Episode 406: Bad Momz of Comedy: Where Laughter Meets Parenting

No need to whine, it's Whiny Palooza! Have some wine and join us on the Whiny Palooza Podcast with Rebecca Greene.

Welcome to the Whiny Palooza Podcast. I'm your host, Rebecca Greene. I'm a wife, mother of 3, and licensed clinical social worker. I also have 3 fur babies at home too. My passion has always been to help children and their families. I always dreamed of being a wife and a mother. Parents are always learning through their struggles, failures, and successes and joys. I am no stranger to this wild ride of parenting, and I know behind every great parent lies a team of supportive friends and family. I want to be part of your support system. I want you to know that you are not alone. We are in this parenting world together. Join me every week for insightful discussions with experts on parenting and marriage, as well as other parents who have found the secret to successes in parenthood. You'll learn tips and tricks to make life with your family better than ever. I hope you will follow along with me while we dive into what it takes to achieve a happy family.

Hello everyone, this is Rebecca Greene— Greene, I can't even pronounce my own name— for the Whiny Palooza podcast, and I am so excited today because I get to talk to the wonderful Aurélie KG. Aurélie, thank you so much for being here with me today.

And thank you for calling me wonderful, Rebecca Greene. Wow. Oh my gosh, it's too early in the day. So seriously, thank you. I appreciate that. And people are like, who the heck is Aurélie KG?

Oh, I know who you are. I have done my research. You are, you are definitely wonderful. And I'm lucky to get to talk to you today. So let me tell everybody how wonderful you are. She is a Chicago mom. Okay, so she got a mic and she's ready to tickle our funny bones. And as I told her before we started, every single mom listening needs to talk to her. So this is perfect for us. You might recognize her from her hilarious set on the Kelly Clarkson Show, which I saw, and my husband and I were laughing hysterically watching her, so this is going to be fun. And her comedic journey started way before the national spotlight. She's a quick-witted firecracker. She brings the laughs with relatable routines about the joys and struggles of married life, the art of the shame spiral snack— I want to hear what that is— and yes, even the glorious, not-so-glorious realities of a not-so-youthful body. We are young! Who are you talking to?

I'm younger than a T-Rex.

Yes. Yes.

I love that intro. Can I take that from my bio? That was perfect. Thank you. That was awesome. Oh my gosh. You know, I could use another producer. Let's do it. Let's go for it. So, yes. So, yeah, I'm a comic. In case you guys didn't read between the lines, I am a stand-up comic and I run a group called Bad Moms of Comedy. So, yeah, that's my current journey. That's my current life right now. It's, it's really fun.

I mean, this is like amazing to me. And I told you, when my producer told me about you, I was like, sign me up. I need to talk to this lady. I need to find out more. I need to laugh. But I want to know, like, tell us the journey. Like, what inspired you to start this?

It was random, and I'm not going to lie. It was one of those things. I think our lives have these moments where they, they hit this moment where we go, hey, wait a minute, I have time for myself now. So my kids were in high school. It was just during the first wave of the pandemic was starting to wane. My kids didn't need me as much. My business was doing fine, and I was just like, I need something else. And I happened to go to a comedy club with my husband and two other friends, and there was this sign on the back of the bathroom door, and it said, have you ever thought about taking a stand-up comedy class? I'm like, so I took a class, and I just fell in love with it, and I had a really good time. And then I realized, as I was going to open mics and pursuing it more, is that I didn't see my people. I didn't see my middle-aged, married or divorced, but moms. And when you talk to a bunch of 20-year-olds that are just talking about sex and weed, and I'm like, yeah, I'm kind of past that. I mean, I'm not past it. I mean, still partake, but it's not my whole life. And so I just wanted to do this thing. So I don't know, it was a couple of years ago. I turned to a friend of mine. We were walking and my friend Allison, who is now my co-producer, and I said, I'm thinking about starting a group called the Bad Moms of Comedy. And she's like, I'm in. Whatever you need, I am in. And now it has just exploded. It's awesome. And we're not only performing in Chicago, we are— we performed in Nashville, we performed in St. Louis at City Winery. We are going to Raleigh, North Carolina in January. So it's— we're starting to tour and it's so much fun and I'm having a blast.

That's amazing. So you are catering your shows. Are you advertising that you want moms to come to your shows? Is that—

here's the thing. Yeah. So I think just like your podcast is mostly moms, there are dads that can understand what life is like as a parent and what life is like when you have to give of yourself and then you don't give to yourself. So, yes, we, we say, yes, this is an all-mom or an all-female lineup on stage, but everybody enjoys it. So we just had a show on Friday with 235 people and there were a bunch of dudes in the audience and I could see it on their face. They're like, oh, fine, I'm here for my wife. And I knew, I knew when they left and so many of them were like, that's the best comedy show I've ever been to. I'm like, yeah, don't discount us just because we don't have the same working parts.

Exactly.

So, right. And we might actually help you understand your wife a little better, or your mother, or your sister, or your daughter, or your dog, your female dog. So yeah, so it's, um, it's great. And I love, I love it when men are like, this was awesome. And I'm like, yeah, because we women have been listening to men do comedy for years.

Yeah, it's hard, you know.

Let's go, let's do it.

Oh, I need to come. I need to come to a show.

I hope so.

So tell me about— okay, so motherhood is chaotic.

Motherhood is chaotic, and being a woman in business is chaotic. And no matter what you do, you're always giving of yourself. So that's when I say Bad Moms of Comedy doesn't always have moms. I mean, we have several moms on our show, but we also have single women, because in my opinion, a woman Whoever utters the words, do I have to do everything? She's a mom, right? You could be an office mom or a cat mom or a plant mom. The fact is, women are sort of— we're just herded into this. You have to take care of others before taking care of yourself. Yet when we get on a plane, it says put the air mask on yourself first and then help others. But we don't put the air mask on ourselves. So, and when it comes to comedy, I do notice that women do get passed over a lot. At the big venues and with producers, it's just a bunch of cis male guys. And I'm just like, hey, wait a minute, there's, there's a whole group of people out there that have something to say. And before you're like, oh, I'm not going to— I'm not going to understand what that person says because they're Black, or I'm not going to understand what she says because I'm not a woman. Just give it a second. You know, comedy is comedy. Funny is funny.

It's true. Well, and so as my friend was texting me some stressful stuff today, Interesting that my response was, you just have to laugh sometimes. So I feel like— so, so tell us, as moms, how do we bring more laughter into the stress and the chaos?

Well, I think that's per individual person. So as you know, every single person on this world has had their different journey. You could be born on the same day in the same town as somebody but have a totally different experience, right? Yeah, we forget that. I think we're just like, why doesn't this person do this? Or I expect this. Don't. Just how are you as a human? Are you treating other people well? Are you honest? Are you a good person? Are you giving but not giving so much that you're forgetting yourself? Like, it's, it's an equal balance. Laughter to me is so important. And what I love about this is the timing of it all. We're a very conflicted nation, a very conflicted world. Yet when we go up there, I look in the audience and I'm like, it doesn't matter who you voted for. It doesn't matter where you go to worship. We are all getting along. There are more— we have more in common than we have apart. And I love that. I love that bringing together part. I'm not going to save the world through comedy, but To me, if I can give you a good night out to laugh with your girlfriends, to get those endorphins going, I'm gonna do it. And women do seem to put themselves last. They will put their jobs first, their kids first, their husbands, their house, their dog, everybody before themselves. And it is not selfish to say, I need something for myself, because that's your oxygen mask, right? Because if you're not able to do things for them in a way that you want to, then that— then you're not doing it. You're just going through the motions. That's not— that's not— it's not good for you. So, you know, give yourself that yoga class or that art class or go to a comedy show or watch your horrible series, reality series, you know, whatever it is, whatever makes you like, hey, this fulfills me, this helps, go for it. It's not a bad thing.

No, it's not. And I think that logically we all know this.

We all know it, but we're still the ones that are asked to do all the things. We know it, but we're still asked to do all the things. So that's hard.

So tell me, tell me what moms' responses have, have been to your shows.

I love it because they're all, they all say the same thing. Why did I wait so long to go out with my friends? I totally needed this. I needed the release. You can see You see it on their face. They're glowing. I am telling you, dermatologists got nothing on comedy shows. These women are glowing when they leave. They're so happy and they feel so just fulfilled and joyful. Now, mind you, some of our stuff doesn't work. Okay, so like we have a variety of comics. We have a showcase of comics. Some people are like, well, I don't like that kind of humor. And I'm like, fine, whatever. But for the most part, it's good stuff. And that's how we do it. My favorite story was— and this wasn't a story told to me, but it was told to my co-producer. These two women came up to her after the show and said, our husbands both died this week. They had met while their husbands were in chemotherapy, and they both happened to die this week. And they're like, do we go to the show? What are people going to think of us if we go to the show? So they sat in the back. And they said, this was— I needed this so bad. I just needed to forget how sad I was, and I just needed to laugh. And I'm just like, look at them doing that for themselves. That's amazing.

And that's got to make you feel so good too.

It totally does. Because, you know, every comic, you know, everyone thinks like, all right, make me laugh, clown. But we're still humans. We still have disappointments every day, and we still have bad days at job and issues, but we got to go up there and perform for you because that's our job. And I love it when I see that release, when I see that, when I hear that first laugh, I'm like, you needed that. Let's keep going. And it's pretty cool.

Oh my gosh. A night out with friends laughing. I mean, how much more perfect can that be?

It is. But you have to remember, when it comes to comedy, we're so inundated with it on all social media channels, right? Like, you can sit in your bed with a glass of wine and no bra on. Hopefully you have a shirt, whatever your deal. It's your house. But and you can laugh at home and that's fine. But you can when you do it with your friends, it is this communal, lovely, wonderful thing. So get off your phones, go to a comedy show. You'll be very happy.

So I have to ask about this shame spiral snack routine. Okay, tell me about this. I love snacking.

I have an issue with bread. I do. I love all the bread. It was funny. My, my husband planned a trip for us to go to Greece. And so I did like the Duolingo thing and I'm like midway through it and I turn it off. I go, I'm done. Show me means bread. That's it. That's all I need to know. Show me means bread. And I was like, I don't care. I don't care to go to the bathroom in Greece. I just need to know how to eat all the bread.

So, and all we're told is not to eat the bread.

I know. And honestly, at my age, because I just turned 50, it is not sitting as well as it used to. But boy, do I love good bread. Yes. No, I just— I— food is my— is— it's something that my whole family, not my immediate family, but like when I was raised, if you were sad, you ate. When you were happy, you ate. So it's always been an issue for me. So I have to I have to really think about it now. And because how do I feel after I eat like that and things like that? But at least I can say we're all— we've all been there. And I know when people look at me, they're like, well, you're thin. And I'm like, I still have problem issues in my body that for my brain is not good. But I also know I am scared to death going on that stage if I'm not thin. So like, part of me is like, I think the only reason why I've stayed, kept the £30 off is because I'm like, No one needs to see that other ass up there. So, yeah, I don't know if that makes any sense to any of you, but—

So you're eating the bread and staying thin. I don't know that I like—

No, I am not eating all the bread. I'm trying to not eat all the bread. I used to eat all the bread and that was a problem.

I understand. Unfortunately, I understand. So lots of challenging topics, our bodies, marriage, aging, our kids, all of it. So, so how do you take a challenging topic and, and bring it to stage and make it funny? Tell us, tell us about that journey.

So you're a therapist, right? So you have people coming to you and, and, and they might have an issue that just is on repeat in their head, right? And they're trying to figure that out. Well, the same thing happens with comics. We're like, we know there's something here. But how can I shape it where it's going to be interesting and funny? Because it's not my job to treat my audience, or any comic's job to treat their audience like they're their therapist. Those people are out for a night. So what am I trying to say quickly, funny, and all of that? So it's a lot of writing. It's a lot of going back and erasing and repeating and trying to figure out where the punches are. Um, it is very therapeutic to do that. It's also frustrating. Sometimes it can be frustrating working through issues in therapy, just like you're like, I know there's a joke here, why can't I figure it out? And sometimes you just have to say, you know what, I'm gonna put it on the side, I'll visit it later. And then you've got it. Um, I, I read a book, uh, Stephen King has this book, uh, about writing, and he talked about how he will sometimes have stories in his head for like 30 years. He's like, because a story is like a cup. He's like, there's a vessel, there's a handle, and then there's the stuff in the inside. And sometimes I just have the stuff on the inside but not the cup or the handle. He's like, you need all three to make it come together. And jokes are the same way. So, yeah, a good comic's gonna make it look like it was so easy. I just came up with it this morning, right? And blah, blah, blah. But it, it is a lot of work. And so I can imagine Yeah, that's why people at the end of shows are like, I could totally go up there and do it.

I'm like, yeah, you go up there and do it. You try it.

Now, mind you, I say that, but I'm like, do it. If you think you can do it, do it. But do realize it does take work and it does take effort. A marriage isn't great just on the basis of I like this person, that's it. Like, marriages take work. Being a parent takes work. No one just goes— no one, no 20-year-old applies for a CEO job. You gotta get work in to do it. The same thing is with comedy. So, but it's really fun. Some days are hard because you're just like, what am I trying to say? And, but it's, when it works, oh, it's so beautiful, it's so great. And then when you see people laughing and you see people enjoy it, I'm like, yep, that's, that's why I put the work in.

So do you have your favorite topics that you like to, to to address on stage? Like, what's your favorites?

I think it's more of the stuff I won't talk about on stage. Okay. Right. So like, I— my husband did say, okay, if you're going to do this, I don't want you to talk about like our sex life on stage. So I'm like, that's totally fine.

That can be really funny.

Well, and you saw me do a joke on Kelly with Kelly Clarkson about having relations with my husband. But any time I'm like, I skirt into that issue, I'm like, hey, can I do this? And he's like, that's funny. You could do it. I do not do jokes about my kids that they don't approve of.

Okay. I was going to ask you about that.

And I know a lot of people do, but my kids are young adults. They're both in college, and the whole world does not need to have an opinion about my children when they're trying to figure out who they are themselves as human beings. So it's funny. My son's like, yep, that you could do that one. No problem. Blah, blah, blah. My daughter's like, nope. Nope, nope, nope. So I'm like, okay, um, we actually have one joke about my daughter that she was fine with it. Um, she's like, yep, that was a good one. Um, because I, I don't want to— I'm not a— even though we're the bad moms of comedy and I'm Orly KG outright is my own comedy, I don't want people to make opinions of my family that aren't true. And So it's just my reality, my— where my brain is, how I think. And yeah, so I mean, other topics that I love to talk about, I'm all over the place. I have everything from those parenting moments that you're just like, how did that happen? How, how do I still have my children? You know, or how did they end up normal-ish? And, um, but it's, uh, stories about my mom, stories about just growing up. I haven't really touched that part yet. So it's— no topic is untouchable, but I also want it to be something that is relatable and brings people together. Like, I won't talk about politics. I just— I don't know enough about it. I feel like it is such a spiral And it's such a hot-button topic. I respect comics who do. It's just not for me. I'm sorry that keeps going off. I have no idea why that keeps going off.

I don't, I don't hear anything.

Okay, good, because I'm hearing— I'm getting emails in my, in my ears. So I'm like, all right, the angel, the Google email angel is getting her wings every couple seconds every time I'm talking to you. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.

Well, I'm good over here. I don't hear it. So that's the good news. So in my life, I'm a writer. I don't know if you know that, but I write a parenting blog. And so, you know, I'm using the— I feel similar to you because I'm using mom content and married life content, but I always make, I make my kids and my husband read everything because I'm not gonna publish something without their approval, especially if I'm talking about them. So I understand what you're saying.

Yeah. And it's just more of a— I want my kids also to think about that when they're talking about me in public.

Yeah.

And how, how do you want people to perceive your parents? Um, so I mean, trust me, we're a very sarcastic, very crazy family. There's not much that we don't talk about, but it's just, you know, it's just I don't know. There's just something about the fact that I wouldn't want my mom talking about me on stage when I was 18 years old. You know, wasn't my best time, wasn't my— all my best decisions made at that time. And I don't need the world to know about it.

So, I mean, we certainly— I mean, obviously we're a lot older and we can look back and laugh. We want to be able to laugh at ourselves.

Consider yourself a lot older. Rebecca Greene Greene.

I'm kidding.

I'm kidding. Yes, we can, we can go back and have that perspective and laugh. Um, the kids are not there yet. No, so, and that's, that's totally fine.

They're not. And I try to tell them that I'm— my goal is to help people. Like, we're both trying to help people with what we're doing, so we're not trying to be malicious with our children and our content.

Exactly. And I think that's also just— I don't want to— I'm not going to blame somebody else. I'm not going to. I have full responsibility in this world about what I do. So it's, um, there's, there's something about that too, that ownership of— I, you can either blame everybody for all the problems in your world, or you can take some responsibility for it. Also, on the other hand, take responsibility for the successes you have. That's on nobody else either. So, um, I don't know, I've learned a lot about this industry, about myself, Um, I've always given to other companies. I owned a PR firm. I was a TV news reporter at one time. And this feels more authentically me, but still giving to others, I guess. Oh, look at me just putting myself on a pedestal there, like, look how green I am.

I mean, you are. I mean, we need you.

No, we do need each other. We all need each other.

We all have our roles in life. And I'll tell you for one that laughter is my best medicine. So I appreciate you. And I was like, I was laughing hysterically at the 5 minutes I got to see you on TV and I was like, I need more.

Good. Thank God. Because then I'll sell tickets if people say that. Thank God. And you have to remember when I did that thing on The Kelly Clarkson Show, I hadn't even been doing comedy a year.

That's how—

No, no, no, no. I had no right to. To go on the Kelly Clarkson Show and do comedy and talk to Jay Leno and all that stuff. But it just happened to be, all this stuff happened at once. I started this thing called Bad Moms of Comedy. A friend of mine, uh, is an editor at Chicago Parent Magazine. She said, do you mind writing me an op-ed about what it's like finding your voice at the age of 40 after your kids get older? And I wrote that and they happened to read it. A producer in LA happened to read Chicago Parent Magazine and she was like, can you come on our show? I had one show under our belt when they asked us to come on. They're like, when's your next show? I'm like, school hasn't even gotten back in yet. Like, I haven't even had a chance to call PTAs yet. So it was crazy. Like, all of this happened really, really fast. Um, but I own a business, and so I didn't— I, I didn't go super fast down that road. I'm like, I still have more writing to do. I still have a lot to learn. I still have to figure out billing and branding and all this other stuff because it is, it's a brand. So I had to get more moms. I only had like 4 or 5 moms at the time. Now I have 80.

Oh my goodness.

Mm-hmm.

Seriously? I was going to ask you that question. You have 80 moms?

We do. We don't all perform at the same time. And some of them I actually haven't put on yet because I really do think about our lineup as a showcase. So all of us can't have the same cadence or tone or same kind of jokes and whatever. And I also put single women, like I said, women that are not traditional moms on those shows because I think it's an interesting voice. And it really works. And now as we're going around, like in Nashville, I grabbed two amazing comics. And in St. Louis, I brought everybody from Chicago, but when I go to North Carolina, I gotta grab some local comics, and I'm excited about seeing where this goes.

It's amazing. It's really— it's, it's spiraling into something big.

Yeah, it is. And, um, I think just like any other business, if you own a business, there's so much— like, you are I'm everything. I'm the janitor, I'm the accountant, I'm the joke writer, I'm the producer. I'm, you know, you do all these things. But let's face it, as moms, we're doing all that already.

Yeah.

So I'm just trying to figure out how the— how it's still being put together.

Well, and I have told my husband who has businesses that hiring a mom is one of the smartest things he can do.

Amen, sister.

Right. Like, we're the CEO.

We do.

I mean, they rely on me to handle everything. So if you can handle a family, you can handle a business. I hate to say it, right?

And if you don't know, you're gonna ask, or you're gonna go on YouTube, you're gonna figure it out, because we're smart and we're like, all right, I gotta figure this out. And I mean, the one thing that women and moms do more that I don't want them to do is apologize all the time, like, oh, I can't do that, or I don't do that, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. Stop apologizing. You're doing what you can. You got out of bed today, didn't you? Good for you. Stop apologizing. You're doing good.

I asked this wonderful lady to dog sit for me, and I felt so bad that she was apologizing to me that she couldn't. I was like, no, no, no, no, you don't need to apologize. Just not a good week for you. It's okay.

Exactly. Exactly. Just—

yes.

Yeah. So we can't solve everything, and I'm definitely not solving everything through comedy, but You know, just take ownership in the fact that you're busy and what you're doing is good. And if you feel like you can do more and you can mentally do more, then do more. But if you're not, if you're at that level right now and you're like, this is where I am and this is where I'm comfortable without driving myself crazy, you go for it. You do that and you do that well.

Well, and I want to ask you some, some selfish questions. Can we go back to the— let's go back.

Well, I am a comic, so it's pretty selfish of me to— yes, let's do it.

What?

Talk to me about me. Let's do it, Rebecca. Let's do it.

Selfish questions for me. So as a, as a writer, as a fellow writer, I wanna know about your, your inspiration because like as I'm going through my week and I need, I need topics, I'm getting topics from what is happening that week that is on my mind.

Sure.

What are people asking me to write about? Cuz that happens. Like, tell us about where you're getting it from.

I need a free flow, so I usually have to just sit in front of my joke book, my notebook, and just start writing. And then suddenly something will happen of like, oh, there's this thing and I want to talk about it and I want to get to it. It really depends. Sometimes jokes will just come out like that, and then sometimes it takes a little bit of work. But I have to— I can't— because when you're the business owner and you're doing everything, I don't just write jokes 24/7. And so I do have to practice, and that's okay. Not everything that comes out first is going to be magic or lightning in a bottle, but that's okay. But the fact that you are going through it and you're writing— like when you journal every day, I am so impressed with you because you're actually committing to this thing for yourself. You need this as an outlet. It's good for you to look back on it. Same thing with, with joke writing. I mean, I'll have pages of stuff that mean nothing, but then I'll grab that one little bit. So my writing is definitely more freeform. Sometimes a topic will happen. I will send myself a text. But it's so funny when I go through my texts because it has everything from topics to get toilet paper to don't forget to pick the kids up at 2:30. Like, I'm scrolling like, wait, I think there was a joke in here.

Yeah, we can't relate more to what you just said. I literally was like, okay, taking this hat on, putting this hat on, which, which, what am I doing this hour?

Mm-hmm. And it's a lot. And that's— it's also I think when you write and when you journal, it can be very freeing just to get it out there on paper, but it also can be very intimidating looking at the blank page. And if you wrote anything today, good for you.

Yes. Oh, I love that. That's great advice. And for the, for the lady listening or gentleman who is wanting to start something, a business, something, I mean, as someone who started something big, what is your advice to them?

Oh, what is my advice? I think everyone has a different level of that they're going into, of like skill, right? So some of them have owned another business before, some of them have already been CEOs, or maybe they just have an idea. Um, talk to other— if you're unsure of what to do, talk to other people, talk to other business owners, even in the same sector. Uh, when I first started doing public relations, I remember thinking, I don't understand why all these public relations people don't talk to each other, um, because we all have stuff we can share. Um, but it was, it was one of those things where they're like, well, I don't want to give you a contact that I have and then you take them away from me. No one's going to take it away from you. You know, we all don't have something to pitch every day to the same person. Let's share and let's share best practices. So I, I found a local group here in Chicago called Indie PR. I found one that's national called Solo PR, and we share ideas and we're better together than apart. So I would say talk to other people who have done it. Talk to— if you're selling a product, I would say, who is that product for? And talk to that person of like, how would you want to— how would you want this to be styled? How would you want to see this marketed, how, you know, what's the price you'd pay? I mean, when you do that market research, it so helps you.

Um, that's good advice. That's really good advice. I love that.

And don't bite off more than you can chew. Um, it is better to go slow and correct than do it so fast and lose your shirt and lose your mind.

Yes.

We're good at that, right?

Yes.

It's really easy to make it big fast. But the— but why? Like, I'm sorry, I, I know there are other people that are like, well, you should be doing this and you should be doing that. I'm like, I am doing this at the level that makes me comfortable right now, and it will grow, and that's fine. But right now, I am— Bad Moms: A Comedy is mostly in Chicago. Yes, we go to other cities, and yes, we will travel. But I also know I'm like, I'd like to see my children every once in a while. I would like— I like my dog. I like sleeping in my own bed. Like, there are certain things that I'm like, I don't want that right now. And that's okay. That's not failure. That's knowing what I want.

I love that. And we don't all know what we want. I'll tell you that from talking to people.

And even then, and just so you— just like you said, Rebecca Greene Greene, at the time, I will question, am I making the right decision? Mm-hmm. But I mostly say yes, then say no. But when I see something that's just too big or too something, I'm like, I, that, I gotta put that over here for a minute. I, I can't deal with that right now.

Well, and you brought up wanting to see your children.

Yeah.

And, and I know that you have young adults who, and you have an empty nest. I don't know how that happens to us.

And it's so fast. Oh, there's— so you have one gonna go to college?

Yes, he's a senior.

Okay, and then I'm so sorry, do you have other children as well?

I do. So, um, Max is 17, Ella is 15, and Lily is 12.

Okay, your husband needs a new hobby. Okay, you gotta— you're done. No more. No more children. My gosh, woman, I know you're cute, but my God. I'm kidding. Um, So, so you have teenagers?

Yes.

Something happens overnight when you have teenagers where they just suddenly don't need you anymore. Like, literally, they needed you for everything. And then suddenly you're like, they're like, who are you? Like, you go from being mom to being maybe an unpaid consultant. It is very jarring. So that's I think a really good time for women and, and men and dads to just say, okay, where am I in this equation now? I have given you of myself so much of me for the last, what, 14, 15, 16, whatever years. Do something for yourself. It will also show their kids, your kids, that you do matter and that This wasn't your only role. It was such an important role being a parent, but that's not the only thing you do, and you are allowed to enjoy yourself and pursue your own side pleasures, right? So, um, and that's how when comedy happened, that's, that's, that's what it was, was my kids were like, yeah, I'm hanging out with this person tonight, or blah blah blah. I'm like, what am I doing? So that's how it started.

It's like your— it's your new baby.

Oh yeah. Um, no, that's an interesting way to say it. I'm curious. I still see it as a business, and I know that probably turns people off. They're like, comedy, you're supposed to make people laugh. But I'm like, it is a business. You— if I don't treat it like a business, trust me, you will know the comedians that don't treat it like a business. Um, because they are either not working on their craft or like yelling at the audience, "Oh, you don't understand," you know, things like that. So, but here's the thing that I'm doing it backwards. So a lot of comics go into comedy for their own sole purpose of making people laugh. I immediately said, "I wanna do something with other women, bad moms of comedy." And so I am already creating something that is a single sport into a team sport. Now, not all moms are like, "Ru, you know, go bad moms." Some of them are like, "Thank you very much for the gig, and it's fine," and then they do their own thing. Totally fine. And then some of them are like, "I love this. This is the best feeling in the green room. These are the best audiences. I love these shows. I want to do it forever." So it doesn't feel like one child. It actually feels like many children.

You have a lot of children.

But it's— I don't know. Just being able to make people laugh to me is what I need right now in my life. That's, that's what it comes down to.

Well, and what are you hoping that moms are taking away from your shows when they leave? What do you want them to learn from it?

I want them to learn they're not alone. Every single woman in that room really looked at 6:00 at night, said, do I really want to keep my bra on for this? Every single woman in that room was like, I could be at home doing dishes or watching television. Decision, right? And I could be doing X, Y, and Z, but no. And then you go out and you did your hair. Maybe you didn't, who cares? Cute scrunchie. You, you did it, and good for you. So I want you to know that if you make it out of the house to do something for yourself, good for you. If you happen to laugh, realize that you need laughter in your life, and it feeds you more than hate or more than bitterness. Right. What do I want women to understand? I want them to understand that there are such talented female comedians out there and to support them. And I want them to know, again, they're not alone. Everything we say on stage is like, oh my gosh, that's me, or I totally did that, or I feel like that sometimes too. And it just makes us feel less alone. And I don't know, we always say, like, it takes a village, right? Well, where's your village? You know, believe it or not, maybe your village is at Bad Moms of Comedy giving you some other perspective of what's happening in your life. I don't know. Look at— man, I have, like, been every— I have idolized my whole business on your podcast today.

Well, you You should.

You know, this has been a little like arrogant, but, um, oh my God, there's just— I love it. It's so much fun.

So advice to the mom who is not finding the humor in parenting.

Parenting's hard, right? You know, you don't get the kid you want, you get the kid you got, right? So how can you develop a relationship with your child that works for that child, because that is what it is. You are the CEO and this is your full-time employee, and you got to figure out how to communicate together. So, um, and they may be different than you, um, the way they communicate, the way they dress, the way they act, how they do math, whatever it is. So what can you do to get on, on their level with them? And that will make it easier for you. Um, it can be really hard. Um, there is some real depression out there on being a mom. It's very isolating. It could be the repetitiveness of the same thing every day can be so, so hard on you.

Um, I hope you have a joke about what's for dinner. That's all I can say the "what's for dinner" line. I'm like, can you stop asking me that question?

You know, but that's what we made them expect, right? We did that. We put dinner on the table every day for how long?

That's my job.

So who else are they gonna ask what's for dinner?

It's true. It's just, you know, and maybe I don't want to come up with dinner tonight, so And trust me, the kids don't want you to come up with dinner either.

They want to go out, but it's fine.

Oh my gosh. My daughter will be like, you're cooking tonight? And I'm like, yes, it's like a Wednesday night.

I stopped. I actually stopped full on. I said, I'm, I'm flipping done. I am so done. This is not an episode of Chopped. I don't need your opinion on what I cooked. I didn't see you doing it, so You eat what's in front of you and shut up and let's go. Like, I'm not putting on something that's going to kill you. Like, I was, I was just done. And now my— yeah, my husband cooks now. I said, I'm done. I just, I threw my hands up in the air like last year and I was like, I can't do this anymore. It just like this, the look on the face and the thing. I'm like, you know what? I'm not doing this anymore. And then now that they go to school and they're like, oh my God, that food is horrible. I'm like, yeah, mom's food doesn't sound so bad now, does it? Assholes.

So they're really gonna appreciate my food when they go to college, huh?

Yes, they will appreciate your food when you go to college, and they will really— they're like, oh my God, a hot meal and it's made for me and all this stuff. Yes, just— it's coming, it's coming, it's coming, it is coming.

So tell us what's next for you and the Bad Moms of comedy.

Uh, next is, um, I guess I could make it official. I am actually closing my public relations firm in 2025, and, um, I'm taking a hiatus from it to see if this works. So, um, and we are going to be doing more traveling. I'm going to be finding more moms. I'm going to keep writing more jokes, and I want to just keep making people laugh. So it's feels weird to be able to just— I mean, I've been doing my public relations firm for 14 years, and I was voted one of the best in the city of Chicago by Expertise.com for the last 7. And I'm like, I'm done. Um, I'm 50 years old, and I'm like, I gotta do this now. If I don't do this now, it's not going to happen. If it doesn't work, I might be begging my old clients and my friends that are in PR for a job. In a few months. If we— all we need is one more pandemic and I don't have a comedy job anymore. Um, but I gotta see where this goes. And I've done this before when I, I worked internally at a place and I did their public relations. And when I started my firm, I was still interviewing for jobs, and I interviewed at some— at a big international, uh, insurance agents insurance company, and they offered me a job, and I thought about it, and I said to my husband that night, I'm not going to take it. And then they called me back 2 days later. They said, what can we do to convince you to take the job? I said, you just convinced me I need to keep starting my own firm.

Wow.

I just, you know, I said, I might be begging you for a job. Turns out they were actually a client 6 years later, just so you know.

Um, that's gotta feel good.

I mean, trust your gut. Trust your gut, ladies.

Yes. And you're showing us that risks pay off. Taking the risk.

And they're scary. And I have a salt and pepper hairline now and there are wrinkles underneath this Botox. Like, trust me, it does not come without its stress and its pain. But it— when you can prove to yourself that you do this, you're proving it to your kids. You can do it. Your friends, your family. It is just— it is so cool. It is just like, hey, I've got something to contribute to this world and go for it.

Well, I appreciate all the moms that you're making laugh, all the people, because I know it's not just moms. And tell all the people where they can go find you.

Oh, you can follow me, Orly KG. So it's O-R-L-Y K G Comedy on all the different platforms. I'm really bad at TikTok, I'm sorry. Um, but, and I don't do the X platform, um, because I don't do one-liners and that's really where that works. Uh, anyways, and then you can also follow Bad Momz with a Z, B-A-D-M-O-M-Z of Comedy on all the different platforms as well. And you can see all the different moms that we sign and you can follow them, each of them, because they deserve to have your follows. And just get a laugh in there. Do it for yourself.

So yeah, well, I hope that you come to Buffalo. I'm over in Buffalo, so it's really cold in Buffalo.

Okay, maybe not.

Maybe you want to wait till summer.

How far is Buffalo from New York City?

Um, it takes us about 7 hours.

Okay, so that's not close.

Okay, no, it's not close. No, I could still Are you going to New York City soon?

It has not been finalized yet, but yes, I will be going to New York City soon. So I should probably— it's daunting, right? It's like, come here, come here.

And it's like, oh my gosh, everybody wants you. You know what you could do? And I know that this isn't the communal aspect that you love, but you could just do a comedy special for me on TV and then I could—

just for you. Just the Rebecca Greene only comedy special.

For everyone. Everyone would probably love that. We'll get you a Netflix special. What do you think?

Oh, yeah. You got some Netflix people listening to Winey Palooza? Perfect.

So let's hope we have a Netflix person listening right now. I want— I want a special on Netflix. Right.

That'd be fun. I don't know if I'm ready for that just yet, but like, that feels daunting.

Like, I don't know.

I feel like I need a little more time. I don't know, I don't know. You're catching me on a weird day that I am, I'm second-guessing now. Um, but, uh, listen, there is comedy in your town, there's comedy on your phone, there's comedy on your television. Um, there's also just comedy hanging out with your girlfriends. Yes, you know, so just find that joy in your life because— and by the way, that does not mean putting other people down Finding comedy and love and communalness does not mean saying that you're better than somebody else. Just, just have a good time with your friends without hurting anybody else. And you— it's, it's pretty cool. It's pretty fun.

Well, I cannot thank you enough for joining me.

And thank you for having me.

I mean, this was so fun. I knew you'd be fun to talk to. Come on now.

I got really serious though for a minute. So thank you guys for letting me have that moment. But yeah, and I put on my best damn burglar sweater for you.

So Well, you look beautiful, and I really appreciate you talking to me. And, um, go, go find her in all the places she told us. I'm gonna go find her in all the places. And this is Rebecca Greene, and I want to remind everyone to spend every day laughing, learning, and loving.

This episode— yeah, we made it! The voice you just heard, we helped put them there. And right now, someone's out there thinking, I should have my own podcast. You should! Not because it's trendy, not because content is king, but because your voice has weight, your ideas have gravity, and the right people, they're waiting to hear you. We build shows that don't just sound good, they work for your brand, your business, your audience. Ready to step up to the mic? To see if you could grow your business with a podcast, apply at yourdream50.com/seth-green, G-R-E-E-N-E, because your story deserves more than just ears.