‘It’s like an adult slumber party’: Moms Unhinged to bring relatable comedy shows to the Triad

Featured photo: Emily Holden performs on stage as part of Moms Unhinged. (courtesy photo)

Before Andrea Sodergren graced stages with her comedy routine, she did circuits at social media conferences dressed as a grandmother.

“I got started blogging as this character, Grandma Mary, and I would go to conferences in this outfit and interview people,” Sodergren says.

That was 14 years ago when she still worked as a social media consultant advising companies on Facebook advertising and the inner workings of Instagram. These days, as a full-time comedian, she looks back at her career and sees how it was an early test-run of her sense of humor.

“I was doing education about social media marketing in such a different way with humor, she says.

Those early successes led Sodergren to take stand-up comedy classes. She had mostly done improv comedy up until then but found a passion for performing sets on stage. But she quickly noticed how there weren’t many other women like her — middle-aged, mothers — performing.

“There just weren’t a lot of opportunities for women to get shows, especially moms,” Sodergren says.

That’s how where the idea for Moms Unhinged was born.

On Jan. 14 and 15, the comedy tour featuring a lineup of mom comedians will be coming to Winston-Salem and Greensboro. While the Winston-Salem show is mostly sold out, the Greensboro event on Jan. 15 still has tickets available.

The idea began after Sodergren became a mother and decided to put together a group of mom comedians in Colorado where she’s based. The shows quickly took off with events selling out night after night. Not long afterwards, she decided to take the literal show on the road.

“There’s clearly a need out there,” Sodergren says. “The moms enjoy seeing a lineup of all mom comedians.”

Next week, comedians Emily Holden, Amanda Marks and headliner Amy Brown will be performing in the Triad.

Since those first shows seven years ago, Sodergren says that Moms Unhinged has taken off nationwide and currently has 25 comedians as part of its group, including Ophira Eisenburg of NPR fame. The shows have been incredibly successful and Sodergren says it’s because they’ve tapped into a niche, underserved market on both ends of the equation.

“A lot of mom comedians have been passed over for shows because they’re told they’re not funny or they’re too old,” Sodergren says. “But when you get mom comedians in front of the right audiences, it’s magical.”

For Amy Brown, who will headline the Triad’s shows, the group has been some of the most fun she’s ever had in the industry.

Brown started comedy when she turned 40 after signing up for an improv class. Her kids were in elementary school at the time and she says that by being a part of Moms Unhinged, she’s found a sense of belonging.

“Being a mom, you’re always taking care of everyone else’s needs,” Brown says. “We kind of suffer in silence sometimes. This is just a night to be surrounded by others who are going through the same thing. It’s a self-selecting audience of women who want to hear about my life.”

That makes for an intimate, fun environment in which both silly and distressing topics can be shared.

“It’s a sleepover vibe,” she says. “It’s a group that gets together to laugh…. It’s a slumber party for adults. We’ve had women come in their pajamas.”

While there’s not a lot of published data on the demographics of stand-up comedians, the industry has long been considered a kind of “boy’s club.” But in recent years, the rise of comedians like Taylor Tomlinson, Ali Wong and Nikki Glaser have shown that women are carving out spaces in the comedy realm. Wong even filmed two of her specials while pregnant to show audiences and the industry that female comics can continue to work even if they have children.

And at Moms Unhinged, it’s kind of the whole point.

“Moms Unhinged has been a life saver for moms who want to do comedy,” Brown says.

“We really speak to a lot of people who feel that way,” Sodergren says. “It’s just messy and challenging, and we don’t have to do it all perfectly; a lot of times we are overwhelmed.”

In her sets Sodergren often talks about the duality of feeling grateful and angry at the same time as a mother. Or how she doesn’t actually want to go to all of these hour-long concerts and listen to children play violin terribly (“They’re all really awful,” she laughs.)

“It’s things all women can relate to,” she says.

Plus, it allows for the comedians to share intimately the details and absurdities of motherhood to an audience that’s likely going the same things. The tagline of the group even alludes to the topic: “Barely holding it all together.”

Brown, who lived in Winston-Salem for a summer in college, likes to talk about how becoming a mother is more work than she anticipated, especially to two sons.

“I don’t know how that happened,” she jokes. “I’m a girl, my mom was a girl, her mom was a girl, we’re all girls. Now I have to live in a fraternity, and they’re so tall and hairy and I’m like, ‘Why are there strange men living in my home?’”

On a more serious note, Brown says that there are times when she does shows and an attendee comes up and talks to her after her set. She’s had women open up to her about how the show felt like an emotional salve in a dark time in their lives.

“It makes me want to cry,” Brown says with gratitude.

Sodergren says she’s heard that feedback, too.

“It’s about being represented and having your voice heard and your point of view and realize that you’re not alone,” she says. “That’s what a lot of the shows feel like. A community and people go away feeling uplifted.”

And the best part? No one is there to judge, Brown says.

“If people are having a post-holiday slump or suffering from perimenopause like I am, this is the show for you,” she says. “You don’t even have to put on makeup. Roll over on your sweatpants, just get in the car and come to Greensboro, and laugh and feel better.”

To learn more about Moms Unhinged or to find tickets for their Greensboro show, visit their website here.