Breast cancer funny? How comedian Tig Notaro says she did it

(CBS News) Comedian Tig Notaro, 41, became famous for turning her tragedy into comedy. The day after being diagnosed with stage two breast cancer she performed a 30-minute comedy set in Los Angeles.

The opening line was "Good evening. Hello, I have cancer. How are you?" The audience loved it. Her performance sparked a storm of media attention. Comedian Louis C.K. tweeted:

The comedy set has sold more than 75,000 copies so far.

Notaro said on "CBS This Morning" that she wasn't sure how the show would be received. She said, "I was scared I might offend people. Then I was scared that somebody in the audience maybe had cancer, a loved one (who wouldn't think this is funny). Then I was like, wait, I have cancer. So I can -- I felt I could go out and do that."

"I was not expecting the reaction," Notaro said. "I was on stage, people were laughing and people were crying. And people were listening. It was such a mixture, and the entire audience, I always tell people, it was the exact -- the perfect people that were there that night."

Since her diagnosis, Notaro had a double mastectomy. "It didn't spread. I had further testing that said that I only have a seven percent recurrence rate," she said. "I feel really good."

For more with Notaro, watch the video in the player above.