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My name is Lee Hawkins.
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I ve been a journalist for over 25 years.
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On my new podcast, What Happened in Alabama, I get answers to some of the hardest questions about how things came to be for many black Americans and the truth that must come before any reconciliation can happen.
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I investigate my family history, my upbringing in Minnesota, and my father s painful nightmares about growing up in Alabama.
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What Happened in Alabama is a new series confronting the cycles of trauma for myself, my family, and for many Black Americans.
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Listen now.
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Listeners, a few weeks ago, I asked you to send in the names of songs that have been on your playlist lately, and here s a roundup of suggestions.
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Chelsea in Colorado writes, a major one in my bath time playlist is It Hurts Until It Doesn t by Mothers and Sharon Van Etten s cover of The End of the World.
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Emily in Sweden wrote, I ve been having the soundtrack for Heartstopper on repeat.
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Heartstopper is a British Netflix series based on the comic book with the same name.
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Jane says it s... That s a song.
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Might as well add that to the playlist.
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But Jane says, thanks for the hot tip on Sara Bareilles  Someone Who Loves Me.
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So good.
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These days it s Morning Sun by Melody Gardeau that s on repeat for me.
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Elizabeth can t stop listening to I Love You So by the Walters.
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Her 13-year-old son introduced her to the song.
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These are fantastic.
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Thank you so much for writing in, and I look forward to listening.
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And also, if you re wondering, yes, I m still on tour, so come see me in person.
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Hello Again is the tour.
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That s the name of it.
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Tickets are at TigNotaro.com.
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Now on with the show.
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Do you cry even harder over spilled chocolate milk?
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I cry and then I lick it up off the floor.
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This is Don t Ask Tig, I m Tig Notaro, asking you to please be kind if the advice I give you is a mess.
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My next guest is a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and composer.
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He s released seven studio and three live albums.
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He s collaborated with music legends like Elton John, Joni Mitchell, and David Byrne, and has made a name for himself in the classical world for composing not one, but two operas.
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Rufus Wainwright, I m so glad to have you here with me on Don t Ask Tig.
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Thank you so much, happy to be here.
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Good, good, I am very happy to see you.
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Are you in a library?
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Yeah, I m in my home here, which has an octagonal shaped library.
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Not because I read a lot, but it just looks cool.
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It looks very cool.
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Yeah, I do read somewhat, but don t let it fool you.
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How much is somewhat?
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I try to read every night a little bit.
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It puts me to sleep, actually.
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So I don t plow through books.
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I kind of snowplow through books.
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I m probably more like you, where I ll pick it up, read, and then snooze.
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The way books were meant to be read, right?
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Yes, totally.
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Now, your song Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk that I referenced at the top of the show is about walking a tightrope between having a grand time and losing yourself in the gutter.
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Yes, yes.
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Is that a balance you re still trying to strike these days?
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Well, I mean, I think concerning other issues other than, you know, drugs and alcohol, because that I seem to have managed to, you know, set aside and so forth.
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But yes, with food, with indulging my child, our daughter, and, you know, not being a responsible parent.
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at times, also maybe with shopping and stuff like that, I still navigate that tightrope, though it s not as dangerous as crystal meth and stuff.
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And so you feel like you re getting the balance down or you re still on a tightrope in those areas?
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Yeah, well, I married a German man, my husband, Jorn, and he was brought up in a very traditional kind of middle-class German upbringing where, you know, you cried over spilled milk.
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is a major problem.
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So I rely a lot on his sort of intense DNA.
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Now, I m curious what song, I mean, as a comedian, I have my stories and jokes that I can t wait to perform.
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And do you have a song like that?
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that gives you the most enjoyment?
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I mean, that s an interesting question.
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There s songs that I ve written that I m happy can bring about a good reaction.
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Probably the most famous song that I sing is Hallelujah, which I didn t write.
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That was by Leonard Cohen.
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And it s a very good song, obviously.
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But I get a bit annoyed
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that that s sort of so requested and become such an emblem.
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So there s a couple of other songs, like Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk, or The Art Teacher, that get a rise out of people.
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And that makes me feel good.
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Yeah.
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And what about when you re presenting a new song?
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Is that even more exciting?
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Yes, it can be.
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It really depends on the night.
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Also, where I am, I m a strong believer in geographical force in terms of music.
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Like, for instance, if I m in the South, and to sing a, you know, I don t know, like a cowboy song, a heart song, something kind of romantic, the sky kind of
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helps along.
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Dictates.
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Yeah.
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Geography actually depends a lot, believe it or not.
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I haven t heard somebody reference a cowboy song in a while.
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Is there one in particular that you like to sing?
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There s a song called Old Paint.
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I m making a bit of a folk record at the moment.
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And I just finished tracking an old Everly Brothers song called Barbara Allen, which it s not really a cowboy song.
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It s more of a murder ballad.
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Oh, OK.
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Close enough.
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Yeah, but it s a folk song.
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And it s something that people would sing around the fire.
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And then before they did God knows what.
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Right.
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Cowboys were always sitting around a fire.
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Yeah.
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Judy Garland is someone that s obviously a big inspiration to you.
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Yes.
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Tell me about that whole relationship to her as a musician and performer.
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On June 10th this year, she s turning 100, so it s her 100th birthday, and I am celebrating that in both New York and Chicago with some shows at the City Winery.
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She s of course not alive anymore.
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No, no, no, but she s a wild card, that woman, so you never know.
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So yeah, we re going to celebrate her birthday.
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And I ve been singing her songs for almost 20 years now.
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It started when I was very young.
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Somewhere Over the Rainbow became my calling card as a four-year-old to appease drunken adults in the late 80s.
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And so it started with that.
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And then I just kept wanting to sing her material.
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And eventually, in my 20s, I got a little sick of being so obsessed with her.
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that I felt I needed a sort of exorcism.
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Wow.
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And so the concert that I did, where I did her 1961 Carnegie Hall concert at Carnegie Hall myself, was a way of kind of getting her out of my system.
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And it worked.
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How interesting.
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I didn t think about her as much, but she s back.
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She has returned.
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As you said, she s a wild card.
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Gotta keep your eye on her.
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And she might actually appear at the concert, because she s a pretty strong chick.
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Well, I m wondering, this is an advice show.
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Yes.
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And I m wondering if there s someone out there in the world who you would like to give advice to right now.
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Whether they re listening or not, chances are they re listening.
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I mean, come on, there s billions of people listening to this episode right now.
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Who do you want to give advice to?
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There s a lot of singers.
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who I d like to maybe get into a room.
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Let s hear it.
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You know, I think Billie Eilish has an amazing voice.
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Uh-huh.
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I m totally jealous of her success.
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Yeah.
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But I am wondering, like, just the way she pronounces certain words and stuff.
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And this is actually stuff that I used to do as a singer.
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And I mean this wholeheartedly.
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I would just like to get her in a room and be like, let s sing a song together.
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That would be amazing, by the way.
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You know, and just sort of...
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you know, challenge each other.
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Maybe she wants to challenge me, you know?
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I bet she would.
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I bet she s got some words for you.
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Yeah, yeah.
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All right, well, let s do it.
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Let s get the Billie Eilish and Rufus Wainwright duet going.
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Because it does seem like she s heading towards this more kind of traditional, like some of the outfits she s been wearing are very kind of Marilyn Monroe-esque.
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And she s, you know, she s basically, she needs me.
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And her whole career will collapse unless we meet.
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And I m just warning her that, you know, it s now or never, babe.
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All right.
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There you go, Billy.
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Straight from Rufus.
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And what s your track record on giving advice?
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Pretty bad, actually, as myself.
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You know that band, the Scissor Sisters?
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Yeah.
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Well, I m fairly good friends with Jake Shears, who s in the band.
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And I was actually
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going out on a couple of dates with him many years ago, right before their first album came out.
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And so he actually was playing me all these demos of that first record.
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And I said, you know, Jake, it s so great what you re doing, and it s so fabulous, but you really can t expect much success on your first release.
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You have to wait a couple of hours.
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Anyways, it went right to number one, you know, in England.
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In England!
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That s perfect right after your advice on Billie Eilish.
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That s hilarious.
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If you would like advice on how to tone down your career a little and be a little more esoteric.
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And sit in a library, then Rufus is the one for you.
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And read for five minutes a night.
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And go to sleep.
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Well, are you ready to give some advice to my listeners?
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Yes, I am.
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I am.
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Always.
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Okay.
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Well, our first question has to do with lyricism and self-confidence.
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Okay.
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Kay Rae writes, Dear Tig, I m turning 30 in two months.
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I struggle holding regular jobs for longer than a year at a time.
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I m a gifted songwriter, singer, musician, not Taylor Dane level, but still talented.
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I ve just never put the pieces together to launch myself into music as a full-time gig.
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I m always broke and my family worries.
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I feel like, what the hell am I doing?
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Is a small, self-sufficient music career out the window for me?
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You are my hero, Tig.
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You made a way for yourself, but how did you do it?
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Did you ever feel like I do?
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Is it too late in time to admit my dreams are dead?
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Oh, hey, Ray.
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First of all, you re turning 30 in two months.
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You have time to make stuff happen.
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I think I didn t start doing stand up till I was 26, maybe.
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I want to know about the Taylor Dayne reference, though.
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Is that because you love Taylor Dayne?
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I have a 15-minute story about run-ins that I ve had over the years with Taylor Day.
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I know it seems kind of random.
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Because that, to me, was a real giveaway.
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I know.
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I would have stopped and said, Rufus, you might not know this, but years ago— We have a major problem here.
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I would say I started doing that, like,
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maybe almost like 13 years ago, I started telling that story and it s on my first album.
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Anyway, you ll have to do a deep dive on my old stuff when you re five minutes a night and then I go to sleep.
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So I just feel like you can t put it in your head that your age is going to dictate what your future is.
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I think that if you re passionate about something and you re driven to do it, likely nothing is going to get in your way trying to see that through because it s like,
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Once you get that bite, that taste of it, it s hard to stop if you are truly meant in your heart and soul to be doing this.
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I know a lot of people can look at things like, oh, if you re meant to be doing this, then you will be as big as Rufus Wainwright or Billie Eilish.
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But sometimes you can be meant to do it.
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And it doesn t necessarily mean that you re going to be on that level of the stage.
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My general rule with anything is that it takes 10 years before you start to understand what you re doing.
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Unless you re the Scissor Sisters.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, but they re, you know, they signed a deal with the devil and they re satanic worshipers.
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So unless you worship Satan, it takes 10 years.
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And after 10 years, if it s not working out for you, I like to say to artists, yes, keep going.
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But one of the most noble things that people can do is to walk away and do something else.
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Like, I am always most impressed by people who have tried and tried and tried, and then at a certain point, after a long time, have said, you know what, I m going to shift gears here and do something else.
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And that, to me, is a better sign of character.
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than someone who just keeps banging their head against... Well, it depends on what you want, though, because if it s in your heart and soul to do this, you maybe don t need to make money at it or have thousands of people at your show, but it could still be a very fulfilling part of your life.
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But sometimes that transformation that someone can make where they totally transform their lives into something else that they never... like sometimes I wish I could say, I want to stop doing this and become a gardener or whatever, or become a fashion model, which I could, you know, but... Do you like to garden?
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I like to garden, theoretically.
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OK, sure.
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We all love to garden.
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Are we doing it?
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I don t know.
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I also want to say my friend Derek, he had stage four throat cancer and healed from that and put out his first album.
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And he s in his 50s.
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Wow.
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He s been opening for Billy Bob Thornton.
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That s amazing.
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The whole pandemic kind of made him realize, I got to do what I ve always wanted to do.
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And it can come at any point.
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And if you ve heard the podcast before, you ve probably heard me reference the old lady from the Where s the Beef commercials.
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I mean, come on, she didn t hit the big time until she was a couple of steps away from the grave.
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But I think you just have to figure out what it is you want.
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If you really wanna do it, you gotta be at it all the time and realize that maybe you re not gonna be Rufus Wainwright or Billie Eilish, but also you re not even 30 yet.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Would you say there s still time there for K. Ray?
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Oh yeah, there s still way.
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Yeah, so.
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There s no time left for Fay Wray, but there s time for Kay Wray.
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That s right.
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And if you want to know how I did it, it was truly doing stand-up nonstop and also taking my own advice and allowing myself to grow and change.
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So those are some tips on how I did it.
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I wish you the best of luck with your music, whether it turns into a career or not.
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Rufus, we re gonna pause for a short break, and then I ve got more listener questions, so stay put.
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I m Ben Nadafafri, host of the history show The Last Archive, and I want to tell you about a new series we re running in our feed.
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It s called The Deadline, six essays written and read by Jill Lepore, the New Yorker writer, American historian, and founding host of our show.
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These are incredible essays on everything from the history of cryogenics to the Silicon Valley gospel of disruption.
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And at the end of each essay, I interview Jill about her craft as a writer.
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You can listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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And we are back.
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Rufus, this question involves a French-Canadian like yourself.
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Do you speak any French?
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I m speaking French now.
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You were born in New York, right?
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Yes, I was born in New York, but then brought up in Montreal.
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Okay.
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And so you re totally fluent.
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I am totally fluent, yes.
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And if you grow up in Montreal, is that just the case?
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Not always, but my mother was half French, and when I grew up there in the 70s and 80s, there was a serious separatist movement, and there were laws put in place where you weren t allowed to speak English at certain times of the day.
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It was
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It was pretty brutal.
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So I had to learn.
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The government made you learn French.
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I don t know if it s as intense now, but I learned the language, even though it was totally fascist, but I learned it.
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Fascist French.
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See, I lived in Texas as a kid, a part of my childhood, and we had to learn how to two-step and square dance and line dance.
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It wasn t enforced by the government, but it felt like it in gym class.
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So, all right.
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Alex writes, Hi Tig, my boyfriend and I are planning on having kids in the near future.
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My boyfriend is French Canadian and I only have a basic understanding of French.
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My fear is that when my future kid starts to rebel, they will talk about me to my partner or their friends in French and I won t be able to understand or be a part of the conversation.
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So how do I deal with the possibility of not understanding them?
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SPEAKER_02
Thanks for any advice.
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Alex, learn the language.
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Yeah, learn French.
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That would be the quickest way from point A to point B, or B to A, whichever direction you wanna go.
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I have to say, I have an interesting view of this, obviously, because I am a gay man and I have a child.
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My husband and I, we share custody of our daughter, Viva, with her mom.
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And we also, my husband speaks German,
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I thankfully speak French, and Viva, our daughter, speaks French as well.
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I will say that, yes, you can learn the language, French.
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The same can t be said about German.
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Because German is really hard.
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And I wish I could learn German and get more into that pocket.
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Do you know any?
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I know less now than I did before.
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It s like, it s very, it s a really tricky language.
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So just also, yeah, so learn French, because it s not, and I love German, don t get me wrong, I think it s an amazing language.
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But learn French, because at least you don t have to learn German.
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And do you find yourself hearing conversations and not understanding it and finding yourself frustrated?
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Or are you just like, ah, who cares?
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Look, I have given up.
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I want to learn Spanish.
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But, you know, German, you don t have to learn German, so you re going to be fine.
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That would be my advice.
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I just really feel like there s so many, I mean, it s easy for me to say because I haven t done it.
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I have purchased one of those apps to try and learn another language.
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I thought, oh, I ll do this on the road.
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And I did a couple of days and I still don t know anything.
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But there seems to be
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so many opportunities through different classes online or apps or whatever it is.
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I have to say, you know, the most amazing story that I ever heard concerning anything like this is that a friend of mine, his father is Dutch and his mother is from Switzerland and she didn t speak any Dutch and she was dating the father and he was a diplomat.
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They decided to get married and they were living in Amsterdam and the husband said, okay, well, you can marry me,
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but you have to learn Dutch.
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And the mother was like, okay, fine, I ll learn Dutch.
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Anyway, so they got engaged.
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And then the next day, they went to a party.
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And she was speaking French with someone at the party.
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And he walked up to her and he told the person he s like, she s not allowed to she can only speak Dutch.
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SPEAKER_03
And he would only let her speak Dutch.
1
SPEAKER_03
Like for the next two years, and she like forced her
1
SPEAKER_03
to speak it very, you know, whatever.
1
SPEAKER_03
It was another time.
1
SPEAKER_03
But maybe her husband, who speaks French, maybe they can get a little strict about it.
1
SPEAKER_03
Like, we have to speak French.
1
SPEAKER_02
I mean, Alex, I think you can make this happen.
1
SPEAKER_02
However you handle it.
1
SPEAKER_03
Don t ever speak English again.
1
SPEAKER_02
Right.
1
SPEAKER_02
That s it.
1
SPEAKER_02
You re done.
1
SPEAKER_02
You re just born.
1
SPEAKER_02
You re an infant joining this planet and learn how to speak.
1
SPEAKER_03
Along with your child.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
Alex, as they say in Quebec, bonne chance.
1
SPEAKER_02
Did I say it right?
1
SPEAKER_02
Bonne chance.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, you did say it.
1
SPEAKER_03
You said it very good.
1
SPEAKER_02
You say it better than I do though.
1
SPEAKER_03
You mean good luck, you mean, yeah?
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
All right, Rufus, this next question comes to us from Kate.
1
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Kate writes, my husband s sister married the rudest person I ve ever met.
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He walks into family events and won t greet anyone, leaves without saying goodbye, will give one word answers, and rolls his eyes at everyone.
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SPEAKER_02
He comes from a rich, uptight family.
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SPEAKER_02
After meeting him the first time, I said, nice to meet you.
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And he responded with a huff and went, yeah.
1
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I have decided to just ignore him.
1
SPEAKER_02
However, now we have a kid and he s rude to her.
1
SPEAKER_02
She s only four and starting to understand how people treat each other.
1
SPEAKER_02
She notices that he won t say hi back to her.
1
SPEAKER_02
I don t even think he has said a full sentence to her.
1
SPEAKER_02
How should I show her how to act around someone that isn t being nice to you?
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SPEAKER_02
That is so hard.
1
SPEAKER_02
I mean, I ve seen terrible people.
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I ve seen rude.
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SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
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SPEAKER_02
Kate, if you are not exaggerating, this is maybe the rudest person I ve ever heard of.
1
SPEAKER_02
Have you run into anything like that?
1
SPEAKER_03
Well, yes.
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SPEAKER_03
I have to deal with several people in my life that act like that.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
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SPEAKER_03
But it s, um, yeah, it s, it s a tough one because it is in my family actually.
1
SPEAKER_03
So,
1
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What do you do?
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SPEAKER_03
I think I m still trying to figure out.
1
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I try to be as positive as possible to my daughter concerning this issue.
1
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But on the other hand, I talked to a therapist.
1
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And maybe, I don t know, get a therapist.
1
SPEAKER_02
I think it might even be helpful to talk.
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SPEAKER_02
If you re saying that your child is understanding how people treat each other, then she might be able to understand if you explain to her that you re going to run into people sometimes that don t treat people nicely or
1
SPEAKER_02
Maybe don t even point him out because that might not be helpful, but maybe just explain that there are people that will not be very friendly and just don t think it has anything to do with you.
1
SPEAKER_02
and to always just keep your joy and be friendly or even avoid them, you know, because it seems like this person would prefer to be avoided.
1
SPEAKER_02
So even teaching your children, if somebody isn t friendly or wanting to talk, then avoid them.
1
SPEAKER_02
But that is rough.
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SPEAKER_02
If I knew that person would be there, I feel like I would try to avoid it.
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SPEAKER_02
And I know it s family events and whatever, but
1
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for sure avoid the person, if you can, because they don t deserve a, hey, how s it going?
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SPEAKER_02
After a certain point, just a nod and a hello and move it along.
1
SPEAKER_02
Right?
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, I would say that.
1
SPEAKER_03
But also sometimes I think with these inter-family
1
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dynamics and pitfalls and minefields.
1
SPEAKER_03
It is good to talk to someone about what it s bringing out in you, like maybe some trauma that you experienced with someone else.
1
SPEAKER_03
I find, for instance, with certain members of my family that I have problems with, it then relates to things that maybe happened to me as a kid concerning my own dad and stuff, because we had kind of a tough time.
1
SPEAKER_03
I m a big therapy person, so I always think that that helps.
1
SPEAKER_03
Because if it s a chance for you to get into some of those areas for yourself, that s what I tend to do.
1
SPEAKER_03
But I m also, you know, an artist who s trying to, you know, ruin happiness all the time.
1
SPEAKER_03
Make, you know, have a dramatic fall, get a hit song out of it.
1
SPEAKER_03
Just write a hit song about it.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, that s a good idea.
1
SPEAKER_02
Send in your hit song.
1
SPEAKER_02
I would love to hear that.
1
SPEAKER_02
Kate, that s incredible.
1
SPEAKER_02
That s awesome advice.
1
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I m all for therapy.
1
SPEAKER_02
It s been so, so incredibly helpful.
1
SPEAKER_02
So write us back, send in your hit song, let us know if any of this is helpful.
1
SPEAKER_02
Rufus, our last listener question concerns a divisive dispute over bathroom etiquette.
1
SPEAKER_02
Steph writes, please help me settle this debate with my girlfriend.
1
SPEAKER_02
Peeing in the shower, yes or no?
1
SPEAKER_02
I m in the peeing camp, always before the soap though.
1
SPEAKER_02
It saves water and countless precious seconds of your time.
1
SPEAKER_02
Thanks so much.
1
SPEAKER_03
I m pro pee.
1
SPEAKER_03
What are you?
1
SPEAKER_02
I don t feel one way or the other.
1
SPEAKER_02
Like I wish I cared.
1
SPEAKER_03
I m pretty strong about it.
1
SPEAKER_03
You know why?
1
SPEAKER_03
Because apparently peeing on your feet gets rid of toe fungus.
1
SPEAKER_02
Well, I mean, I don t remember what podcast I mentioned this on.
1
SPEAKER_02
It might have been my other one, Tig and Cheryl True Story.
1
SPEAKER_02
But somebody told me, and maybe this was a prank, that the first stream of urine in the morning, you put on your face for acne.
1
SPEAKER_03
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_02
I ve never done it, but I ve heard that.
1
SPEAKER_02
But I have heard that when people are scared to sit down on a toilet seat that has urine on it, I ve also heard it doesn t matter because it s sterile.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_03
I m pro-pee.
1
SPEAKER_03
I m pro-pee.
1
SPEAKER_02
Well, then I can t help but join the march, pro-pee.
1
SPEAKER_02
We ll have to get our flags together and start a march, right?
1
SPEAKER_03
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
1
SPEAKER_02
Steph, you can put that argument to rest now.
1
SPEAKER_03
The yellow brick road.
1
SPEAKER_02
There you go.
1
SPEAKER_02
Ties it all right back to Judy.
1
SPEAKER_02
My grandmother actually looked a lot like Judy Garland.
1
SPEAKER_03
Really?
1
SPEAKER_03
Really?
1
SPEAKER_02
I d be curious for you to see and tell me if you see it.
1
SPEAKER_02
OK.
1
SPEAKER_02
OK.
1
SPEAKER_02
But Rufus, before I let you go, there s one last thing for us to do.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yes.
1
SPEAKER_02
Since you re a musician and this is an advice podcast, I ve chosen a final segment that combines those two themes.
1
SPEAKER_02
It s called Advice in a Song.
1
SPEAKER_02
What is some of the best advice you ve ever heard in the lyrics of a song?
1
SPEAKER_03
Oh, God.
1
SPEAKER_03
Oh, my God.
1
SPEAKER_03
OK.
1
SPEAKER_03
I mean, I was brought up with songs.
1
SPEAKER_02
Sure.
1
SPEAKER_03
So I guess I have to go straight to my mother, because my mother, she wrote a song about me called Firstborn Son when I was born.
1
SPEAKER_03
And it wasn t really about me only.
1
SPEAKER_03
It was just about the phenomenon of firstborn sons in general.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yes.
1
SPEAKER_03
And the chorus is, you know, firstborn son, always the one, no matter what comes next, no matter what comes along.
1
SPEAKER_03
He s his mother s favorite, his grandmother s too.
1
SPEAKER_03
He ll break their hearts and he ll break yours too.
1
SPEAKER_03
So that s not the best advice.
1
SPEAKER_03
But then later in the bridge, she goes, some of them make it, some of them don t, some of them can t, some of them won t.
1
SPEAKER_03
Others won t grow old.
1
SPEAKER_03
I always took that as a cautionary tale, that even though being the firstborn, you get all this attention, especially in a matriarchal family, you gotta watch out and you gotta grow up eventually.
1
SPEAKER_03
So it s like a personal thing.
1
SPEAKER_02
I was hearing that as like a forever young type thing.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, you are more apt to be forever young, but that s not necessarily the best outcome for these firstborn sons.
1
SPEAKER_02
And how are you doing with that advice?
1
SPEAKER_03
I think I m doing good.
1
SPEAKER_03
A lot of it has to do with being a father myself now and realizing that, unlike my parents, I am now number two in the equation.
1
SPEAKER_03
Because my parents, neither of them were, it was just a different time period.
1
SPEAKER_03
They weren t as adept at sort of stepping back and letting the kids take center stage.
1
SPEAKER_03
So I m better at that now, though there are pangs when I want to kill.
1
SPEAKER_02
Well, we ll end on that lovely note.
1
SPEAKER_02
Do you have anything that you would like to promote or talk about before we go?
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, well, I m doing these Judy Garland shows.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_03
June 5th, 7th and 8th and 10th in New York at City Winery and also in Chicago after.
1
SPEAKER_03
So those are going to be great.
1
SPEAKER_03
And then I have shows all over Europe this summer.
1
SPEAKER_03
So they re doing my opera Hadrian in Spain.
1
SPEAKER_03
on July 27th in Madrid and the July 29th in Barcelona, so.
1
SPEAKER_02
That s incredible.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
Thank you so much, and you re a real talent, Rufus.
1
SPEAKER_02
Oh, thank you.
1
SPEAKER_02
And it was a pleasure talking to you.
1
SPEAKER_03
Thank you so much.
1
SPEAKER_02
I ll see you soon.
1
SPEAKER_03
Bye-bye.
1
SPEAKER_02
Bye.
1
SPEAKER_02
And now that the show s over, head over to TigNotaro.com to buy tickets to see me on my Hello Again tour.
1
SPEAKER_02
New cities are being added all the time, so see you there.
1
SPEAKER_01
So much
1
SPEAKER_02
Don t Ask Tig is hosted by me, Tig Notaro.
1
SPEAKER_02
It s produced by Thomas Ouellette, Shana Deloria, and Ryan Lohr.
1
SPEAKER_02
Our executive producer and editor is Beth Perlman.
1
SPEAKER_02
Sound mixing by Derek Ramirez and Rachel Brees.
1
SPEAKER_02
Digital production by James Napoli.
1
SPEAKER_02
Talent booking by Marianne Ways.
1
SPEAKER_02
Production support from Pizza Shark.
1
SPEAKER_02
Our theme music is Friend and Tig by Edie Burkell and Kyle Crusham, and Listen to Your Heart by Edie Burkell.
1
SPEAKER_02
Special thanks to Hunter Seidman.
1
SPEAKER_02
APM Studios executives in charge are Chandra Kavati, Alex Schaffert, and Joanne Griffith.
1
SPEAKER_02
Concept developed by Tracy Mumford.
1
SPEAKER_02
Our executive consultant is Dean Capello and Gobsmack Studios.
1
SPEAKER_02
You can always ask for advice at DontAskTig.org.
1
SPEAKER_02
Just write in with your problem or send us a voice memo.
1
SPEAKER_02
Remember to follow us on social media at DontAskTig.
1
SPEAKER_02
DontAskTig is a production of American Public Media.
1
SPEAKER_02
And as always, thanks, Dana, and I ll tell Becky.
1
SPEAKER_02
Hi, I m stand-up comedian and sex symbol Tig Notaro.
1
SPEAKER_02
And I m actor and writer Cheryl Hines.
1
SPEAKER_02
Before Cheryl and I got into the big business of podcasting together, we were just simply friends.
1
SPEAKER_00
And we re still friends.
1
SPEAKER_00
But now we talk about a different documentary every week on our podcast, Tig and Cheryl, True Story.
1
SPEAKER_00
So whether you love documentaries or just want to hear us slowly lose our minds, check out Tig and Cheryl, True Story, wherever you get your podcasts.
1
SPEAKER_02
Alright, cool.