In
Hello Again
, her sixth standup special,
Tig Notaro
returns to familiar subjects like health struggles, celebrity encounters, and family for her stories, but manages to infuse them with unexpected twists and turns. In the three years since her previous special, the fully animated
Drawn
, she started another podcast (Handsome) and continued to win acting roles (TV's The Morning Show), but
focuses on the misunderstandings, embarrassments, and absurdities of her everyday life -- although that sometimes involves things like a Los Angeles party attended by
Adele
,
P!nk
Oprah Winfrey
, and others ("Hello") or "A Meeting with
Reese Witherspoon
." The latter event, which took place between
Notaro
and her wife
Stephanie Allynne
(who directed
) and
Witherspoon
and her producing partner, involves
mishearing a name, leading to confusing comments that essentially take the air out of the rest of the appointment. (She and her wife piece together what happened upon leaving.) Elsewhere, something similar goes down between
and an airline agent ("Make Believe Lounge"). After having back surgery, she has an allergic reaction to painkillers with absurdly funny results, then she sees a physical therapist, who proves to be an example of "people who talk to one another" -- a term coined by
Allynne
for those with no sense of humor. Throughout,
's relatability and trademark masterfully paced delivery do much of the lifting, transforming setups and punchlines into suspenseful, serpentine stories. When she brings a piano onstage for the last third of the show, it's not (exactly) for comic songs but to illustrate anecdotes and deliver mischievous sentiments like "When I tell people that I can't play the piano and I have a terrible voice, they assume¿that I can't play anything. It's the opposite: I can play whatever I want." ~ Marcy Donelson