  And you like that?

• 12:48Tig Notaro?

  Yeah, I mean, I, to me, it's kind of the same.

• 12:50Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah.

• 12:51Tig Notaro?

  I've met so many great, young, or up and coming comedians on the road. All, I don't typically, I have traveled and toured with my own opener, but I also sometimes find it interesting to have locals in different cities and also to not have anyone and just walk in the door, do the show, head out.

• 13:13Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah.

• 13:14Tig Notaro?

  But, um, yeah. Uh, we're probably not very helpful. Are we? I would talk to Tom Papa and Jim Gaffigan.

• 13:24Fortune Feimster?

  I guess so.

• 13:25Tig Notaro?

  See what they're doing with.

• 13:25Fortune Feimster?

  They're more on top of it.

• 13:27Tig Notaro?

  Yeah. Good luck to you, Tess.

• 13:29Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah.

• 13:35Tig Notaro?

  What else we got, Mr. Thomas?

• 13:38Speaker 00

  Hey, Handsoms, this is Annie from California, and I'm curious what elements, like, top three elements, or however many, make a house party noteworthy? Like, what's gonna make you rave about a house party over another one?

• 13:56Tig Notaro?

  Hmm.

• 13:59Tig Notaro?

  She's come to the two biggest partiers in town.

• 14:02Fortune Feimster?

  We're party people. I'm always into the snacks, you know? I go right to the snack table.

• 14:08Tig Notaro?

  You and me both, kid.

• 14:10Fortune Feimster?

  And if there's like really good snacks, I'm like, this party's amazing.

• 14:14Tig Notaro?

  That's like Mr. Thomas, man. That guy can throw some snacks back.

• 14:19Fortune Feimster?

  There you go.

• 14:20Tig Notaro?

  Yeah.

• 14:21Speaker 05

  Tig, you always have good snacks at your parties.

• 14:24Tig Notaro?

  Yeah, I guess I do.

• 14:28Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah, it is. It is nice. What I mean, the bougie part of me now that I'm older, I do enjoy. I'm not gonna lie. When someone has a bartender.

• 14:37Tig Notaro?

  Uh huh.

• 14:38Fortune Feimster?

  It's helpful instead of like a bunch of free for all. Like is there any ginger ale anywhere, you know?

• 14:47Tig Notaro?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 14:48Fortune Feimster?

  But that's just me being older and I don't know.

• 14:51Tig Notaro?

  Bougie.

• 14:52Fortune Feimster?

  It is nice bougie.

• 14:53Tig Notaro?

  Bougie about boo- being boozy.

• 14:56Fortune Feimster?

  Bougie boozy girl right here. Um, but yeah, some good snacks and fun people to talk to.

• 15:02Tig Notaro?

  Mm hmm.

• 15:03Fortune Feimster?

  Even if there's nothing going on, you're just chatting.

• 15:06Tig Notaro?

  Mm hmm.

• 15:07Fortune Feimster?

  If they're fun, nice people, that makes a party.

• 15:10Tig Notaro?

  I think it's also for my taste. I cannot stand loud music at a party.

• 15:16Fortune Feimster?

  Mm hmm.

• 15:17Tig Notaro?

  I've been to so many after parties. I'm sure you have too.

• 15:22Fortune Feimster?

  Mm hmm.

• 15:22Tig Notaro?

  Just parties and after parties and the music that's blaring so loud. It's like I so much prefer to be able to talk to people.

• 15:33Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah.

• 15:34Tig Notaro?

  I I guess I'm thinking in terms of having my own party because whoever's at my party, I probably want to talk to them. But you know, going into a loud club or somebody else's party that's really loud.

• 15:45Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah.

• 15:46Tig Notaro?

  Uh, I guess the music could be a nice little barrier from people. But that's usually a moment where I think I gotta, I gotta head out of here. This is not my scene. But yeah, I love good snacks, good people to talk to and turn the music down. The other thing I can't stand is restaurants that have music blaring.

• 16:08Fortune Feimster?

  No, I hate that too.

• 16:10Tig Notaro?

  Talk about getting older.

• 16:12Fortune Feimster?

  Talk, I'm like, we're here, we are here to eat, but most of us are trying to have conversations with people that catch up. And when you can't hear, and I don't have great hearing anyway. Um, so I'm always kind of like leaning in to people like.

• 16:26Tig Notaro?

  Yeah, same.

• 16:27Fortune Feimster?

  If I'm like screaming over music, it's not enjoyable.

• 16:31Tig Notaro?

  It's not enjoyable for us either, Fortune, when you're always screaming over music.

• 16:36Fortune Feimster?

  I'm thinking one of the more fun house parties I've been to.

• 16:40Tig Notaro?

  Mm hmm.

• 16:41Fortune Feimster?

  Was it was a group of lesbians.

• 16:43Tig Notaro?

  Hello.

• 16:44Fortune Feimster?

  And, um, it was for a friend's birthday and Craig Robinson randomly was who has asked a question on the pod.

• 16:53Tig Notaro?

  Yep.

• 16:53Fortune Feimster?

  He, he was the only man at the party. And he, you know, plays piano and he's pretty much can play anything.

• 17:04Tig Notaro?

  Yeah.

• 17:04Fortune Feimster?

  And um, he just started playing piano and all these lesbians circled around them. Just started having this like karaoke, like sing along and just he kept going from song to song. It was so much fun. That is one of the best house parties, I think, uh, in recent memory.

• 17:26Tig Notaro?

  That's awesome. And just all around a piano.

• 17:30Fortune Feimster?

  All around the piano. So I highly recommend get you a someone that plays piano.

• 17:34Tig Notaro?

  Get you a Craig. And then was it all stereotypical lesbian songs or?

• 17:40Fortune Feimster?

  Hmm, that was everything.

• 17:42Tig Notaro?

  Or was it like Jingle Bells and?

• 17:44Fortune Feimster?

  Different era. No, it was all different eras, different songs.

• 17:48Tig Notaro?

  Okay.

• 17:49Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah, some, something for everybody.

• 17:51Tig Notaro?

  Get you a piano and get you a Craig Robinson and get you a herd of lesbians.

• 17:57Fortune Feimster?

  Mm hmm.

• 17:57Tig Notaro?

  And turn that music down so we can hear the piano.

• 18:01Fortune Feimster?

  That's right.

• 18:02Tig Notaro?

  Yes. All right. Well, thank you, Annie.

• 18:05Fortune Feimster?

  I hope Annie's, uh, gonna have a nice fun house party soon.

• 18:10Tig Notaro?

  Oh, I think Annie will. If I know Annie, it'll be good. Yeah, and we do.

• 18:18Tig Notaro?

  All right. Well, uh, that was a splendid time. Nice to catch up with you, Fortune, and know that you're, uh, moving forward with your, um, uh, it's so funny that you, when you just said you too, Bud. I just realized I had a dream last night that Max and Finn started only calling each other Bud.

• 18:41Tig Notaro?

  What a weird.

• 18:42Fortune Feimster?

  That's an interesting dream.

• 18:44Tig Notaro?

  Yeah, I don't, I don't remember my dreams very much, but every now and then I'll, I'll remember a little chunk that makes no sense, but.

• 18:53Fortune Feimster?

  I don't really ever remember my dreams either, which I don't know what psychologically that means about us.

• 18:59Tig Notaro?

  Well, it might mean we are reaching. Some level of sleep that is or isn't good. That's all I know.

• 19:10Fortune Feimster?

  I know, I can't decide if I want one of those rings that tells you.

• 19:14Tig Notaro?

  Yeah.

• 19:15Fortune Feimster?

  If you're asleep, I'm like, will that be helpful? Or just now I'll know I'm not sleeping as well as I should.

• 19:20Tig Notaro?

  Yeah, I want to get one of those. I already know I'm not sleeping well, so might as well get confirmation. But I did sleep eight hours last night, which was a miracle.

• 19:30Fortune Feimster?

  That's awesome.

• 19:31Tig Notaro?

  Anyway, way to end the party conversation with sleep details.

• 19:36Fortune Feimster?

  And we don't like loud music.

• 19:38Tig Notaro?

  That's right. Also, don't forget to submit your questions and answers at speakpipe.com/handsomepod.

• 19:47Fortune Feimster?

  I'm always curious to hear what people ask because sometimes there's some real interesting ones in there, which I never saw coming. So hit us with your best shot.

• 19:58Tig Notaro?

  Or if anybody wants to submit advice, we can give you some pretty terrible advice, likely.

• 20:06Fortune Feimster?

  Or pretty great advice, I mean.

• 20:08Tig Notaro?

  Or great, or great.

• 20:09Fortune Feimster?

  Sometimes we have some real gems.

• 20:11Tig Notaro?

  Yes, that's true.

• 20:13Fortune Feimster?

  And then sometimes we talk about buttholes.

• 20:15Tig Notaro?

  That is right. That is correct. Fortune is right. Also, get your merch and your tickets to our live shows at handsomepod.com. Check my website for shows.

• 20:28Fortune Feimster?

  Yeah, you can, I'll be doing, working on this material at the clubs.

• 20:34Tig Notaro?

  Club.

• 20:35Fortune Feimster?

  So if you want to see how the sausage is made, or the cauliflower is grown in Tig's instance.

• 20:44Tig Notaro?

  Thank you, Fortune.

• 20:46Fortune Feimster?

  Come see one of these club shows, very intimate and fun. And you can even tell me your own opinions about my jokes, or if you have punchlines, I'm open.

• 20:57Tig Notaro?

  She'll take them.

• 20:59Fortune Feimster?

  I'll take them.

• 21:00Tig Notaro?

  And until next time, Fortune, what do we say?

• 21:03Fortune Feimster?

  Keep it.

• 21:04Tig Notaro?

  Keep it.

• 21:04Fortune Feimster?

  Pretty handsome.

• 21:07Mae Martin?

  Handsome is hosted by me, Mae Martin, Tig Notaro, and Fortune Feimster. The show is produced, recorded, and edited by Thomas Willett. Email us at [email protected]. And please follow us on social media at HandsomePod.

• 21:30Speaker 00

  That was a HeadGum Podcast.