Turning mom guilt into punchlines

Andrea Marie: I was so afraid to say some of this stuff on stage. I was like, oh my God, I’m afraid I’m a bad mom. And I was like, so scared to say some of that stuff.

And then when you say so it’s healing and it’s like healing for the audience too. ‘Cause they get to be like, what? She thinks that way too? Or, you know.

Nancy Norton: It’s easier once surpassed the age of majority where child protective services can no longer come. You can be more honest, yeah.

Stacy Pederson: Speak for yourself, Nancy.

Andrea Marie: We are Moms Unhinged, a nationally touring standup comedy show. Join us in our podcast as we explore everything from motherhood, midlife, crisis, marriage, divorce, online dating, menopause, and other things that irritate us.

Back at the Airbnb in Dodge City

Andrea Marie: Hey, here. Hello, we are Moms Unhinged. It is a special post-show podcast coming to you from Dodge City, Kansas. I’ve got the amazing Nancy Norton here.

Nancy Norton: I’m Festus.

Andrea Marie: That’s Stacy Pederson. I’m Andrea Marie. Welcome, welcome to the Post Show. Welcome to the After show.

Nancy Norton: Yeah, this is it. We’re snacking. This is Andrea Marie’s classic after show snack. Every time, a little plate of nachos.

Andrea Marie: Little cheese on chips.

Nancy Norton: Stacy.

Stacy Pederson: I’m having myself some Fritos. Fritos bean dip. Fritos chips with Fritos beans. Carbs release that serotonin.

Andrea Marie: Sponsored by Fritos.

Stacy Pederson: Sponsored by Stacey’s paycheck. But Fritos, call us.

Andrea Marie: Call us, Fritos.

Nancy Norton: Now here’s, I wanna bring this up at the meeting. We have talked about the fact that corn chips, Fritos are corn, oil and salt, as are her tortilla chips, corn oil, and salt. Totally different flavor. What’s up with that?

Andrea Marie: Why? Why is that?

Nancy Norton: Send us, put it in the comments. What, why?

Andrea Marie: Why?

Nancy Norton: Why? Why is a Frito so different, so different than that?

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Nancy Norton: We don’t know. it’s a mystery.

Andrea Marie: We don’t know, but what we do know is we had two amazing shows. Hmm. Minden, Nebraska last night Tonight. Dodge City, Kansas. So fun.

Nancy Norton: We’re hitting the big towns.

Andrea Marie: We are. It’s glamour, all glamour. So fun.

Nancy Norton: We’re making it work.

Andrea Marie: Great crowds.

Nancy Norton: They really were a lot of fun.

Andrea Marie: They’re really, really, really fun.

And drivable, which is also a big plus. We’re driving home tomorrow.

Stacy Pederson: I would like to give a shout out to the people of the communities. They’ve been amazing.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Stacy Pederson: Both in the shows, people who come, but also just the communities in general.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Nancy Norton: Yeah. Excuse me, you’re cheese ready. My cheese. My cheese.

Andrea Marie: I’m drinking, Cabernet and nachos. I think that is winning. But yeah, it’s kind of funny ’cause people ask us all the time, like, what do you do? It’s like the show gets over about 9:30, we’re done and then we come back. Have snacks and talk about kind of how much fun we’re having.

Nancy Norton: Yeah.

Stacy Pederson: About life.

Andrea Marie: And all kinds of aspects of life.

Nancy Norton: Right.

Andrea Marie: We’re just getting deep getting into it.

Nancy Norton: Mm-hmm.

Andrea Marie: Nancy’s getting the pickles.

Nancy Norton: This is what’s important.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Nancy Norton: We, Stacey and I.

Stacy Pederson: We had kindred.

Nancy Norton: Yeah, tons. I made this is homemade lentil soup, which is dahl.

Andrea Marie: Mm-hmm.

Nancy Norton: My son’s from Nepal, her children are half Indian, so I hope I’m not, is that okay to?

Stacy Pederson: Of course you can.

Nancy Norton: I don’t wanna out anybody with the immigration system on my, but all I’m saying is they’re all US citizens

Stacy Pederson: And all three are brown.

Nancy Norton: So they’re brown. We’re just throwing it out there.

Stacy Pederson: Yeah.

Nancy Norton: We are eating their heritage soups and Fritos, and also sponsored by Bubbies.

Andrea Marie: And this is what it’s like to travel with mom comedians.

Everyone brings their leftovers. Yeah, we bring snacks. We’re well fed. That’s the main concern is.

Nancy Norton: Yeah. What are we eating?

Andrea Marie: What are we eating?

Nancy Norton: What are we drinking? What are you guys drinking?

Andrea Marie: We’re drinking a Haze screw top Cabernet. ‘Cause we weren’t sure we had a corkscrew here at this lovely Airbnb.

Nancy Norton: Hangers not included.

Andrea Marie: We do love. No, no hangers and no hair dryers at this Airbnb.

Nancy Norton: No H words.

Andrea Marie: No.

Nancy Norton: I know.

Stacy Pederson: Well, four has a W in front of it.

Andrea Marie: So it does, yeah. Nancy had a great set tonight, you guys.

Nancy Norton: We all did. We did. It was a wonderful, it was magical. Someone told Stacey, she is their power animal.

Andrea Marie: Spirit animal.

Nancy Norton: No spirit animal. Sorry.

Andrea Marie: Spirit animal. I had some fun stuff talking about my birthday and getting older. Nancy talked about Squirrel Tooth Alice, one of the madams of Dodge City.

Nancy Norton: She was a prostitute. She was a dancehall girl and a baker. In other words, a wife. A good wife, a good wife.

Andrea Marie: That is a good wife right there.

Nancy Norton: She was very popular.

Stacy Pederson: Yeah, I have a question for you all. Yeah so after a show, how do you feel and how do you adapt to getting back into real life?

Andrea Marie: That’s a great question.

The post-show adrenaline crash

Nancy Norton: All right. Well, let me say this. I find the shows are real life, so maybe I’m doing it wrong. I mean, to me it does feel integrated.

But obviously it’s after show now no one’s here. But I feel, I don’t know. I still feel a little like my, I don’t know. I feel a little of it comes with me. What about you?

Andrea Marie: I have a hard time winding down after a show like I am wound up. It’s just so much energy, so much, we get so much energy from the crowd. We’re giving so much energy to the crowd. It’s this amazing.

Nancy Norton: Reciprocal.

Andrea Marie: Yeah, really.

Nancy Norton: Just when it’s flowing. Yeah. It’s so nice.

Andrea Marie: Yeah, yeah. It’s so beautiful. And our crowds are moms and hinge groups are so incredible. They’re so grateful we’re here. They’re so grateful to laugh. We’re so grateful to.

Nancy Norton: Oh, they’re the best.

Andrea Marie: Yeah. We’re so grateful too.

Nancy Norton: As a female comedian and as a mom, you don’t have to prove anything. I’m talking with my mouth full. Go Stacy.

Stacy Pederson: Yeah, no, talk with your mouth full.

Andrea Marie: Hard time winding down, so I’m always glad when we have like an Airbnb so that we can, you know, talk and laugh and, and just, you know, commune together.

But yeah, it takes me a while to get to come down after that high. But yeah, I think that it, it is sort of settling in for me that now this is, I mean, Nancy’s been doing this a long time. You’ve been doing this a while too.

It’s sort of settling in for me, this is my life. And it’s just a whole different rhythm, you know, whole different rhythm. It’s night based, you know.

Stacy Pederson: And she’s a morning person.

Andrea Marie: I’m a morning person, it is hard for me. It is hard for me to sleep past six.

Stacy Pederson: That’s why she runs and produces and creates the show. And the rest of us have not done much.

Nancy Norton: Speak for yourself, Stacy. Anyway.

I do a lot. I am the tech girl. I do like doing some of the tech stuff.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Nancy Norton: I am a bit of an audiophile. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but I do like the sound. We had great sound tonight. I don’t know, it’s like a childhood wound. I didn’t feel heard. So if I can feel heard on stage, I feel empowered. And it is like using a microphone to its fullest potential is fun. Mm-hmm. Fun for me, yeah.

Yeah. So it was good sound. Shout out to Brogan, doing sound. And then who was last night? He was a very nice man.

Andrea Marie: It was Darren. He was kind of new to the scene of it ’cause they’d had some different things happen at the Minden Opera house, but he did great. Great.

Nancy Norton: Yeah. And ironically we don’t have a microphone for this.

So this sound will be a little echoy. I apologize, I take responsibility.

Andrea Marie: Yeah. We just decided to do this and didn’t have great wifi. No hangers. No hairdryers and no HiFi.

How do you feel? How do you reintegrate after a show?

Performing as an introvert

Stacy Pederson: I think it’s a little different for me ’cause I’m the introvert and so a lot of times after the show I’m exhausted. Like I just totally shut down after a certain number of minutes with people, and then I crave that solitude. But I can’t sleep ’cause I don’t sleep.

Nancy Norton: Awkward. We’re over here. Come on Stacy.

Talk with us, we’re gonna be in the car for six hours. Remember?

Stacy Pederson: So it’s an interesting reflective time because you, for me personally, you put yourself out there. And again, as an introvert and someone who’s always been shy. You go out on stage, you put yourself out there, you’re trying to give as much energy.

You really do love the people who come to the shows, and then you crave what you know. And for me, that’s alone time. And so it’s just, and I always struggle with sleep.

Nancy Norton: Yeah.

Stacy Pederson: So there’s just a little bit of breath in there.

Nancy Norton: Yeah.

How relatable material actually gets written

Stacy Pederson: But I think, you know what question I have for you guys? I think a lot of people who come to the shows want to know is how do you come up with the material you come up with that is so relatable because that’s what they share is, wow.

You know, I feel that same way. Or we were just talking about that. Or it just is so relatable. That’s the word that they use.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Stacy Pederson: How do you create that?

Andrea Marie: I mean, I think like it’s really just like, I just feel like it’s always noticing like, what am I? Why am I thinking about that? Why do I keep thinking about that thing?

And it’s like then just finding the most why it’s a ridiculous thing. That I’m so silly to be thinking about that over and over. And sometimes it’s like, what’s annoying? What’s frustrating?

Nancy, you come up with so much on the fly, which is amazing.

Nancy Norton: Yeah. I think I’m cheating ’cause I do, after doing psychedelic trauma therapy, which I cannot talk about enough, I feel I channel muses, so I’m like, oh, most of the time, I don’t know, I was always a class clown. I was always like the clown of the family. I was the clown. And then I started doing comedy and suddenly when I’m clocked out, I’m like, not funny.

But I just feel like in the moment, I don’t know where it comes from. I feel, I feel like I did have a psychic tell me, I had a little muse on my shoulder named Eli. So let’s shout out to Eli. But anyway, I don’t know.

Stacy Pederson: Eli’s producing the show.

Nancy Norton: Thanks, Eli. Eli’s like, do more jokes because it’s like, you know, when you develop your material and I just keep honing it and honing it and I have like this easy bake oven bit that I’ve been doing for like decades that just keeps growing and changing and morphing with the times.

Yeah. But it’s like you make room for new stuff, but it’s hard to let go of the old stuff, you know? That’s really polished and people love, like, it’s kind of my signature piece somehow. But it is funny, just exaggerate, like I have that podcast Tromedy where it’s like cope with, you know, pain using comedy. So it’s sort of like, take your pain, exaggerate it. To the silliness. Silly.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Nancy Norton: Just get silly with it.

The “I’m afraid I’m a bad mom” moment

Andrea Marie: Yeah. And I think what’s always so interesting to me is like, I was, I was so afraid to say some of this stuff on stage. I was like, oh my God, I’m afraid I’m a bad mom. And I was like, so scared to say some of that stuff.

And then when you say so it’s healing and it’s like healing for the audience too. ‘Cause they get to be like, what? She thinks that way too? Or, you know.

Nancy Norton: It’s easier once surpassed the age of majority where child protective services can no longer come. You can be more honest, yeah.

Stacy Pederson: Speak for yourself, Nancy.

Nancy Norton: Are your kids still able to be reclaimed?

Stacy Pederson: They’re not able to.

Nancy Norton: Oh, you don’t think you made any mistakes, is that what saying?

She’s the perfect mother. She’s the perfect mother. She’s yes, the goddess. She’s, she’s our comedian goddess. Perfect mom model. Stacy, not me. I show you. You know, I like to alternate.

I have some really good parenting moments. I have some favorite parenting moments I love to talk about, and then I have some, which I think is in the name. I feel like we owe it to them to show us those times we decompensated. Yeah, or got dysregulated as my therapist might say.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Nancy Norton: Yeah. Times that, you know, and I’m a recovering codependent and recovering adult child, so we are known as reactors rather than actors. And it’s a process.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Nancy Norton: But yeah, I like to show ’em those unhinged moments.

Andrea Marie: And I think the way you do it too, is really nice because you do have, you’re like, here’s where I was a good parent.

Nancy Norton: Yeah. I just want you to know. Let’s lay on the baseline.

Andrea Marie: It’s not all bad. It’s like, because I think that we do.

Nancy Norton: Could be better. Could be worse.

Andrea Marie: Yeah. But we do tend to focus on the, like the worst thing, like oh. And like you forget your child was loved. He is. He is a beautiful person.

Nancy Norton: And I make amends. I really think that’s the difference, you know, as we heal our generational trauma. Sorry for interrupting you, but I just feel like, yeah, man.

I mean the difference now for me is like, hey, that shame, whatever just came through me. That mama trauma that just channeled right through me. ‘Cause I’ll channel those muses too. I’m like, uh-oh. That’s for me to heal, not you. So I make amends. I’m sorry. I have less, I will say doing my recovery work, I have a lot of less reactive moments than I used to have, you know, because I’m aware.

Stacy Pederson: What does that mean, Nancy?

Nancy Norton: Yes. We had a pickle, I’d throw a pickle at you. What the hell are you talking about, Nancy?

We’re talking union, can we drop into some unions, drop into some shadow work. That’s what we like to do after the show. A little shadow work.

Stacy Pederson: Yeah. I’ll say for me that what came as such a surprise stumbling into comedy. ‘Cause it was never something I didn’t even know it existed, honestly.

Andrea Marie: Mm-hmm.

Stacy Pederson: But I would write this stuff that I thought, or I felt about parenting and or myself or the world, and just trying to be a woman in it.

And I was so shocked that people would come up after and say, oh my gosh, I think that too. That they related because I literally thought I was the only one. Yeah. And there was something wrong with me. Yeah. It’s important to say that part out loud. The feeling of, oh, we, this is like collective. We are not allowed.

It is just so many of us feel less than in a lot of ways, especially with parenting and especially in today’s world.

Nancy Norton: Yeah.

Stacy Pederson: That still to this day, catches me off guard how much other people think the way that I do.

Andrea Marie: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it is so gratifying. ‘Cause it does feel like, like Nancy, you say like, I hope that people feel lighter than.

Nancy Norton: Yeah. That’s my little like, yeah. My little prayer.

I hope they leave feeling better when they walked in. Yeah, and then I’m starting to say it about me. That’s all. Yeah ’cause we all, let’s all feel better. I hope you feel better than when you walked into this little podcast. I bet you want a chip.

Stacy Pederson: I hope I get paid.

Nancy Norton: We’re all in it for different reasons. I mean, I don’t turn down money. Let’s get back to Squirrel Tooth Alice. Squirrel Tooth Alice.

YesShe’ll shoot a hole in your banana. That’s how the donut was made. Little people don’t know. Little do they know Donut was dodge City. I keep leaning on the table and tilting the whole camera.

Yeah, look at this. This is part of our draft. I’m a director. I’m the director. I hope you enjoy the lighting that we did here.

Andrea Marie: Yeah. I don’t even know what time we started. I have no idea how long we’ve been going.

Nancy Norton: You want me to look and see?

Andrea Marie: I have no idea.

Nancy Norton: See if that’s sufficient.

Andrea Marie: I know. Is that, is that fun? Is that part of our after party here? You guys, we just thought it’d be fun to invite you guys in to the little after party show here about us.

Stacy Pederson: Thanks to Fritos. It is a perfect after show snack.

Nancy Norton: Oh, wait, let me zoom in here. All right. Yes. I’m gonna have to clean this up in post.

Andrea Marie: Fritos and Cabernet.

Nancy Norton: It definitely has some weird lighting, I will say. And weird framing. I framed it weird.

Andrea Marie: It’s okay.

Nancy Norton: Yeah.

Andrea Marie: It’s all good.

Nancy Norton: Technical.

Andrea Marie: It’s all good. We’re having a good time. Let’s start over.

Nancy Norton: From the top.

From the top. Welcome to Moms Unhinged after party at the Airbnb Gun Smoke style.

Stacy Pederson: After the party. After the after party.

Nancy Norton: Oh, after the after party. Now we’re doing.

Andrea Marie: Really.

Nancy Norton: After the after party. That’s the real magic happens. I like that. When you know, when do you have this happen too? Like when you’re doing your podcast?

And then you go, thank you. That was great. And they turn it off. And then the magic, then so that’s when they really drop in the, it’s hilarious. Oh my God. That was good. Yeah. Thanks. I was really wanting to that it was like, oh, now we get the good stuff.

Stacy Pederson: Okay. That’s what happens in my, all my ex relationships.

I’m like, eh, i’m out.

Nancy Norton: They’re like, oh. They’re like effusive all of a sudden. But I love, you’re like, too late now.

Love languages (and dishwasher politics)

Andrea Marie: Using all the love languages on you right now.

Nancy Norton: What are all the love languages?

Andrea Marie: It’s touch, gifts.

Nancy Norton: Nachos.

Andrea Marie: Nachos. Quality time.

Stacy Pederson: Words of affirmation.

Andrea Marie: Words of affirmation.

Nancy Norton: That’s what I like.

Andrea Marie: And I almost forget the fifth one.

Stacy Pederson: What? Gifts.

Andrea Marie: Gifts. Gifts.

Nancy Norton: Wait, she said gifts. But, okay. Hang on, what is it?

Andrea Marie: Gifts, quality time, touch, words of affirmation.

Nancy Norton: Acts of service.

Andrea Marie: Acts of service.

Nancy Norton: I like a little act of service with a word of affirmation combo platter. How about you?

If somebody tells me all of you, can I fix your garbage disposal?

I’m like, down.

Andrea Marie: I’m all about the touch. Yeah. Touch me, touch me. Touch, touch, touch me.

Stacy Pederson: I am acts of service and quality time.

Nancy Norton: Oh, that’s nice. Yeah.

Stacy Pederson: Like if somebody actually does something for me, I’m like wow.

Nancy Norton: You’re right. That does feel, that feels great.

Stacy Pederson: I’m not a piece of, you know, like.

Nancy Norton: That’s where it feels like you’re valued.

Stacy Pederson: Yeah.

Nancy Norton: Yeah.

Stacy Pederson: Or they take their time.

Nancy Norton: And in a thoughtful way. Like the act of service needs to be aligned with something that you would like. Like the, have you had that?

Andrea Marie: I’m literally a toddler. I’m like, I will do it myself.

Nancy Norton: Yeah, they’re not gonna the dishwasher the right way. I mean, you let them do it and you’re like, I’ll fix it after they go. Who does bowls up?

Andrea Marie: Oh God, no.

Stacy Pederson: I did learn about the love languages that a lot of times you can tell somebody’s love language by what they do.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Stacy Pederson: They give you an acts of service or they’re constantly giving you words of affirmation.

That’s usually theirs.

Nancy Norton: You gotta do, then you gotta do a reverse. If it’s like a Uno reverse.

Andrea Marie: Alright.

Nancy Norton: I really, I know that’s, and it’s same with all the projections, right? Where it’s like, if somebody’s, you know, saying something critical, it’s like, well, that’s their critic. That’s them, right? Mm-hmm.

It always is that way. What’s that about? Yeah.

Andrea Marie: This is what we talk about.

Stacy Pederson: Which is why, this is why Fritos is the best after show snack.

Andrea Marie: We dive into the hard hitting questions here.

Nancy Norton: And is it okay to like all the love languages? Like, I mean, we all like a little mix of all of ’em. Maybe a little mix, but you just gotta have one main one. Is that how it is?

Stacy Pederson: Yeah. I love a good 401k. That’s an act.

Andrea Marie: That’s an act of service right there.

Stacy Pederson: One I’ve never experienced.

Nancy Norton: Yeah, yeah. We’re open.

Being single in comedy

Andrea Marie: It’s interesting that many of the Moms Unhinged are single. That’s true.

Stacy Pederson: Yeah. That’s interesting.

Andrea Marie: I know. Well,

Stacy Pederson: I know. I am, but I don’t know why that’s a thing.

Andrea Marie: Yeah. Yeah. I think it, I do think that it is about time, about being able to have time because this is a time consuming commitment, you know? You’re traveling or you know?

Nancy Norton: Yeah.

Stacy Pederson: And I won’t say what I think ‘ cause it is really incorrect. I’m politically incorrect. Oh, okay.

Andrea Marie: Okay. Little patriarchy.

Stacy Pederson: A little. Yep, I experienced it that if you shine, they don’t.

Nancy Norton: Ohhh.

Stacy Pederson: You gotta keep it lower than their lights.

Nancy Norton: Oh, I know. That’s sad, huh?

Stacy Pederson: Yeah, I’m not saying that’s true for everybody. It just has been my experience. If you are someone on stage.

Nancy Norton: Threatening, it felt threatening.

Stacy Pederson: In the lime light that it is an issue.

It can be an issue.

Nancy Norton: Yeah. It is an issue. It can be, I tend to partner with people who don’t want anything to do with attention.

Stacy Pederson: Mm-hmm.

Nancy Norton: So there’s just no competition. But then it’s like they end up being introverts. And nothing against introverts. It’s just a weird match, you know? And I’m like, let’s talk some more.

And they’re like, what? You know.

The Golden Girls personality test

Nancy Norton: Well, this was some fun episode of The Golden Girls. I feel like a Maude. Who would you be on the do you guys know the Golden Girls?

Andrea Marie: I would be Rose. You would I think you would.

I actually, I’m trying to be slutty you guys. I can’t do, it’s hard for me to.

Nancy Norton: Oh, so you would like to be.

Andrea Marie: I aspire I

Stacy Pederson: don’t remember the show.

Andrea Marie: Wait, was Rose?

Nancy Norton: No. Rose was the kind of, Betty White played Rose. Who was the ditzy one.

Andrea Marie: Oh yeah.

Nancy Norton: And then who, what was the name?

Andrea Marie: Bea Arthur.

Nancy Norton: Blanche. Blance Deveaux. Yes. She was the slut.

Stacy Pederson: Street Car named Desire. Blanche Dubois?

Nancy Norton: Blanche Devereux. Was it Deveaux or Dubois?

Stacy Pederson: Now I’m, well, yeah, Blance Dubois was streetcar, so it’s probably not.

Nancy Norton: Oh yeah. But and Maude is just kind of, I mean, I do have a deeper voice and lesbian tendencies. Yeah.

Stacy Pederson: Yeah, I do.

Nancy Norton: Traits, I would say.

Andrea Marie: I feel like the Betty White, I could be Betty White.

Nancy Norton: Yeah, yeah.

Andrea Marie: Love it. She’s amazing.

Nancy Norton: The way she played that part, although I could see you as Rose ’cause you do have those stories.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Nancy Norton: From the farm.

Andrea Marie: She was always telling stories from the farm. True.

Nancy Norton: Did you ever watch it?

Stacy Pederson: Not much.

Nancy Norton: I’ve been watching it lately ’cause of politics stuff. And I’ll go like, I gotta, if I start doom scrolling, it’s good to have a sitcom that you like and then just go to the sitcom like, yeah.

Like, okay, I gotta get out of this, whatever this is, you know? That’s making my adrenals fire too much. I go back into some comedy.

Andrea Marie: And I actually think that’s why our Moms Unhinged shows have been doing really well. The start of 2026 is because we need to laugh. We need to laugh. That’s our message is, you know, it’s a tough world out there.

We’re just it’s okay to laugh. Come together, be part of the community. Thank you so much for watching, for watching our podcast, for watching our shows. Whatever you, however you come into this community, we do truly feel like it is a community we’re happy to have.

Nancy Norton: We’re gonna change the world.

Stacy Pederson: And also. Thanks to Fritos.

Nancy Norton: And scene. y’all come back now, you hear?

Andrea Marie: Thanks for listening and make sure you subscribe, share, and follow us on the socials to get more comedy clips.