Tig Notaro's success story would be incomplete without mentioning her wife and biggest supporter, Stephanie Allynne.
The Hello Again comedian met Allynne on the set of In a World in 2013 and the pair later reconnected at the Sundance Film Festival. Their working relationship quickly turned personal, providing Notaro with much-needed support during a difficult period in her life, including the death of her mother and her own diagnosis of stage two breast cancer, which prompted a double mastectomy.
After these health battles, the comedian’s romantic relationship with Allynne flourished, and they became a staple in each other's lives.
"Even though I'd had many great relationships and wonderful people, and fun, and loving, and all that stuff, it was more just, 'Oh my gosh, I can't believe after that hell that this grounding person has come along.’ ” Notaro told Cosmopolitan in 2015, the same year the couple got married.
After building their connection, Allynne and the comedian realized they both wanted kids. “The first year we were together, I put things aside and just wanted to focus on our relationship, but it was going to come back up because that was a focus," Notaro said on the Death, Sex & Money podcast in 2018.
The couple share two twin sons, Max and Finn, born via surrogate on June 26, 2016.
So who is Tig Notaro’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Stephanie Allynne and her relationship with the comedian.
She was born in Southern California
Allynne was born in southern California. She moved to Buffalo, New York, shortly after her birth and spent some of her youth in the northern city before moving back to Los Angeles at age 18.
Speaking about her youth with online magazine, Trainwreck'd Society, Allyne said, "I had always been funny, not in the class clown way, more in the whisper a funny comment to the person sitting next to me way. I’m still that way I think."
She is heavily involved in the L.A. comedy scene
After moving back to L.A., Allynne joined comedy troupes such as the Upright Citizens Brigade and The Groundlings. She became a regular performer in shows like ASSSSCAT and Wild Horses and was part of the improv team Last Day of School.
She felt an immediate spark with Notaro
Allynne has talked about her surprise in having an instant connection with Notaro because she had always identified as straight.
“Everything about her felt right. I knew I liked her, I knew I cared about her and that sent me into an identity crisis spiral,” Allyne explained to Cosmopolitan.
“I felt the need to label myself, was I gay? Was I bi? Was I still straight? Was I ever straight? etc. It took me six months to realize those labels were ridiculous," she continued. "Once I was able to own my true feelings it was all easy and beautiful. I now don’t believe in the labels.”
She married Notaro in October 2015
The couple exchanged vows in Notaro’s hometown of Pass Christian, Mississippi in October 2015. The wedding included celebrity guests such as Sarah Silverman, Alicia Silverstone, Lake Bell, Lucy Lawless and Kate Micucci, among other family and friends.
The reception took place at a family member's home, per the Sun Herald.
“I think the one thing I haven’t had is a relationship that fulfilled me and made me excited about being with that person forever, and I have that now, for the first time in my life," Notaro said about her future wife to HuffPost in 2014.
She shares two children with Notaro
The couple welcomed twin boys, Max and Finn, via a surrogate, on June 26, 2016.
A few weeks before their arrival, Notaro opened up to PEOPLE about her excitement in becoming a new mom. “But I think more than anything, I really can’t wait to just learn who these little people are. I can’t wait to just watch them, find out their interests, to put cute clothes on them," she said. "I picture them as toddlers running around in our yard.”
Notaro announced their birth on Facebook, writing, “Max and Finn Notaro arrived happy, healthy and really, really cute."
During a June 2024 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Notaro said that she and Allynne had only recently discovered that Max and Finn "didn't know we were gay."
“Their school is six minutes away from our house, and at minute three we were in the front seat of the car talking about something about gay,” she says. “Our son Finn leans forward and says, ‘You’re gay?’ " she said.
She said she was feeling "insecure" about whether or not her kids would be okay with this development, but when she asked her sons what they thought about their moms being gay, Finn responded, "I love my family."
She has notable acting credits in comedy series and movies
Allynne is an accomplished writer, performer and producer with acting credits in series such as One Mississippi, Room 104 and Twin Peaks. She's also recognized for her roles in films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, including In a World (where she met her wife), People Places Things and Tig.
Additionally, Allynne appeared in The L Word reboot on Showtime.
“It [The L Word] really is an iconic queer show. The original series meant a lot to me and definitely aided in my understanding of myself and sexuality.” she told Heavy.com.
Allyne’s comedy career also includes roles in several series such as Comedy Bang Bang, 2 Broke Girls, The Mindy Project, Key & Peele, Maron and Kroll Show.
She was a writer and director for the film Am I OK?
Alongside her wife, Allynne directed the film Am I OK? — a comedy-drama that premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The movie began streaming on Max in June 2024.
The movie, written by The Ellen Degeneres Show writer Lauren Pomerantz, mirrors Allynne's own late-in-life realization of her sexuality, as she told NBC News.
“It’s so similar, just that feeling of, ‘Oh my god, how have I not acted on this? How am I so late to this?’ And then the decision to be like, ‘OK, I’m gonna do this.’ It totally was my exact experience," Allyne shared.
Dakota Johnson, who stars in the movie, joined the project through a personal connection with Notaro.
Judd Apatow is producing one of her upcoming projects
In January 2022, Deadline announced that Allynne was set to direct Time and Space, a feature film she conceptualized with Notaro during the COVID-19 pandemic. Produced by Judd Apatow and her own production company with Notaro, Something Fierce, the screenplay centers on a lesbian couple's story when they trade their L.A. lifestyle for rural upstate New York.
Notaro told Deadline, “There was a lot of inspiration from the pandemic ... It was inspired by hearing about conflicts that couples were going through while also thinking how crazy that must have been to have issues when you can’t get away from each other.”