JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Every week, a guest draws a card from NPR's Wild Card deck and answers a big question about their life. Comedian Tig Notaro has built a career out of sharing her life with her audience, but she recently turned the spotlight on a close friend of hers, poet Andrea Gibson, who died from cancer last year. Notaro produced a documentary about Andrea and Andrea's wife, Megan Falley. It's called "Come See Me In The Good Light." She talked to Wild Card host Rachel Martin.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
RACHEL MARTIN: What's a detail you'd like in your obit?
TIG NOTARO: It always makes me laugh when people say, she had her sense of humor to the end. And I always thought it would be so funny to put in my obituary that I lost my sense of humor in the end.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
NOTARO: Like, unfortunately, she did lose her sense of humor in the end.
MARTIN: Right.
NOTARO: And I have to say, like, to go back to Andrea, one of my - and Andrea was, as I said, one of the funniest people I knew and was also one of the best people to laugh with. I mean, really got it.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
NOTARO: And one of my favorite things about Andrea was the lines on their face. Like, when they smiled...
MARTIN: Yeah, the good laugh lines.
NOTARO: ...Like, it lifted...
MARTIN: Yeah.
NOTARO: ...Like, just these incredible lines.
MARTIN: Yeah.
NOTARO: But at the end of Andrea's life, God, I was so full of emotion, and I wanted to be close to Andrea. And I pictured my - I talked to my therapist about, like, gosh, you know, I just want to crawl in bed with Andrea when I get to their house. And I just want to be close to them. And when I got there and I crawled in bed to be right next to Andrea, (laughter) Andrea turned - so weak. I mean, this is, like, three days before the end. Andrea turned and pointed to this very mysterious stain on the sheets and said, I don't know what this is, but we'll just blame it on Meg, OK?
(LAUGHTER)
NOTARO: Like, to crawl into bed with all of the heavy emotions...
MARTIN: Yeah.
NOTARO: ...And then have my friend turn and say something that just hit me from behind so hard...
MARTIN: Yeah.
NOTARO: ...I laughed so deeply. Just like, oh, my - talk about somebody not losing their sense of humor in the end.
MARTIN: Yeah.
NOTARO: But, yeah, I think I'd like that to be - I would love for somebody to say I lost my sense of humor in the end.
(LAUGHTER)
SUMMERS: You can watch a much longer Wild Card conversation with Tig Notaro on YouTube by searching for @nprwildcard. The documentary "Come See Me In The Good Light" is on Apple TV. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
