Tig Notaro becomes a cartoon in the delightful trailer for her animated HBO comedy special

In May, Tig Notaro announced that she was working on a new comedy special for HBO that would be completely animated, something that a press release at the time suggested had never been done before. That seemed unlikely, if only because… how could it be true that nobody had thought to fully animate a comedy special before? It seems like such a fun idea!

Well, now HBO Max has released a trailer for Notaro’s special, and get this: It looks fun! Animated comedy routines on their own are nothing new, but one of the delightful little gags here is that Notaro does some crowd work, meaning some members of the audience are animated as well, which actually sells the idea more that this is an animated comedy special and not just a cartoon about a woman standing in front of a curtain. Also, it looks like different segments will be animated in different styles, which helps highlight the zaniness of Notaro’s jokes and pairs in a funny way with her generally understated delivery. Basically, it all seems like a great idea. The special was directed by Greg Franklin (from animation studio Six Point Harness, which was behind “Hair Love” and “Lazor Wulf”) and written by Notaro (obviously). It was also co-produced by Ellen DeGeneres, but that’s fine, nobody needs to make a big deal about that. You can see the trailer below, and Tig Notaro: Drawn will be available on July 24. If you need more Tig Notaro immediately, though, she was also sort of a cartoon in Zack Snyder’s Army Of The Dead, since she was edited into the movie with computer effects to replace a disgraced comedian who doesn’t need to be named here. Army Of The Dead isn’t as fun as this trailer for the comedy special is, though.