For the very first time, we will get to watch a stand-up special in an animated form thanks to the extremely talented stand-up comic known for her deadpan comedy, Tig Notaro. HBO executive vice president Nina Rosenstein made this announcement and mentioned that the untitled special will air on HBO this summer and people can also stream it on HBO Max. HBO had previously worked with Notaro for her stand-up special Tig Notaro: Boyish Girl Interrupted.
The animation special is executive produced by Ellen DeGeneres; it is her third collaboration with Notaro. DeGeneres executive produced Notaro’s 2018 Netflix special Tig Notaro Happy To Be Here, and Notaro co-directed DeGeneres’ Netflix special, Ellen DeGeneres: Relatable the same year.
Notaro picked Six Point Harness, the animation studio to produce the animation special. The studio is one of the most leading animation studios, which created many TV and digital products including Oscar-winning short Hair Love, the critically lauded series Lazor Wulf, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, Guava Island, and Waffles+Mochi with Michelle Obama.
Notaro said, “After having had the pleasure of seeing bits and pieces of my comedy animated over the years by some talented artists, I became DRAWN to the idea of creating a fully animated hour. Stand-up can be a very solitary art form, so combining it with a collaborative years-long creative effort was such a joyful experience. I’m so proud of this special and can’t wait for everyone to be fully vaccinated watching with their Nana.”
DeGeneres said, “I’m so excited for everyone to see Tig’s new special, I told her since it was animated that we should have Dory in it, but she awkwardly changed the subject. But it’s still hilarious.”
Rosenstein added, “Tig is truly an original and this animated special solidifies her status as an artist who constantly transcends expectations. We’re so excited to have her back on HBO with this fresh take on stand-up. I must confess here that I am completely unfamiliar with Notaro’s stand-up. I know who she is, of course, but I’ve never actually watched her perform. I’m very curious about this one just because of the animation factor. Hopefully, we’ll learn more about it soon.”
The special is written by Notaro; directed by Greg Franklin; executive produced by Notaro, DeGeneres, Franklin, Thomas Ouellette, Hunter Seidman, Jeff Kleeman, and Brendan Burch; produced by Rachel Abarbanell; and produced for HBO by DeGeneres’ A Very Good Production and Notaro’s ZeroDollarsandZeroSense productions.