and it's usually a very good sign, when a comedian has to announce that. >> brown: tig notaro, in a recentrmance at the bentzen ball comedy festival at the lincoln theater in washington, d.c. afterwards, i asked notaro how much of her routine that night had been worked through. >> i jotted down a few notes of what i wanted to go over, but my mother-in-law was actually laughing at me in the car ride down from new york today, because i said when we were pulling into d.c., "i wonder what i'm going to say tonight?" and she was like, "what?" whether i'm at a party or a bar that's very crowded, i also love to act like i've lost a very small dog. and, that is a real joy, to see people look for a dog that's not there. >> brown: but the performance becomes about almost every-day life, right? >> definitely. it coulde anything. i like to give myself the freedom to do a joke, or tell a story, or improv, or do something physical. just whatever strikes me in the moment. >> brown: five years ago, notaro was on her way up, performing stand-up and appearing on late- night tv, when she was hit with a series