Backstage it’s all baby talk with Lucy Porter

LUCY Porter is back, after taking two years out, having a baby a year, the diminutive comedy firecracker is back, ready to have audiences rolling in the aisles once again, but then, what else would you expect of a comedy mum?

Combining a comedy career with looking after two children under two can be a bit of a challenge. Luckily the skills I use for dealing with the kids’ tears, tantrums and messy little accidents during the day can also be used for dealing with adult females in hen parties later on.

Apart from the fact that you don’t get maternity leave, being a comic is quite a good job for a new mum. The hours are pretty flexible, child care is cheaper in the evening, and you get to go to the pub every night without feeling guilty.

A little known fact is that lots of male comics are the primary carers for their children during the day. So at a gig, the backstage chat will quite often be about preferred brands of nappy cream or the best way to puree sweet potatoes. I recently spent a very happy few hours with a famous comic talking about his wife’s pregnancy piles.

The best thing about being a comedy mum though, is that if my little angels turn into unruly teenagers, I have the ultimate weapon – I can embarrass them by talking about them on stage.

• Lucy Porter: People Person, The Stand, York Place, until August 26, 5.15pm, £10, www.edfringe.com

• Hear Lucy Porter in conversation with Evening News Entertainment Editor Liam Rudden in our On The Fringe podcast by going to www.edinburghnews.com