I'm a cool mum, I know TikTok dances and teenage lingo

Audiences say they love the hilarious video clips in my show which star with my own teens; there’s a role reversal skit with my daughter and an observation of ‘teenagers in the wild ‘with my son and his friends. Another highlight is the fun audience participation bits of the show such as a parent role playing a teenage boy and the ‘Cool Dad make-over’. I give very cool Tshirts to my audience volunteers! My show includes Tik Tok dances, cool lingo training and tips for being a ‘social media aware parent’ (aka stalking your kids on Insta). You will leave Lit AF!

The show has been really popular ‘Downunder’. It won best solo show and audience favourite show at Nelson Fringe and has sold out at New Zealand and Australian festivals with 5 star reviews. I think UK audiences will love the show too!

I wrote most of the show when I was in the thick of parenting teenagers myself.  I definitely used writing comedy as a coping mechanism for the challenges of parenting my kids!  I found comedy really helps with processing the hellish moments with teenagers! Tragedy plus time definitely equals comedy!

The Cool Mum has some true messages about parenting that I wrote with my psychiatrist and author of a teenage mental health book When Life Sucks ‘hats’ on.  I included the take home messages that helped me most as a parent of teenagers. Ideas such as parenting being a really tough gig and that you don’t need to be a perfect parent, just ‘good enough’.  Also, that kids learn through the rupture and repair of their relationship with their parents.  So, if it’s all falling apart, see it has a ‘rupture’ and you can model how to ‘repair’ the relationship. This helps your kids know how to be in relationships as they become young adults.

I’m increasingly finding comedy is a great vehicle for messaging about important issues.  I did a lot of media interviews last year when my book When Life Sucks was released in NZ and Australia. I think being a comedian and a psychiatrist allowed for light and entertaining conversations about parenting and mental health. I feel very privileged to have the platforms of stage and media to be able to do what is essentially public health work. I particularly find amusing anecdotes about my own parenting and kids help bridge conversations on challenging topics.  My kids have been awesome in giving permission, or at least not complaining much, when their mum talks about them grunting to communicate or using the home garage as a flat furniture storage facility on national TV!

So, there are some helpful parenting messages included in The Cool Mum but most of the show is light hearted, ‘don’t try this at home’ silliness.  It’s a very funny show!

2 How does it feel to be playing the Fringe for the first time?

As a first timer at Fringe, I feel a mix of excitement and trepidation!

I’m really excited to be coming to Edinburgh for the whole month all the way from New Zealand!  Given I’m from ‘the colonies’ it’s like coming back to the motherland to connect with my ancestors at Fringe! I love the idea of a whole month focused on performing and connecting with audiences and other artists.

I have some trepidation about managing the mental and physical demands of performing solo show daily for a month.  The biggest challenges will likely be caring for my voice, body and mind and adjusting to perform for variable audience sizes and types.  I think that performing my show 25 times will help me evolve as a comedian and really work out what I most enjoy about performing.  And I’ll possibly never want to hear my voice again!

Fringe has been a long time coming.  Edinburgh was actually my 2021 plan but that went out the window because of the three big Cs – covid, cancer and cash! I had treatment for breast cancer in 2021 and chemotherapy was much less fun than a month in Edinburgh. Now cancer free post treatment I have a real YOLO attitude to life; I’ve decided to do the things and follow the dreams. A life-threatening illness has reminded me that life’s too short to put off following your dreams! One of which is Edinburgh Fringe!

3 Why did you decide to perform at the Fringe?

I think status, size and stamina are the main reasons why Fringe is so important.  It’s been a rite of passage for many years for artists from the colonies; a high-status achievement in New Zealand to say you’ve been to (and survived) Edinburgh Fringe. As the biggest festival in the world, with the highest number of artists, the entertainment industry light shines on it.  It’s an opportunity to be seen and discovered.  It’s also an opportunity to see and discover.  And an opportunity to test our stamina with a month of shows in a highly competitive atmosphere!

My book When Life Sucks has just been released in the UK by Harper Collins so coming to Fringe this year was perfectly timed!  My show and book are on the same theme of the challenges of parenting teenagers, but with different goals.  The comedy show is laughing at trying to be a cool parent.  My book is about supporting our teens to survive until adulthood! I hope When Life Sucks is as popular here as it’s been in Australia and New Zealand, where it’s been on a couple of best seller lists. I’m planning to have copies of my book available to purchase after my Fringe shows at Gilded Balloon Patter House.

My husband is running the Berlin marathon at the end of September and he’s joining me for the last few days of Fringe. I’ll have his moral support to cross the Fringe finish line and then I’ll cheer him on across the finish line in Berlin! I have always liked a challenge and I tossed up between running the Berlin marathon myself and performing a month at Fringe; both would give a sense of achievement, testing my stamina and likely have ‘WTF am I doing moments’! My brain and vocal cords are stronger than my menopausal knees though, so Fringe it is!

4 If you were not a performer what would you be doing?

I actually had a very sensible career as a doctor before I started stand-up comedy at the age of 48. So, if I wasn’t a performer I would probably still be living a quiet, well-resourced life as a psychiatrist!  I would be coming to Fringe as an audience member, rather than performing – but likely itching to get up on stage!

It’s probably not surprising that I did a career U turn in middle age, as performing had always been my dream.  My parents realised I was born to be a performer as soon as I could talk, and I got way too much attention for my ‘shows’ as a toddler.  I’m still trying to replicate the rave reviews and attentive audiences of my pre-school performance era!

At primary school I loved any activities where I performed in front of the class.  ‘Show and tell’ time was the highlight of my week! Around the age of 10 I was cast in a small role as ‘drunk man’ in a friend’s play and somehow improvised my way into this being a lead role on opening night. Who knew that ‘drunk man’ was the protagonist’s father and that his story was so essential to tell! My friend forgave me and cast me as the lead character in her next play! I started taking myself to community theatre auditions as a primary school age child and performed regularly through high school. 

At 17 my parents and bank manager were pleased that I decided to go to medical school instead of drama school. I kept performing through medical school in sketch groups and Med Review shows, discovered improvised comedy while training to be a psychiatrist in Australia and did a lot of screen-acting in New Zealand while my kids were young. 

When I was 48, a comedy producer heard me bantering with the crew during a TV pilot shoot and suggested I try standup comedy.  I said no, as standup looked terrifying, but a few weeks later I was doing my first comedy set.  It seems that I’m not very assertive!  My first set was about trying to impress my kids with cool lingo learnt from Urban Dictionary.  That set went well and I haven’t looked back.  I closed my psychiatry practice in 2021 and focused on performing comedy as my main career.

In 2021 I also became an author.  I was commissioned by Harper Collins to write a book for parents about teenage mental health.  The commissioning editor had heard me on Radio New Zealand talking about being a psychiatrist, comedian and parent.  The book, When Life Sucks, has been popular because it brings some lightness to the heavy topic of parenting teens who are going through tough times.  I think being a parent, who is open about only ‘graduating with a C + average’ in parenting teenagers myself, helps the book feel relatable and real.  I basically translated my psychiatry knowledge into conversational writing, with a sprinkling of humour through the book.  I wanted the book to be an entertaining read but also sensitive and scientifically accurate.  My high school English teacher would be proud - and amazed at what the student with the worst spelling they had seen in their career could achieve!

So, after spending 30 years focused on a sensible career as a doctor, and then as an author, I am now living the dream I had as a small child; the dream of a career on stage.

5 How do you prepare for a performance?

Fringe will be the first time that I’ve done a daytime show so my usual show day routine will be a bit different.  For example, the afternoon nap will be after my show, rather than before!

My performance preparation plan is 4 shots of coffee on awakening then a walk outside in nature  and hopefully getting some morning sun! Next is some good brain fuel food before getting on with show promo on social media and any PR media requests.  Then it’s getting dressed and a bit of flyering if there’s time before the show. I’m lucky to have a flyering team with my promoter RBM Comedy for Fringe!

If I’m waiting backstage before a performance, I do the Superwoman pose, which opens my chest, drops my shoulders and increases my confidence.  If I’m feeling nervous as I wait offstage, I do belly breathing, taking breaths deep into my abdomen and making sure I do a long, slow, out breath to calm my nervous system.  I also find chatting to other performers backstage helps as it gets me into conversation mode, ready to connect with my audience.

I don’t usually feel too nervous with my solo shows unless it’s a high stakes performance or a really tough crowd.  I tend to be more nervous about my tech setup for my shows as I’ve occasionally had dramas with AV not working until 5 minutes before the doors open!  I try to welcome the audience as they walk into my show, as I’m welcoming them to my personal development ‘coolness’ seminar.  I find this helps me get to know the audience and takes the place of crowd work at the beginning of a show. This gets both the audience and me ready for a really fun time!

6 Best/worst advice you’ve been given ahead of your debut show?

BEST – I’ve had lots of advice for Fringe including getting a daytime slot and not reading reviews.  I’ll let you know at the end of Fringe if this was good advice!  I think the best advice I’ve had ahead of my debut show is to work out my goals for Fringe.  I particularly like advice to measure success by the connections you make and the golden moments you have, rather than reviews and awards; they are just a bonus.

WORST – I think the worst has not direct advice I’ve received but the sexist and ageist messages that circulate in the comedy industry.  Messages like ‘women aren’t funny’ or ‘women need to be hot 20-year-olds to have successful careers’.  Or even messages that you can’t be a comedian unless you are quirky looking or mentally unstable.  If I had taken on board any of these messages I wouldn’t be where I am with my comedy career.  I want to be a role model for all women, of any age and type, to boldly embrace comedy and find their unique voice.

7 Favourite thing about being in Edinburgh?

My favourite thing about Edinburgh is the combination of the natural beauty and the historical architecture in the city.  My husband and I visited Edinburgh when we were in our mid 20s and backpacking on our ‘Big OE’ Overseas Experience, a rite of passage for young people from the colonies!  I remember loving the vibe of Edinburgh Old Town so I’m excited to live here for a month over Fringe!  In New Zealand houses built in the 1920s are regarded as historic buildings, so the old buildings in Edinburgh are a real treat!  I’m a big fan of old stuff!

8 What’s the most Scottish thing you’ve done?

It’s a weigh-up between visiting Loch Ness, wearing a kilt, eating haggis and listening to bagpipes.  Surely eating haggis while wearing a kilt listening to bagpipes on the shores of Loch Ness is the epitome of Scottishness!  The only thing missing would be dying my hair ginger and mastering the accent!  Whenever I try the Scottish accent, it becomes some sort of non-specific UK accent.  The kind of accent that a child of a travelling salesman would have!  My goal during Fringe is to master the Scottish accent and to be able to pass as a local by the end of August!

9 Favourite Scottish food/drink?

Not haggis! We had it served as a regular tradition at Knox College, my hall of residence at University of Otago, Dunedin New Zealand. Dunedin is known as the ‘Scotland of the South” so everything Scottish is embraced with gusto! There was way too much haggis gusto at Knox College!

Fortunately, I am now pescatarian, so I have a good excuse to politely decline haggis. I’m yet to try it but I suspect I will love Cullen skink as I’m a big fan of thick, fish-based soups.  I also love raspberries so I’m keen to try Cranachan for dessert!

10 Sum up your show in three words

It’s ‘Lit AF’ or Clean relatable hilarious

Dr Jo Prendergast’s debut comedy show ‘The Cool Mum’ is at the Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose – Coorie Room @ 1pm for tickets go to www.edfringe.com