When did you decide that you were going to write a whole show around your pregnancy and motherhood experience?
Pregnancy is very long and boring, so mostly I just needed something to do. No, that’s a lie. I’ve wanted to create a new show for a while and it felt like the perfect thing to write a bunch of comedy songs about. The insane changes you go through, the bizarre pressure to do things in a certain way, the tragic (albeit temporary) loss of your belly button, all the while having to ration your daily intake of tea. What is this madness?
Parenting has always been a popular topic for comedy. How did you make sure your show was an original take on the theme?
Every mother is different, so it’s original in the sense that it’s inspired by my experience. I can’t and wouldn’t presume to speak for everyone. It is also original music. There are nine new story songs I’ve written and which I perform live in the show, including An Ode to Alcohol, The Man with the Motile Sperm, and I Tried Hard to Breastfeed, But It Sucked.
Plus One is like a funny and heartfelt album to accompany and poke fun at pregnancy and the transition to new motherhood. With a very short section about salami.
Comedians like Katherine Ryan have spoken about feeling "mum guilt" while touring. How have you found it balancing motherhood with the travel responsibilities of comedy?
My baby is only six months old so, honestly, I’ve not been anywhere for a while. Leicester will be the furthest I’ve been from home without my baby – she’ll be home with the dog… and her dad – and I’m excited about it. Luckily, she’s coming with me to the Toronto Fringe and Edinburgh Fringe later this year. I’m not sure I could bear to be away from her at this stage.
What are some of the challenges of performing musical comedy as opposed to more traditional stand-up?
The biggest one is lugging a massive keyboard around. Everyone else can hop on and off stage and then out the door and catch a late showing at the cinema before bed, but I have to wait until the very end of the night when each act is gone and then sneak back on stage to get all my cables whilst the audience slowly leaves, wondering if I understand that the show has finished.
Tamar Broadbent tells the story of pregnancy through musical comedy in Plus One
(Credit: Steve Ullathorne)
Promoting comedy on social media is a big topic at the moment, with many stand-ups using crowd work clips. Is it harder for a musical comic, given you don't want to give away your funniest songs?
Yes, and I don’t really post music. Anything you post kind of has to be disposable and I don’t feel like music should be disposable. I have too much respect for it. I’ve been doing festivals since 2013 and I think there’s something really special about an hour-long show that exists in a live space and nowhere else. Short clips are of course important too though, and there are ways to do both. Different material works well for different platforms.
How exciting is it to be performing at the Leicester Comedy Festival?
I can’t wait. I was last here in 2016 doing my show Get Ugly, all about being single and living in an abandoned warehouse. Now I’m living in the suburbs and I have a baby. It’s equally messy and ripe for things to joke with the LCF audiences about. I’ll also get roughly six hours in the car without a baby crying in the back. Bring it on.
What's next for you and Plus One after the performance in Leicester?
I’m performing Plus One at the Toronto Fringe in July and then the Edinburgh Fringe this summer. Also, my baby has her first swimming class next week. And at some point I’m going to need to wash my hair again. It’s been pretty full on lately.
And finally, will you show clips from this show to your daughter when she's old enough? How do you hope she'll react?
Of course. I think for the next 10 years, she’ll think anything I do is the coolest thing she’s ever seen. And then for the 10 years after that, everything I do will cause her terrible embarrassment. So I’m just enjoying it now, whilst simply seeing my face seems to make her day. She has been a very good audience whilst I’ve been rehearsing my songs. She roars along like a tiny dinosaur. I can’t tell if she thinks she’s singing along, or if she is intentionally being a tiny dinosaur.
Tamar Broadbent performs at the Leicester Comedy Festival on 22nd February. Click here to buy tickets and find out more about her work by visiting her official website.
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