Parenting is a Joke

Latest Episodes:

From Travel Editor to Scary Mommy with Kate Auletta Nov 06, 2025

Show notes

In this Parenting Is a Joke snack episode, Ophira Eisenberg chats again with Kate Auletta, Editor-in-Chief of Scary Mommy and Romper, about her years as a journalist and the surprising turns that led her from travel writing to parenting media. Kate recalls running HuffPost’s “How to Raise a Kid” conference in 2017—pulling together experts to talk about money, race, sex, and digital literacy right as the Trump era began—and how it felt like a bright moment of optimism and connection before online discourse hardened. She and Ophira laugh about trolls who argue over sunscreen recipes and how parenting pieces, no matter how harmless, seem to ignite fury. Kate shares that her most viral post, written during the early pandemic, was simply a plea for parents to “give yourself grace,” while health content still draws the fiercest backlash. The conversation shifts to travel—her love for St. Barts (despite how un–kid-friendly it proved), the Costa Rican jungle cot that scarred her for life, and a vomit-filled night at a roadside hotel near the Basketball Hall of Fame. She swears by headphone adapters as her most vital travel gear, while her husband lugs an entire backpack of snacks. The episode ends, fittingly, with her dog Franklin barking in the background, signaling that even editors-in-chief can’t escape the soundscape of parenting.

📍November Shows are in Philadelphia, PA, Boston, MA, Westchester, NY and November 9th new Standup Special Taping at The Comedy Cellar in NY!

Details at https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com

Come to the Taping at the Comedy Cellar on Sun Nov 9th!

5pm: https://www.comedycellar.com/reservations-newyork/?showid=1762725600

7pm: https://www.comedycellar.com/reservations-newyork/?showid=1762732860

Follow Kate Auletta : https://www.instagram.com/spottedbykate/

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Kate Auletta Makes Peace with Growing Kids and Growing Older Nov 04, 2025

Show notes

In this episode of Parenting is a Joke, Ophira talks with Kate Auletta, Editor-in-Chief of Scary Mommy and Romper, about raising two sons in the suburbs after growing up as a “true East Side” New Yorker. Kate shares how her mornings start with Picture Day chaos, a barking dog, and kids who quiz her about world politics before breakfast. She describes her nine-year-old as a relentless question machine and her older son as a newly minted golf enthusiast—“a full-on suburb kid.” The conversation covers everything from navigating kids’ sports and body image to Kate’s viral essay about keeping a “naked house,” which she defends as a way to model body confidence and normalcy. She also recalls how explaining the meaning of “69” abruptly ended her sons’ giggle fits and how she recently schooled her tween on SEO after he assumed Google’s top search result meant “best.” The two moms bond over C-section scars, endless school breaks, and the unspoken exhaustion of early mornings. The episode ends on Kate’s wry admission that she’s still clinging to the pool on Labor Day, refusing to surrender summer to Maysember.

📍November Shows are in Philadelphia, PA, Boston, MA, Westchester, NY and November 9th new Standup Special Taping at The Comedy Cellar in NY!

Details at https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com

Come to the Taping at the Comedy Cellar on Sun Nov 9th!

5pm: https://www.comedycellar.com/reservations-newyork/?showid=1762725600

7pm: https://www.comedycellar.com/reservations-newyork/?showid=1762732860

Follow Kate Auletta : https://www.instagram.com/spottedbykate/

See Ophira LIVE: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/events/

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Haunted Houses, Healing Crystals, and Halloween Plans with Brooke MacKenzie Oct 30, 2025

Show notes

In this Halloween “snack” episode, Ophira Eisenberg reconnects with horror writer and fellow Brooklyn parent Brooke Mackenzie to dig deeper into her psychic and supernatural experiences. Brooke explains that she once asked “the powers that be” to remove her ability to see ghosts through deep meditation—but kept one lingering gift: premonition dreams that sometimes predict people’s deaths, a trait she says runs in her family. She recalls her one-year-old daughter giggling at an empty rocking chair and saying “Papa,” suggesting that the connection might continue in the next generation. The two trade stories about Halloween costumes and stolen stoop decorations before diving into Brooke’s past involvement with Wicca, her vast crystal collection (so large her husband gives her a “quota”), and how she uses crystals for rituals—including fertility and protection rituals aided by quartz, selenite, and Herkimer diamonds. Brooke describes working as a tutor, balancing motherhood with writing horror, and how she still fears demons, exorcisms, and her own mortality. She swears she’ll never touch a Ouija board again after one terrifying encounter that ended with a shop owner insisting it be stored in a freezer. The conversation wraps on a lighter note about pillowcase trick-or-treating and Brooke’s hopes to publish children’s books someday—just maybe with a crystal or two close by for good juju.

📍October Shows are in Bozeman, MT, WI, MN, MO and November 9th new Standup Special Taping at The Comedy Cellar in NY!

Details at https://www.ophiraeisenberg.comCome to the Taping at the Comedy Cellar on Sun Nov 9th! 5pm: https://www.comedycellar.com/reservations-newyork/?showid=1762725600 7pm: https://www.comedycellar.com/reservations-newyork/?showid=1762732860

Follow Brooke MacKenzie : https://www.instagram.com/mackbrookepro/

See Ophira LIVE: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/events/

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Follow PIAJ:

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Brooke MacKenzie Knows The Horrors of Parenting Oct 28, 2025

Show notes

In this Halloween-timed episode, Ophira Eisenberg talks with Brooklyn-based horror author and poet Brooke Mackenzie, who balances writing ghost stories with parenting her five-year-old daughter. Brooke describes her haunted Minnesota childhood home—once owned by a member of the Pillsbury family—complete with a female ghost in the basement and a handsy spirit in an old pony shed. She recounts asking “the powers that be” in college to take away her ability to see ghosts after too many eerie encounters at Sarah Lawrence. Ophira and Brooke trade jokes about “geriatric motherhood,” with Brooke explaining how she had her daughter at 40 after infertility struggles and found calm in later-in-life parenting. She also shares how the pandemic sent her family from Manhattan to a haunted mountain town in Northern California, where she wrote much of her horror fiction. Brooke reveals that her story “The Elevator Game”—inspired by the real-life Eliza Lam mystery—launched her career at 39 and led to her collections Ghost Games and The Scary ABC Diary. They discuss the rise of women in horror, how horror offers catharsis and justice, and how motherhood made her writing darker and more body-focused (“once you’ve had every fluid on you…”). The episode ends with Ophira laughing about diaper blowout memories while Brooke jokes that she now spends more time on beta-fish forums than parenting.

📍October Shows are in Bozeman, MT, WI, MN, MO and November 9th new Standup Special Taping at The Comedy Cellar in NY!

Follow Brooke MacKenzie : https://www.instagram.com/mackbrookepro/

See Ophira LIVE: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/events/

SUBSCRIBE so you never miss O thing: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/sign-up

Follow PIAJ:

https://www.instagram.com/parentingisajoke/

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MaryLynn Rajskub Spreads Her Legs (Again) Oct 23, 2025

Show notes

Actor and comedian Mary Lynn Rajskub joins Ophira Eisenberg to talk about raising her now 18-year-old son while continuing to perform stand-up, act, and write. She recalls being visibly pregnant during her last season on 24, with body doubles and stunts ruined when her belly showed up in the shot. She describes her early comedy experiments with Girls’ Guitar Club—two stand-ups who couldn’t play guitar but turned awkward banter into an act—and later channeled pregnancy and motherhood into her one-woman show Mary Lynn Spreads Her Legs, notorious for a review praising its “mean-spirited” riffs on infanticide and colicky babies. Rajskub laughs about her son’s indifference to her career (“he’s never been to a show”) and his generation’s distance from the service-industry jobs she once held, like mixing ranch dressing at Denny’s or lining up greeting cards as a “Hallmark girl.” She admits that leaving home for late-night sets always felt like dragging herself away from the reward of parental wind-down time, and she jokes about young comics inviting her to midnight podcasts when her bedtime is closer to 8:30. The episode ends with Rajskub savoring the absurd “power” she once felt being trusted to stir ranch dressing at Denny’s—a comic foreshadowing of chasing a laugh on stage.

📍October Shows are in Bozeman, MT, WI, MN, MO and in November new Standup Special Taping at The Comedy Cellar in NY!

Details at https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com

Come to the Taping at the Comedy Cellar on Sun Nov 9th!

5pm: https://www.comedycellar.com/reservations-newyork/?showid=1762725600

7pm: https://www.comedycellar.com/reservations-newyork/?showid=1762732860

Follow Marylynn Rajskub: https://www.instagram.com/marylynnrajskub/

See Ophira LIVE: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/events/

SUBSCRIBE so you never miss O thing: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/sign-up

Follow PIAJ:

https://www.instagram.com/parentingisajoke/

https://parentingisajoke.substack.com/

Follow Ophira:

https://www.instagram.com/ophirae/

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Jordan Klepper is an Emmy-Award Winning Dad Oct 21, 2025

Show notes

Daily Show correspondent Jordan Klepper joins Ophira Eisenberg to talk about raising his two-and-a-half-year-old son, Witt, while juggling a career built on improv, political satire, and late-night comedy. Klepper recalls misjudging the mattress size for his son’s bunk bed—leaving a four-inch gap that could double as future deposition material—and justifying his “safety plan” with a beanbag chair under the danger zone. He rails against the whiplash speed of kids’ TV, admitting Bluey gets a pass while Gabby’s Dollhouse and Cocomelon make him wince, then describes how YouTube ballet performances and Singin’ in the Rain became his family’s slower-paced alternative. Klepper revisits his Kalamazoo math-nerd roots, including the actuarial scientist who tried to sell him on predicting death for insurance companies, before he pivoted to improv and eventually landed at The Daily Show. Now, he applies his correspondent’s interrogative style to parenting—only to be told by his wife to stop cross-examining their toddler at the dinner table. From Amazon-era instant gratification to his son’s invented sneakers-with-springs-and-wheels, Klepper balances surreal political interviews with the even trickier task of convincing Witt to wear a jacket. The episode ends with a new father–son bit: shouting “Dan!” back and forth, lifted from an Alan Partridge sketch that Witt now proudly recycles as their private running gag.

📍October Shows are in Bozeman, MT, WI, MN, MO and in November new Standup Special Taping at The Comedy Cellar in NY!

Details at https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com

Come to the Taping at the Comedy Cellar on Sun Nov 9th!

5pm: https://www.comedycellar.com/reservations-newyork/?showid=1762725600

7pm: https://www.comedycellar.com/reservations-newyork/?showid=1762732860

Follow Jordan Klepper: https://www.instagram.com/jordanklepper/

See Ophira LIVE: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/events/

SUBSCRIBE so you never miss O thing: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/sign-up

Follow PIAJ:

https://www.instagram.com/parentingisajoke/

https://parentingisajoke.substack.com/

Follow Ophira:

https://www.instagram.com/ophirae/

https://www.facebook.com/OphiraEisenberg/

https://www.tiktok.com/@ophiranyc

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One Kid is The Right Number with Tony Deyo Oct 16, 2025

Show notes

In this snack episode, comedian Tony Deyo regales Ophira Eisenberg with some of the strangest leaps he’s taken, from auditioning disastrously for Stomp—where his lack of dance skills left him drumming on himself in front of professional dancers—to jumping out of airplanes during Army ROTC, even though the first time he’d ever flown was on the way to jump school. Now a parent, he admits that those risks have given way to new kinds of adventures, like being pressured by his son into riding a 140-foot drop water slide that ripped his swim trunks. Tony talks about how he sets limits, such as refusing to pay $6 for an ice cream bar from a truck, and reflects on the challenges of raising a child alongside an aging dog that required endless vet bills. Though he once feared fatherhood would mark the end of his freedom, he says it’s been the best thing in his life and hopes his son finds work he loves as much as Tony loves comedy. The episode ends with Ophira daring him to perform at his son’s school fundraiser, reminding him that if he can survive a botched Stomp audition and parachuting out of planes, he can handle a PTA crowd.

📍September Shows are in Fairfield, CT, Bloomington & Plainfield IN, Iowa City, IA, and NY!

Details at https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com

Follow Tony Deyo : https://www.instagram.com/tonydeyo/

See Ophira LIVE: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/events/

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Follow PIAJ:

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Tony Deyo Wants to Bang A Drum All Day Oct 14, 2025

Show notes

Comedian Tony Deyo joins Ophira Eisenberg this week to talk about balancing creative work with family life, starting with his strict morning writing routine that often happens next to his son playing video games. He describes raising his now-11-year-old, the youngest in his class, and reflects on being the youngest in school himself. Tony shares the story of meeting his wife in college marching band — he was a drummer, she played clarinet — and riffs on the personalities of every instrument section, from flighty flutists to arrogant trumpeters. He recalls teaching band in Texas, where even tiny towns had million-dollar music programs, and compares it to his son’s current school where he ended up donating a bass drum stand after watching one sit on the floor during a concert. Tony explains how writing marching band shows became the financial bridge that allowed him to leave teaching for comedy, while still supporting his family. He also talks about timing his late-night TV appearances around his son’s birth, pulling back from stand-up during his child’s early years, and now enjoying adventures together like Broadway shows, the Basketball Hall of Fame, and planning a Route 66 road trip. The conversation ends with Ophira marveling at Tony’s son being a true “come with guy,” always ready to say yes to whatever plan his dad dreams up.

📍September Shows are in Fairfield, CT, Bloomington & Plainfield IN, Iowa City, IA, and NY!

Details at https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com

Follow Tony Deyo : https://www.instagram.com/tonydeyo/

Follow Mom’s Unhinged: https://www.instagram.com/momsunhingedcomedy/

See Ophira LIVE: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/events/

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Follow PIAJ:

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Follow Ophira:

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Parenting as Jazz Improv with John Moe Oct 09, 2025

Show notes

In this snack episode, John Moe—host of Depresh Mode and Sleeping with Celebrities—shares memories with Ophira Eisenberg of sneaking into R-rated movies as a kid, including the terrifying but oddly comical Alien chest-burster scene that was softened by nearby jokesters comparing it to a hot dog with ketchup. He recalls being deeply shaken by The Exorcist and a low-budget Bigfoot “documentary,” which hit especially hard growing up in the Pacific Northwest. Moe also talks about the movies he’s passed down to his kids—Back to the Future, The Blues Brothers, Smokey and the Bandit, and Star Wars—while reflecting on how their pacing collides with today’s faster attention spans. Watching E.T. as an adult made him empathize more with the stressed single mother and even the government researchers than with the kids. Shifting to parenting, he describes handling discipline through conversations about consequences rather than punishment, being impressed by his teens’ self-regulation with social media, and missing the portability of younger children more than the sleeplessness. He admits he never kept journals—unless there was a chance to get paid for writing—but loved the sense of renewal around back-to-school rituals. Ultimately, Moe says parenting has taught him that raising kids, like jazz, is improvisation, and he once even wrote a Sharpie “P” on his hand as a reminder to practice patience.

📍October Shows are in Bozeman, MT, WI, MN, MO and in November new Standup Special Taping at The Comedy Cellar in NY!

Details at https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com

Come to the Taping at the Comedy Cellar on Sun Nov 9th!

5pm: https://www.comedycellar.com/reservations-newyork/?showid=1762725600

7pm: https://www.comedycellar.com/reservations-newyork/?showid=1762732860

Follow John Moe: https://www.instagram.com/johnmoe/

See Ophira LIVE: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/events/

SUBSCRIBE so you never miss O thing: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/sign-up

Follow PIAJ:

https://www.instagram.com/parentingisajoke/

https://parentingisajoke.substack.com/

Follow Ophira:

https://www.instagram.com/ophirae/

https://www.facebook.com/OphiraEisenberg/

https://www.tiktok.com/@ophiranyc

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John Moe Declares It's A 3 Kid Minimum in Minnesota Oct 07, 2025

Show notes

In this episode of Parenting Is a Joke, John Moe talks to Ophira Eisenberg about raising three kids while juggling multiple jobs in public radio, writing, and podcasting. He recalls his parents’ Norwegian roots, including summers spent above the Arctic Circle and the bone-dry humor of his father, whose jokes sometimes landed days later. Comedy became the family’s shared language, even as emotional expression was stifled at home, and Moe admits he often repeats phrases from his parents—like telling his kids to “snap out of it”—despite his professional focus on mental health. He describes how having a third child “broke” him in a liberating way, leading to their move from Seattle to Minnesota, where three-kid families felt more culturally normal. The conversation weaves through memories of Carol Burnett and Monty Python, misheard church greetings like “Metellina Moe,” and the difference between depression and simple misery, before circling back to Moe’s mission of making space for open conversations about mental health—work informed by losing his brother to suicide. The episode closes with Moe comparing shifting stigma around therapy to societal changes in littering and drunk driving: slow progress, but progress nonetheless.

📍October Shows are in Bozeman, MT, WI, MN, MO

and in November new Standup Special Taping at The Comedy Cellar in NY!

Details at https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com

Come to the Taping at the Comedy Cellar on Sun Nov 9th!

5pm: https://www.comedycellar.com/reservations-newyork/?showid=1762725600

7pm: https://www.comedycellar.com/reservations-newyork/?showid=1762732860

Follow John Moe: https://www.instagram.com/johnmoe/

See Ophira LIVE: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/events/

SUBSCRIBE so you never miss O thing: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/sign-up

Follow PIAJ:

https://www.instagram.com/parentingisajoke/

https://parentingisajoke.substack.com/