DELRAY BEACH – With stand-up comedy dominated by men, there’s never really been much public concern about how pregnancy could affect a comic’s career.
But the desire to be a comedian while raising a family can present a tug-of-war for female comedians. The article below examines how some female comedians dealt with their pregnancies, and offers some tips for female comedians considering starting a family. It an issue most comedy fans never consider, but it’s truly a hurdle for many in comedy.
Applause Break has been in the room when families join a comedian backstage after shows. It’s truly a cool experience to share. The thought of that same comedian performing while babysitting their child on stage seems absurd, but at least one female comic literally put her baby on her back and took the stage.
That must have been some show to see – and one well behaved baby.
Now that today’s society inexplicably postulates that men, too, can have babies, maybe this is an area of stand-up that will garner more attention.
For now, Applause Break salutes those female comedians who manage to pursue their careers while raising children. It truly is impressive.
The remainder of today’s Stand-Up Spotlight highlights mega comedian Jim Gaffigan – a noted family man. Gaffigan fans will certainly enjoy these three features.
Let’s keep Tuesday’s family friendly funny.
STAND-UP RUNDOWN – March 14, 2023
‘I did standup with my baby strapped to me’ – the comics motherhood can’t stop
Some lied. Some hid it. And few even mined it for jokes. Becoming a mum used to be near-fatal to a comedian’s career. But now, in a Mother’s Day special, we meet the new wave taking on taboos
‘Before I had kids, I swam in an ocean of time,” says Josie Long, who has been doing standup since she was a teenager. “I did a lot of touring and was away for long periods. If I wanted, I could write all night. I slept in all the time.” Now she has two children and has just about managed to carve out three days a week for work.
Jim Gaffigan on Doing Clean Comedy, Being a Serious Actor and Why He’ll Never Retire His ‘Inside Voice’
In his 2013 book Dad Is Fat, Jim Gaffigan commented on how unlikely it was that someone like him would end up being a family man. “Ten years ago, I could barely get a date,” he wrote, “and now my apartment is literally crawling with babies. … I never imagined I would get married, let alone have children. I suppose I had a romantic notion of having children someday, but, then again, I also had a romantic notion of being an astronaut, and, honestly, being an astronaut felt like a more realistic expectation.”
Jim Gaffigan Discusses How He Balances Doing Both Stand-Up and Acting
Jim Gaffigan has been so prolific in both stand-up and acting over the last 25 years or so, that it’s sometimes hard to know which people are more likely to recognize him from. Speaking with ComicBook.com in support of Linoleum, Gaffigan addressed the wildly different schedules and experiences he has had as an actor and comedian, and why he says he will never completely abandon stand-up comedy in pursuit of acting. For one thing, he says, when you’re doing stand-up, you have a lot more control over the quality of the material.
Jim Gaffigan Explains Why He Doesn’t Act In Comedy Films
Jim Gaffigan is one of the few modern stand-up comedians who managed to become a household name by just grinding the old fashioned way, and he managed to earn seven Grammy nominations for his comedy specials in the process. But, of course, he’s not only a comic, but also a successful actor/producer. Despite his success, you won’t see him appear in many straight-comedy movies. While other comics may ride their success into a stoner-comedy franchise, Gaffigan dabbles in a surprising amount of drama, and he’s now explained to us his thought-process behind choosing those projects.
