- Email: [email protected]
Hello. I have cancer. How are you?
Cancer and Society
Documentary Hello. I have cancer. How are you? Cancer is not funny—or is it? Tig Notaro is an American stand-up comedian who has found success and fame through the unusual musings about her experiences with cancer. The documentary, Tig, named after the star herself, is about her life: past, present, and future. In her momentous standup performance in 2012, Tig makes the brave decision to use her recent diagnosis of breast cancer as material for her comedy routine. Her first utterance: “Hello. I have cancer. How are you?”, fills the room with blunt honesty and a shocking subject material that gains the audience’s respect, not to mention laughter, and makes this show one not to forget. After hearing some of this comedy set, I expected the documentary to be light-hearted and full of the same bold humour, but it is not. Jokes are small snippets of relief among the sombre happenstance: from a severe Clostridium difficile infection, to her mother dying, to the diagnosis of cancer, and subsequent receipt of a bilateral mastectomy. However, although cancer is a running theme throughout the documentary, it does not define it. From the opening scene, a shaky, blurry camera view reveals how the rest of the documentary will progress through a deeply personal outlook. We are shown private moments that
Tig Available on UK/US Netflix Directed by Kristina Goolsby and Ashley York 91 mins, 2015
Ruthie Wyatt
For more on Tig Notaro see Cancer and Society Lancet Oncol 2013; 14: 114
1294
many people would feel too exposed to publically share, such as the use of real voicemail recordings from before her mother passed away, mobile phone videos, and radiograph scans of Tig’s breast cancer. The documentary manages to create an intimacy between the audience and Tig by building a true insight into her life. Upbeat background music and Tig’s stories of rising success are juxtaposed with her fears of cancer: “Book deals are coming in and I was thinking, am I even going to be alive to finish a book?” We are shown Tig in bed “riddled with cancer”, while her friends are making jokes and performing stand-up to her. However, I didn’t feel that the documentary was making light of cancer. The fears and concerns about dying and the resulting emotional stress are voiced only briefly but earnestly. The splatters of humour and Tig’s attitude are refreshing. We are shown her hometown and family where she discusses how she will have to have hormone blocking treatment for 5 years causing her family to joke about her deep voice. It is easy to watch her discuss serious issues like this as Tig, and the people around her, are able to joke uninhibitedly. The documentary also deliberates about the difficult decisions that people face after cancer treatment, including
the ability to have children. To have a surrogate carry her child, Tig tells us that she has to have hormones to increase the number of eggs released for in-vitro fertilisation. To do this would put her at risk of recurrent cancer, which would be, as one clinician advises, “not curable”. This gamble with life and death seems unfair. She is in remission, and she is moving on with her life and career, yet the looming cloud of cancer remains and unfortunately affects her future life decisions. Again, Tig tries to find humour in a difficult decision. The portrayal of Tig’s life is not relatable to everyone. Not everyone finds fame, not everyone can find optimism in being diagnosed with cancer, and not everyone survives. But there is a sense of hope and positivity in watching someone thrive in such a frightening situation. Tig is grateful for and modest about her fame; it is this genuine character that enables the audience to really care what happens to her. At first thought, the paradox of finding humour in cancer is difficult to comprehend, but Tig is careful to portray her experiences with sensitivity and to not impose her views onto other people. One of the final scenes portrays the anniversary stand-up show in which Tig declares: “I don’t have cancer. Hello. How are you?”, which appropriately rounds off the narrative. This is an uplifting documentary; although cancer clearly has a major role, the main theme is identity. We watch how Tig has changed over a year as a result of her experiences and how she confides her hopes for the future as a comedian, as a mother, and as a woman. Tig continues to break the norms of comedy and society by performing “topless in New York with her mastectomy scars on full show”, a testament to how Tig will never cease to push the boundaries.
Emilia Harding www.thelancet.com/oncology Vol 16 October 2015
Documentary Hello. I have cancer. How are you? Cancer is not funny—or is it? Tig Notaro is an American stand-up comedian who has found success and fame through the unusual musings about her experiences with cancer. The documentary, Tig, named after the star herself, is about her life: past, present, and future. In her momentous standup performance in 2012, Tig makes the brave decision to use her recent diagnosis of breast cancer as material for her comedy routine. Her first utterance: “Hello. I have cancer. How are you?”, fills the room with blunt honesty and a shocking subject material that gains the audience’s respect, not to mention laughter, and makes this show one not to forget. After hearing some of this comedy set, I expected the documentary to be light-hearted and full of the same bold humour, but it is not. Jokes are small snippets of relief among the sombre happenstance: from a severe Clostridium difficile infection, to her mother dying, to the diagnosis of cancer, and subsequent receipt of a bilateral mastectomy. However, although cancer is a running theme throughout the documentary, it does not define it. From the opening scene, a shaky, blurry camera view reveals how the rest of the documentary will progress through a deeply personal outlook. We are shown private moments that
Tig Available on UK/US Netflix Directed by Kristina Goolsby and Ashley York 91 mins, 2015
Ruthie Wyatt
For more on Tig Notaro see Cancer and Society Lancet Oncol 2013; 14: 114
1294
many people would feel too exposed to publically share, such as the use of real voicemail recordings from before her mother passed away, mobile phone videos, and radiograph scans of Tig’s breast cancer. The documentary manages to create an intimacy between the audience and Tig by building a true insight into her life. Upbeat background music and Tig’s stories of rising success are juxtaposed with her fears of cancer: “Book deals are coming in and I was thinking, am I even going to be alive to finish a book?” We are shown Tig in bed “riddled with cancer”, while her friends are making jokes and performing stand-up to her. However, I didn’t feel that the documentary was making light of cancer. The fears and concerns about dying and the resulting emotional stress are voiced only briefly but earnestly. The splatters of humour and Tig’s attitude are refreshing. We are shown her hometown and family where she discusses how she will have to have hormone blocking treatment for 5 years causing her family to joke about her deep voice. It is easy to watch her discuss serious issues like this as Tig, and the people around her, are able to joke uninhibitedly. The documentary also deliberates about the difficult decisions that people face after cancer treatment, including
the ability to have children. To have a surrogate carry her child, Tig tells us that she has to have hormones to increase the number of eggs released for in-vitro fertilisation. To do this would put her at risk of recurrent cancer, which would be, as one clinician advises, “not curable”. This gamble with life and death seems unfair. She is in remission, and she is moving on with her life and career, yet the looming cloud of cancer remains and unfortunately affects her future life decisions. Again, Tig tries to find humour in a difficult decision. The portrayal of Tig’s life is not relatable to everyone. Not everyone finds fame, not everyone can find optimism in being diagnosed with cancer, and not everyone survives. But there is a sense of hope and positivity in watching someone thrive in such a frightening situation. Tig is grateful for and modest about her fame; it is this genuine character that enables the audience to really care what happens to her. At first thought, the paradox of finding humour in cancer is difficult to comprehend, but Tig is careful to portray her experiences with sensitivity and to not impose her views onto other people. One of the final scenes portrays the anniversary stand-up show in which Tig declares: “I don’t have cancer. Hello. How are you?”, which appropriately rounds off the narrative. This is an uplifting documentary; although cancer clearly has a major role, the main theme is identity. We watch how Tig has changed over a year as a result of her experiences and how she confides her hopes for the future as a comedian, as a mother, and as a woman. Tig continues to break the norms of comedy and society by performing “topless in New York with her mastectomy scars on full show”, a testament to how Tig will never cease to push the boundaries.
Emilia Harding www.thelancet.com/oncology Vol 16 October 2015