Geoff Bennett:
In tonight’s Brief But Spectacular take, she reflects on family comedy and the lessons we carry from our parents when they show and when they don’t.
Mo Welch, Comedian and Illustrator: I never thought that the traumatic stuff was funny because I always loved one-liners. And the first one-liner from “Dad Jokes” was, I hate dad jokes. Every time I hear a dad tell a dad joke, I’m so happy that mine abandoned my whole family.
I grew up in Normal, Illinois. I am the second born of five kids. There was a gas station a mile away. It was the only business in town. My mom worked there. It was called Turner’s. And she would bring all of us there. And then eventually the manager was like, you have to stop your day care.
I was a shy kid. I used to spend all my time drawing, playing basketball, doing things by myself. My dad was in prison when my older sister was born. And then I was technically a conjugal visit. That is how I was made. I mean, it was like I was built for comedy. My dad went to prison for stealing TVs from Sears on more than one occasion.
But I guess he stole a big enough and expensive enough TV where he was in there for years. My dad was physically abusive and mentally abusive. The last time that we left, he kicked my mom while she was changing my sister’s diaper. And my mom was like, I have had enough. She left and we never came back. When
I was in college, I was the editorial cartoonist. And I started comedy and stopped drawing. The first time I did stand-up, I took a class at the improv theater. I chugged a few beers and blacked out and killed. And I was like, this is what I’m going to do forever. Famously, what happens is you have a few good shows and then you bomb for, I don’t know, five years.
After almost 10 years of doing comedy, nothing had happened. I was staying at my mom’s house. I was like going to the Panera Bread every day. My sister had a pad of paper downstairs, and I just drew this character that looked really depressed, and my friend had just purchased a house.
And so I just wrote, “My friend just bought a house, and I’m having a pop tart for dinner.” And then I said, oh, I’m going to draw one every day. And then at the end of the year, I will see how many I have. And I had like 360.
I jumped up and down the first time I got a cartoon in “The New Yorker.” I was ecstatic. My latest special is called “Dad Jokes.” It is half-documentary and half stand-up special. The documentary part follows me traveling from Los Angeles To central Illinois to meet up with my dad, who I haven’t seen in 20 years.
