Performing standup while visibly pregnant

Zoe Rogers: I had one guy at a club that I didn’t work at regularly, but he had booked me months before, and I showed up and I was pregnant.

And he was funny ’cause he was like, “Uh-uh.” He was clearly, like, really thrown. And he was like,

Andrea Marie: “what do we do with this? Oh, no.”

Zoe Rogers: He said, “I didn’t know. I mean, you say anything.”

Andrea Marie: Oh, what?

Zoe Rogers: I was like, “It doesn’t really affect anything.”

Andrea Marie: I’m fine. I don’t have a disease.

Zoe Rogers: “All right.” And he said, “Are you gonna say something about all this so that people aren’t uncomfortable?” And I was like, “Would you like me to?” And he said, “Yes.” And I was like, “Okay.” So when I got on stage, I was like, “Hey, you guys, does this baby make me look fat?”

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.

Hello everyone, and welcome to Moms Unhinged, the podcast. I’m your host, Andrea Marie, and I am joined today by the amazing, the wonderful Zoe Rogers. Welcome, Zoe.

Zoe Rogers: Thanks for having me.

Andrea Marie: Yeah. Yeah, super excited to dive in and talk about, you’re one of our Colorado comedians. You’ve toured all around with Moms Unhinged. You’ve done all kinds of amazing things, including she is the founder of the Boulder Comedy Festival, which we will get into in just a little bit.

So yeah, super excited to dive into that. But first, I wanna just like, I love hearing how all of our comedians have gotten started in comedy. Like, what was it? When did you start? How did you get into it? And tell us about that journey.

Starting comedy with toddlers at home

Zoe Rogers: Well, I was living in Los Angeles and I had, let’s see, I had a three-year-old, and I was pregnant and I ran into a friend of mine from high school.

And he was working on The Ellen Show and we saw each other at Sprouts. We were at the grocery store and he was like, “Zoe!” And he recognized me from high school and we went to lunch and he kept saying to me, “You need to do this comedy class.”

I took this comedy class and it, you know, changed my life. You need to do this.” And I was like, “Look, the only classes I take right now are like tumbling classes with like lots of bubbles and like toddler stuff.” And I just didn’t have time in my life for it, and I was also so pregnant. So it took me more than a year.

It took me almost two years from that moment to take the class ’cause I had my baby and then it was all, you know, all-consuming and I was the primary caregiver for these two little kids. But when my son, my second son sort of broke up with me in terms of nursing, I remember calling that same friend and crying and being like, “I feel like I’m being broken up with and it’s something only I could do,” I was taking it very personally.

And he was like, “Well, what better time to take a comedy class?” So I signed up for the comedy class at nights, and I took it and I almost dropped it ’cause I felt like I was, there were no other moms in it.

Andrea Marie: Yeah. Yeah, I know. It’s very isolating.

Zoe Rogers: Yeah. Like, there were other women, but there were no other moms and I just felt like, does anybody care what I have to say?

And all the questions that were like supposed to prompt material, I didn’t have answers for that really made sense. It was like, “What was the last book you read?” And I was like, “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.” Like I didn’t.

Andrea Marie: Real short, sweet, to the point. Lot of the plot is a little lacking.

Zoe Rogers: So I was worried, and thankfully my teacher was like, “You are not dropping the course.”

He was like, “Your voice is important.” And ’cause I said, “Listen, I go to clubs, I go to see shows, and I don’t see anybody like me up there.” And he was like, “So you do it. You be the one like you up there.” Yeah So I graduated from the class and started getting booked on shows, but I realized that I was always the only woman.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Zoe Rogers: And so there were, like, five of us, but we were never on a show together. If one of us was on the show, it meant the other one wasn’t. So I started producing in the back of an Irish bar on Sundays at, like, 6:00. And it was terrible. And I remember I would invite people to it and I would say, “Hey, I run this show and, just so you know, it could just be you and me there.”

I was like, “And that’s the best case scenario.” ‘Cause the other scenario is, like, a bunch of drunken sports fans who are like, “Make me laugh, funny lady.” So yeah, it started like that, and then I just got better venues. And I started doing this free backyard show called Token Straight White Guy or Token Straight White Dude, ’cause I wanted to highlight diversity in women, so we would only have one straight white guy.

Andrea Marie: Ah.

Zoe Rogers: and that was really fun. And yeah, I was doing shows pretty regularly by the time my daughter was born. I remember doing shows, like, super pregnant on stage and starting off. Like, I had one guy at a club that I didn’t work at regularly, but he had booked me months before, and I showed up and I was pregnant.

And he was funny ’cause he was like, “Uh-uh.” He was clearly, like, really thrown. And he was like,

Andrea Marie: “what do we do with this? Oh, no.”

Zoe Rogers: He said, “I didn’t know. I mean, you say anything.”

Andrea Marie: Oh, what?

Zoe Rogers: I was like, ” It doesn’t really affect anything. Really.

Andrea Marie: Fine. I don’t have a disease.

Zoe Rogers: “All right.” And he said, “Are you gonna say something about all this so that people aren’t uncomfortable?” And I was like, “Would you like me to?” And he said, “Yes.” And I was like, “Okay.” So when I got on stage, I was like, “Hey, you guys, does this baby make me look fat?”

But it was, yeah, it was like, this wild journey, and it’s been, how many years is this now? 14 years. So it’s been fun. And then from there to producing and just getting to do really cool shows to feature for people and to open for people and go on the road, which was, like, such a dream come true, and then founding the festival.

So it was just, like, all these things where I was like, “Do I get to do this?” Like, “This is pretty awesome.”

Andrea Marie: Yeah, yeah. That’s so fun. That’s so fun, I love that. Are you gonna say anything about all this?

Zoe Rogers: Was I supposed to start at the beginning and be like, “Sometimes when a man and a woman like each other…”

Andrea Marie: You know, this is a condition. Oh my gosh, that’s so funny. Well, that’s so great. I love that, and I love that you have like, you know, I think the thing that’s fun is that you have produced, you know, you saw opportunities that needed to be created, and you just created them. You just did it.

Founding the Boulder Comedy Festival

Andrea Marie: You just went out there and said, “You know what? If I’m not seeing the types of shows I wanna see, I’m gonna make them. And you know, I’m gonna, if the festival doesn’t exist, let’s just make it and see what happens.” And now the Boulder Comedy Festival is in its, is it six years?

sixth year? Yeah, that’s our sixth year.

That’s so exciting. That’s so exciting.

Zoe Rogers: I remember looking it up when I came up with the idea, ’cause I came up with the idea years before I did anything with it. I was in LA and I was getting to do festivals. I was so psyched to get into them, and it would always be, like, 20 white dudes with the same hoodie and, like, three women.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Zoe Rogers: And I remember thinking, like, “Wouldn’t it be kinda cool…” ‘Cause it was kind of like token straight white dude, where I was always the only woman, so I was sitting in the back of the room thinking, like, “What if we flipped this around? What if we flip this around and just called out the secret of the room, which is called token straight white dude?”

And so with the festival, I was like, “What if there’s a whole festival based on highlighting women and diversity in comedy?” And I remember thinking, like, “I’m sure someone else has done that.” And you go online and you look it up, and I was like, ” No, nobody else has done that. Really? Okay, let’s do it.”

Andrea Marie: Yeah

Zoe Rogers: And then it was like I was just fortunate enough.

I was already working with The Dairy, and I asked them, I said, “You know, we do one night a month. Would it be okay with you if we use that one night as part of a festival I’m trying to put together? I already have the other venues.” And they were like, “You could have four nights if you wanted them.”

And I was so shocked because, I don’t know, a lot of the time as a comic, like, you feel like people don’t wanna support your ideas. Or they’re like, “Oh, this could be a mess.” And it was so nice to be with a venue that was like, “We completely and wholeheartedly support what you’re doing.”

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Zoe Rogers: “How can we help?” That was such a gift.

The hardest part of running a comedy festival

Andrea Marie: Yeah. That’s so great. Yeah, ’cause it is hard putting on a festival, I’m sure. I mean, I haven’t done it myself, but I’ve like done, you know, with Moms Unhinged. I know how challenging, yeah, how challenging it is to find venues, find people who, you know, who get the vision and that’s so great that they were so supportive of that.

And you have, you’ve really, and we’ll just like dive into the festival and talk a little bit more about like, so you source comedians from all over the country.

Zoe Rogers: Yes.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Zoe Rogers: I have a panel of people who watch tapes me. And this year… I mean, what I’ve always done from the beginning is sort of like supplement where there’s a gap. And there’s always like, a predominant type of submission, which is like the straight white male submission, which is fine.

There are very funny straight white males in the world. It’s just that can’t take up 90 minutes of a show. That’s a crazy… Like, you don’t wanna dominate that perspective for a show.

So I would reach out to local comics, and since we’re in Colorado, we have, like, an abundance of local funny people.

Andrea Marie: Mm-hmm

Zoe Rogers: And then this year, I did something where I did 80 cents on the dollar for women to apply, where I was like, “Ladies, please, like, I am drowning in these other applications.

Could you send me in some applications?” And it worked. We got a lot more women who applied. There was a lot more, like, diversity this year, which made me feel really good ’cause it made me feel like, oh, people know of the festival. They hear good things. You know, they feel safe coming and applying.

Andrea Marie: Yeah

Zoe Rogers: And it’s nice when comics say good things about your festival ’cause festivals can be a pain.

You have to get yourself there. You have to find accommodation. So to have people who want to come back year after year or say to their friends like, “Hey, reach out to them. This was a really good time,” means a lot, having been there myself. Yeah.

Andrea Marie: Right. Yeah, and it’s, a festival can be very poorly run, and that makes, that kinda makes the whole experience, you know, not, not so great. You don’t know where you’re supposed to be. You don’t know, like, if you’re even in it. Yes So like, it’s definitely can be a challenge.

So, that’s great that you’ve got so many great submissions and that just elevates the whole quality of the festival. Now, I’ve been a part of it for a few years now, and I just have loved all of the comedians you’ve brought in. They’re just, I mean, just so funny, such a high quality show, and that’s important for returning, audience members as well.

Zoe Rogers: Yeah, and people will have favorite comics that they’ll come up to me and be like, “Is so-and-so gonna come back?” And like, we’ve been really fortunate that like, yes, like sometimes I’ll connect with people, and sometimes it’s someone that I couldn’t let in one year because we were packed, and I don’t want somebody to fly out and only have like five minutes at one show.

I’ve done that. That sucks. So if somebody’s gonna come out, I wanna be able to give them two to three shows, longer sets, like a real chance to shine and connect with the audience. So we’ve had people where we couldn’t have them one year ’cause we were packed, and I said like, “Please reach out to me next year.”

And we brought them back the next year. They did really well, and then they come back when they’re in town, and they headline at Dairy Arts, or I pair them with other local people. So it’s like forming relationships with them, too.

Andrea Marie: Yeah. Definitely. It’s so… that’s really great. And what is the most challenging thing about running a festival? It’s once a year. Like, I know it’s a ton Yeah. of work, but what is one of the more challenging pieces of it?

Zoe Rogers: Oh man, selling tickets.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Zoe Rogers: Selling tickets.

Andrea Marie: Yeah

Zoe Rogers: This is before the sunburn takes effect, but I go to all the farmers markets with my little flyers. “Hey, do you like comedy? Hey, do you like stand-up?” I’m like giving people stuff, and sometimes people are like, “No.” I’m like, “Okay, cool.”

Andrea Marie: I don’t. I hate laughing. Uh, no thank you.

Zoe Rogers: It really bums me out. But I’ve gotten into good conversations with people where they’ll be like, “No.”

And I’m like, “What is it that you don’t like?” And they’ll be like, “I don’t like crude, crass humor or whatever. I don’t like uncomfortable stuff.” I was like, “Me neither. Can I talk to you about Boulder Comedy Festival?” I’m like, “We don’t punch down. We have comics who talk about shared experiences and are vulnerable, and there is no, like, bullying.

This is not like an ’80s movie where you’re just, you know.

Andrea Marie: Yeah

Zoe Rogers: I was like, “It’s really enlightened, fun, connected, comedy.” And so I wind up seeing some of those people in the audience ’cause I’ll put like a promo code on their thing, and then they’ll come out and they’ll be like, “See, I would come out for this. This I would come out for.”

And they’re like, “Are you doing this next year?” And I’m like, “Yes. Yes, we are.” We’re friends. So selling tickets is the hardest part, and then I would say deciding who is in it, because sometimes you find yourself with a great situation of just an abundance of talented people.

And then for me, it’s making sure that everyone’s voice is heard, everyone’s represented, everyone has a seat at the table. So I’m like, “Okay, how many of this perspective do we have versus how many of this perspective?” And then trying to divvy that up between shows. Like, my husband will make fun of me ’cause I’ll be like, “I know I said we have the final lineup for that show, but I realized last night as I was falling asleep that we were missing this one perspective.”

And he’s like, “So? We’ve changed it three times.” And I’m like, “It doesn’t matter. What if this is the one show that somebody comes to the festival and sees? Like, everyone needs to be represented.”

Andrea Marie: Right, right. That is, that, yeah, yeah. Organizing lineups is so, so tough, so that I commend you for that. That, and it’s such a puzzle piece. Yeah, so many different moving parts, when people can come in, when, you know, when they’re already on shows. So yeah, that is a huge challenge. And selling tickets. So you guys, hey, podcast people, if you are listening and in Boulder, buy your tickets now.

I’m just gonna say that right now. We have got a promo code for you, Moms Unhinged promo code. It’s just Moms Unhinged? Is that the?

Zoe Rogers: Moms Unhinged is a promo code that we’re using for Moms Unhinged listeners.

Andrea Marie: Yes. Okay, great. So listeners, you guys are getting a special treat. We got a discount for you to the Boulder Comedy Festival. What’s the website, Zoe?

Zoe Rogers: BoulderComedyFestival.com

Andrea Marie: Easy, easy. We will have that in the show notes. We will also have the link or the promo code, but buy your tickets now so Zoe does not have to stress and have some late nights and, like, be lying awake worried about tickets at this venue or that venue or whatnot.

Just get ’em. Get ’em now Yes, ’cause you do, you lay awake at 3:00 at night, like 3:00 in the morning being like, “What are we, what are we up to?”

I know, and I know people like to wait till the last minute, but you’re stressing us out, people. You’re stressing us out. We don’t need it.

Zoe Rogers: Producers, buy our tickets a month in advance.

Andrea Marie: I know. Just plan. You know you’re coming. You know you’re coming. So that is super fun. We’ll also talk, touch on that at the end, and to remind people to get tickets, but I also wanna get into your parenting journey and, like, what that’s been like.

Why three kids feels exponentially harder than one

Andrea Marie: You have three children, which is a lot.

Zoe Rogers: Yes, I see that in my set where I’m like, “Three is so much more than one.” Uh-huh. Proportional math, yeah.

Andrea Marie: Yeah, so many. So tell us their, like, their ages. You have two boys, one girl. What’s the

Zoe Rogers: Yes, we have 20, almost 17, and 8.

Andrea Marie: Yeah,

Zoe Rogers: life, I always say life is never dull or quiet. At our house, yeah, it’s generally chaos, but they are, they’re very nice to each other, which is good. But they, it’s good Yeah stuff, but it is like there’s no privacy.

There’s no, like, if I’m going to be productive, I’m in my car or I’m at the public library ’cause no one is being productive in our house. It’s like they’re like the productivity police. They can all be entertaining each other, but as soon as I sit down with a pen and paper and I’m like, “Okay, let me figure this out,” they come over with like, “Can I show you this thing?

Can I tell you this thing they said to me? Can I relive this YouTube video for you in, in real time?” It’s no, no. It’s not a great time. Maybe 10 minutes.

Andrea Marie: I know. Let me tell you about this. Let me reenact this whole video game play that I did. You know, I’m like, “Oh my gosh, I don’t even know what you’re talking about, but cool.”

Zoe Rogers: Yes. And I’m like, “That sounds fascinating. can you hold that thought for 10 minutes before my brain eats the thing that I just thought of?”

Andrea Marie: Yeah. Or can we condense the story a little bit? No.

Zoe Rogers: I feel like giving them the light where they’ll like just be going on too long and I’m like, “Okay, one minute, one minute. Wrap it up. Wrap it up.”

Andrea Marie: A hilarious idea, the comedy light for the kids.

Zoe Rogers: Let’s end it on a high note. That one’s funny. Let’s end on that. No?

Andrea Marie: Yeah, yeah, that was a good. That’s your closer. Done. Yes, that’s Your closer right there. just start playing music, bring up the next kid.

And give it up for…

Zoe Rogers: Give a warm welcome to, yeah.

Andrea Marie: Oh my.

Zoe Rogers: Next kid.

Parenting with a big age gap between kids

Andrea Marie: That’s so funny. Now you have kind of, a gap between the two boys the girl. What is that like navigating that?

Zoe Rogers: You know, I guess it’s kinda neat ’cause, like, my 20-year-old will talk to my eight-year-old and be like, “When I was your age, when I was in third grade, I was doing this,” you know? And so it’s kind of nice for him to feel like the wise

Andrea Marie: Yeah

Zoe Rogers: old-timer.

My middle son, we were on a hike yesterday, and my oldest was telling him something, and then my youngest was like, “Oh, oh, I wanna tell you this.”

And he was like, “Yeah, hold on one sec. He’s talking to me. I wanna hear what you have to say. Just give me a minute.” And I was like, “Is this what being a middle child is like?” And he was like, “Basically, yes.” Like, you should work for the UN.

Like, you’re the peacekeeper and, you know. And the gap is fun.

My son, at one point, he did not get carded going in some place that I did get carded going into.

Because he’s, like, six foot feet tall, I think.

Andrea Marie: Oh, right

Zoe Rogers: So it is funny to have, like, a giant man size, as I’m sure you know, like a giant man-sized child. Like, I came home from a show the other night, and I guess he was coming in from the dorm, and I was going from my car to the house, and he jumped out at me and was like, “Boo.”

And I was like, ” Ah!” I was like, “You cannot do that. You cannot jump out at people from the shadows. You are a grown man.” And he was like, “You’re my mom.” I was like, “Of course, I’m your mom, but you’re also a grown man who jumped out at me in the dark, so maybe let’s not play that game ever.”

Andrea Marie: That is, yeah, it is funny because there is that period when, they look old, but they still wanna, you know, still have kid-like tendencies, but you’re like, “Ooh, you kinda look man-ish, but you, I get it.

The Tooth Fairy in Burbank story

Zoe Rogers: You are always my baby, but you wear a size 14 shoe and you are six feet tall. So he was reminding me the other day where he was like… What did he say? He said, “Do you remember about the Tooth Fairy in Burbank?” And I was like, “What?” And I remembered that nobody tells you when their, your kid’s teeth are gonna fall out.

They just fall out. And he lost them in droves. It was like a meth house at our place. Like, he lost four teeth at a time. And then, so he, that week in school, lost a tooth on Tuesday and a tooth on Thursday, and he wanted books. The Tooth Fairy was supposed to bring him books. That’s what he asked her for in his little note.

But I got a show, in Burbank, which was very far from me in Santa Monica, so it was like a two-hour drive there and then a really long drive back. And the only place that I could stop and get a book was, like, an adult bookstore, middle of, like, Hollywood. So I’m looking for something about dinos, and it was not the thing.

It wound up being a lesser dinosaur book. It was not the exact one requested. So I came in, and, like, he woke me up in the morning, and he was like, “Mom, the Tooth Fairy didn’t come.” And I was like, “What?” He was like, “She didn’t come. There’s no dino book.” And I was like, “Oh, you should look in the kitchen. Sometimes she puts things in the kitchen.” So while he went to the kitchen, I went to my car, and I got the book, and I put it under his pillow.

He was like, “Oh, this wasn’t the book that I wanted. It’s the same general topic, but it’s not the book I requested.” And I was like, “Listen, man, sometimes the Tooth Fairy is doing her best, and sometimes the Tooth Fairy gets a show in Burbank, and she doesn’t get back till 1:00 in the morning, and her options are really limited.” he was like.

So I completely blocked that out. But he was like, “Remember about the Tooth Fairy in Burbank?” And I was like, “Oh, that’s right.” And he was like, “That book was really weird.” He was like, “It was about dinosaurs, but written by somebody who clearly had no knowledge of…” I was like, “Listen, I was in North Hollywood at, like, 1:00 in the morning. I don’t know what to tell you.”

Andrea Marie: That’s hilarious. That’s so funny. Well, at least it wasn’t some weird thing, really weird thing going on.

Zoe Rogers: Oh, it could’ve been worse with what my options were. I was like, “Do you have anything about this guy who worked there when…” I’m like showing up at like, you know, 12:30 or something. And I’m like, “Do you have anything about dinosaurs?” And he was like, “What?” And I was like, “Do you have any kids books?” And he’s like, “No.”

I was like, “Anything about the prehistoric era?” Like clearly, I think he might’ve been more freaked out by me, like that scene in Men in Black where the little girl is there, and they’re like, “What’s she doing here” He must’ve been like, “What is this mom doing here at 12:30 asking about dinosaur books?”

Andrea Marie: So funny. I know. It is so funny the things we have to do. And to keep that little, ruse alive and, you know, and we’re tired, and we’re like, “Oh, God,” and you run out. Like, we would leave gold coins, and so sometimes we’re out of gold coins. And the bank’s closed, and, you know, there’s like a little IOU note under the, you know, from the Tooth Fairy.

Or like, you know, this isn’t what the, they normally do. You know? Well, we normally also, tooth fairies normally get more rest than they are getting.

Zoe Rogers: Get more heads up, you know? Yeah. He was just like, I remember thinking, “Why was the Tooth Fairy in Burbank?”

Andrea Marie: That’s so funny.

Zoe Rogers: The tooth fairy had a show at Flappers, okay?

Andrea Marie: Yeah, yeah. I love that. I love that. And so your daughter, is probably, like, does she get preferential treatment being, like, the youngest and the only daughter? Is there, does she get spoiled a little?

Zoe Rogers: She probably does. I mean, she has her brothers and they will play with her and entertain her, so she is a little, like, shocked when people are like, “No, I’m doing this other thing.” Like, she’s the third kid, so she’s heard that a lot, but she’s also like, “Hmm, let me try someone else.”

Like, she’s the queen of if I say no, she goes to my husband, and if he says no, she goes to, you know, my oldest son, and then my second oldest son.

She’s trying every angle. She’s like, “Someone’s gonna hook me up here with, like, cookies if I ask enough.”

Andrea Marie: Right Yeah, there’s multiple, multiple ways to finagle that, so for sure.

Zoe Rogers: The boys were funny when I was pregnant with her ’cause they were like, I told them I was having another baby and I was, we found out we were having a girl, and they were like, “What is that gonna be like?” And I was like, “I don’t know.” Like, they were just like, “What is a girl gonna be like?” And I was just like, “We’ll find out.”

I don’t know. They’re like, “Are you sure?” I was like, “I’m sure. There’s a doctor who tells you what you’re having.”

The kindergarten bully

Andrea Marie: That’s so funny. I usually ask people for an unhinged story that definitely the tooth fairy in Burbank is definitely unhinged. Any other stories that come to mind? I always feel like, we’re all trying to do our best, and I feel like by sharing these moments where things maybe didn’t go quite right, that we can all feel a little less alone out there in the world.

Zoe Rogers: I’ve had a bunch of those. One that I had was there was a girl. My son was in kindergarten, my oldest, and he gad a bunch of like developmental things. He needed early intervention, and he was doing well in terms of like socially talking to kids, but it took work, you know, to get him to feel comfortable enough.

And there was a girl that had a crush on him, and she was not very nice to him. And another little girl came over and said, “If you were my boyfriend, I would never treat you like that.” So he wisely upgraded and was like, “Okay, I wanna go out with this little girl.” Well, the first woman became like this tiny woman scorned, the first girl.

So she made it her mission to tell other people not to play with him. She would run up to him on the playground and be like, “Don’t play with him.” And she’d yell at him, and she just made it. She was like, “You can’t play on this play structure.” And I tried all the normal mom things. I tried to talk to the teacher, and the other mom was a big donor to the school, so they weren’t gonna do anything about it.

I tried to talk to the other mom, and she acted like it wasn’t happening. And I was like out of resources for how to handle this. But he came home one day and he was like, “Mom, she called me stupid.” And I was like and I like felt like I was growing fangs. Like I was like, ” What?”

Andrea Marie: Seriously.

Zoe Rogers: I was so.

Andrea Marie: Talking about Mama Bear on the other podcast. I’m like, “Definitely.” I’d be like, “What?”

Zoe Rogers: And I had like a little baby on me at this point listening to this just feeling like, “Oh, I gotta help this kid. What do I do?” And he said, “Why is she so mean?” And I said, “It’s because her mommy doesn’t love her as much as I love you, and it makes her mean.”

And he said, “Okay.” Like, that made sense to him. And the next day he went to school, and when she started to say, “Don’t play with him, he’s stupid,” all these awful things, he put his hand on her forearm and said, “I know why you’re so mean.

It’s because your mommy doesn’t love you as much as my mom loves me, and that makes you mean.” And she just started crying and fell apart. So I got a call from the teacher, and she was like, “I’m just curious ’cause he’s such a nice kid. That doesn’t sound like anything he would ever say. I’ve never heard those words in his vernacular.”

And I paused and I said, “To be fair, I brought this to you and I asked for help.” And so when my husband came home from work, he got a call at work about it too, and he’s like, comes home just like rubbing his head and he’s like, “Just tell me that when you said it, you didn’t know that he was going to say it.”

And I said, “Of course I knew he was going to say it. He’s five years old. He repeats everything that people say to him.” And he said, “What happened to taking the high road?” And I was like, “That was the high road.” But she never messed with him again.

It was one of those moments where I was like, “Look dude, I was out of options and I had to use the tools available to me at the time,” which was a five-year-old who repeats everything.

Andrea Marie: It’s so funny. I love how empathetically he was being with that, being like, “I’m so sorry.”

Zoe Rogers: I’m so sorry.

Andrea Marie: “Your mom doesn’t love you.”

Zoe Rogers: Talking about just that, this little bomb for your self-esteem. I’m so sorry. And he was like, “So wait, what do you think people are learning in this situation? Where’s the teachable moment?” And I was like, “That she called the wrong kid stupid, I think that’s the teachable moment.”

Andrea Marie: Yeah. You wanna play? You wanna play? Here we go.

Zoe Rogers: Yeah, my husband, I was like, “Listen, he’s not like a little boy where, like, he can push him back. This is a little girl. I gotta set little bombs for her self-esteem that go off and let her know to never mess with him again.” And he was just like, “So you’re doing mental warfare in pre-K?” And I was like, “I didn’t start it. She started it.”

Andrea Marie:  Oh my gosh, that’s so funny. I know, it’s so hard trying to figure out like where to intervene or how to intervene or how to get… it’s like we’re so protective of our kids, and such a challenge when things like that are wrong.

Zoe Rogers: And you try to do the right… I was trying to do the right, you know, go to the teacher, go to the other parent.

Andrea Marie: Let’s talk about this. Let’s get it, you know, get a solution that…” Well, we’re not getting a solution, so here we go.

Zoe Rogers: Yeah, and that was the end of it. Never came up again.

Andrea Marie: Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Oh my God. Oh, and I forgot to even mention one other thing that you do in addition to doing the comedy festival, Boulder Comedy Festival, is you also teach comedy.

Zoe Rogers: Yes, yes, I teach comedy. I have a co-ed class and a women’s class at High Road Comedy.

Andrea Marie: High Road Comedy, that’s so great. It’s all live in person, right? Are there any virtual?

Zoe Rogers: The first, I would say the first three quarters of the class is on Zoom, and then the last chunk is in person while people get kind of on stage what to do with the stand and the mic and all of that.

Andrea Marie: people can… You kinda have to be in the area to be able to do the show at the end, right?

Zoe Rogers: To do the show at the end, yes. Yeah, we have had people from other places just do the first part on Zoom, but for people who wanna do the performance, they tend to be local or they drive in the last three or four classes.

Andrea Marie: Yeah, that makes sense. And yeah, come out, take a vacation in Colorado, get comedy if you’re looking for comedy classes, High Road Comedy, definitely come out. I’ve just heard amazing things, and I know people who have, just sung the praises of being able to write and get together and, you know, come up with a great set, so I love that.

Zoe Rogers: It’s an awesome sort of supportive group. It’s little and knit and fun.

Andrea Marie: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, just to reiterate everyone, come get your, tickets to the Boulder Comedy Festival, bouldercomedyfestival.com. Promo code MomsUnhinged. And, Zoe, tell us where else people can find you online.

Zoe Rogers: Zoe Rogers Comedy. Yeah, Zoe Rogers Comedy, Boulder Comedy Festival, highroadcomedyclass.com or High Road Comedy in general can tell you all about the things we’re doing from the festival to the classes.

Andrea Marie: Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. This is so fun. As always, it just goes by so quick. I’m like, “Wow, we’re already at the end.” But thank you, Zoe, for coming on and telling your comedy journey and your parenting stories.

Zoe Rogers: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Andrea Marie: Bye everyone.

Zoe Rogers: Bye.

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