Comics reflect on their mothers
Louie Anderson’s late mother is never very far from the comedian’s mind. He often references her in his stand-up routine, writes books with her in mind and even won an Emmy for “Baskets,” playing a character in full drag inspired by his mom.
“I’m trying to pay her back every day for saving me and providing me with a sense of humor that clicks with the rest of the country,” he said. “I’ve been able to stay relevant for 42 years — it’s really due to her.”
So Anderson was a natural choice to feature in the touching documentary about moms and their comedian children “Call Your Mother,” which airs today, Mother’s Day, on Comedy Central.
Directed by Academy Award nominated filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, “Call Your Mother” features interviews with dozens of comedians, including Awkwafina, Jim Gaffigan, Jimmy Carr, Jo Koy, Bobby Lee, Kristen Schaal, David Spade and Roy Wood Jr.
“My hope is that people who can't watch it with their moms will call them afterward,” Ewing said. “That’s our hope.”
The show mixes comedy clips with fresh interviews and occasionally captures actual interactions between comedians and their mothers. Wood goes suit shopping with his mom; Schaal and her mom go fabric shopping; and Spade’s mom stops by a taping of his TV show. Judy Gold plays phone messages left by her late mother, both poignant and hysterical.
Ewing said she and Grady started by looking at what some of their favorite comedians have said about their mothers and fathers. They had no agenda but something soon jumped out.
“What we found was there’s a lot of unfinished business that people have with their moms, and a comedian has this amazing platform and toolbox to work out those issues, demons, memories,” she said. “No one is inured to desiring that approval or desiring to make mom happy. I found that’s true across the board.”
Wood reveals he hid his comedy yearnings from his disapproving mother, while Jo Koy — known these days for his drop-dead perfect impression of his formidable Filipina mom — was scared at first to mention her in his act.
Carr divulges that his mother suffered from depression, and he quickly learned that humor could make the tension in the house go away. “Most of us are running away from unhappy homes,” he said in the film.
Some comedians clearly get their talent from their mothers, like Fortune Feimster, who jokes beside her that she loves the spotlight. “The truth of it is, she would rather I talk about her and put her at the center of attention than not talk about her at all,” Feimster said in the film. Replies her mom: “That is so true.”
The film is produced by Caroline Hirsch, the founder and owner of the New York comedy club Carolines on Broadway. She gave the filmmakers the idea when she noted that many comedians are obsessed with their moms. Then she opened her impressive Rolodex to find a fascinating mix of comedians.
“I think it makes you laugh,” Hirsch said. “Look, in what we’re going through right now, everybody’s looking for comedy, comedy, comedy. What could be better than to have this on Mother’s Day?”
Anderson grew up with a violent father who drank. His mother had 10 children, but she kept them fed, clothed and loved. Moms, he says, are the shock absorbers, the tumbling mat, the ball pit.
“They’re your bumpers in life,” he said from his home in Las Vegas. “If dad provided the harshness and cynicism, mom tried to give it sugar and cinnamon it.”
Anderson has written a letter to his mother addressing the pandemic and plans to read it today on Facebook Live.
“I really took my mom for granted,” he said. “I wish I would have been a better son. I think all sons feel that way sometime.”
Even as he ages, his mother still provides inspiration. “I’ve got a palette of paint and I just keep going back to it.”