In a new profile at The Guardian, comedian Tig Notaro talks about her experience with breast cancer and the people who supported her through it—as well as the people who only seemed to be supporting her through it. And when the subject of Amy Schumer comes up, things get weird real fast.
Hadley Freeman writes:
I tell her I was struck by something Amy Schumer once said to Vanity Fair about Notaro: “Looking masculine and being gay, the challenges of the road are 20 times harder for Tig than other female comedians. People fear what they don’t understand.” Has she found that to be true?
Anger sparks in Notaro’s normally calm eyes. “I don’t know what she was talking about. It sounds like offensive nonsense to me. I find that so offensive and weird,” she says, looking down, trying to control her very audible irritation. “If you knew me well, you would never say that.”
I thought the two of you were friends, I say, surprised. Schumer has spoken in the past about taking care of her “great friend Tig”.
Notaro looks away, and Freeman writes that the atmosphere has “palpably prickled.”
“I’ve worked with her. I worked with her for the first season [of Inside Amy Schumer],” she replies curtly. Ironically, the episode in which Notaro appeared was about Schumer exaggerating their friendship and using Notaro’s cancer to look good in front of other people.
“Let’s leave it there,” Notaro says, closing down the subject.
Here’s the clip, if you want to try and analyze if they’re acting or not:
The whole profile is interesting—read it here—and it ends with an excerpt of Notaro’s forthcoming memoir, I’m Just a Person.
Image via Getty.