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Why Tig Notaro is 'maniacally laughing' at her worst year

A death in the family. A major breakup. And two near-death experiences. Comedian Tig Notaro revisits her worst year in One Mississippi.
A death in the family. A major breakup. And two near-death experiences. Comedian Tig Notaro revisits her worst year in One Mississippi. (Ben Shannon, CBC/Ken Lund, Flickr CC)

When Tig Notaro thinks back to her cancer diagnosis — she laughs. Hard.

So it makes sense that One Mississippi, the stand-up's new fictionalized TV series, finds the comedic beats in what she describes as "really, really disturbing, bordering on a horror film[-like]" moments in her real life.

The TV series is based on Notaro's dizzying 2012. In one year: she nearly died from a bacterial infection. Then her mother died, unexpectedly after a freak accident. Then her girlfriend dumped her. And finally, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She admits to guest host Candy Palmater that sculpting the balance between trauma and comedy was hard won. Notaro and co-writer Diablo Cody would look at each other and say "I know this is supposed to be a comedy but this is the best we can do."

WEB EXTRA | The trailer for season one of One Mississippi streaming now on Amazon, below.