Comedian Tamar Broadbent on why she's happy for people to bring babies to her show

The baby declined to comment (too smart to get involved), but I have some thoughts.

I understand why comedians would not want babies at their shows. Babies are noisy, and you don’t generally want anyone making noise in your audience unless it’s the sound of uproarious laughter! A heckler can interrupt the flow. As can a baby with a squeak, squawk, gurgle, mumble, prolonged repetition of the word ‘wow,’ or any other number of sounds that my baby makes all day, every day.

In this way, having babies in the audience is a bit like performing at an office Christmas party. Wild. Noisy. People vomiting. But it’s not the babies’ fault! They have not yet learned that you are supposed to be quiet at a comedy show. Unlike stupid Darren from accounts, who keeps yelling at me to ask where the toilets are.

It baffles me when performers have opted to allow babes-in-arms and then are surprised when they make noise. Have you met a baby?! If you allow them at your show, you have to make parents feel welcome, manage the expectations of the rest of the audience, and be comfortable with performing in a different soundscape.

I am comfortable with these things. I want you to bring your baby to (some of) my Edinburgh Fringe show(s)!

I hadn’t given this matter much thought until now. When I was working as an improviser at Boom Chicago US comedy theatre, or touring my musical comedy show Best Life to Edinburgh, New York, and Europe, there were never babies in the audience. It hadn’t occurred to me to wonder why.

Then I had a baby of my own.

On maternity leave, I felt disconnected from culture and entertainment. I was cut off from watching plays, musicals, comedy - all the things I'd loved watching before! The only place I could go was Baby Cinema Club, which was honestly a lifeline. You mean I can go out and watch something that isn’t my own television?! With my baby?! AND I get a free piece of carrot cake?! What a privilege! I felt so lucky! Even if my baby did knock the carrot cake out of my hand and it got squashed under my bum.

I don’t want new mums to feel left out during the festival. Many adult shows don’t allow babes-in-arms, and even when they do, there’s probably that fear you’ll get kicked out if your baby doesn’t sleep soundlessly through the whole thing!

This is why I’m offering midweek baby-friendly shows during my Edinburgh run.

On Tuesdays-Thursdays, the sound levels will be a bit quieter and babies are welcome to mumble and cry and squeak away in their parents’ arms. The content of the show will be the same. This is why under-12 months is the policy: the show is not suitable for toddlers’ ears(!) and not safe for avid crawlers or walkers who might try to do a great escape up onto the stage.

I’m providing options for different audience members: midweek for bring-your-baby shows, Friday-Monday for those who want to see a baby-free show (which is also totally understandable!), and any day for those who don’t mind sharing the room with these tiny hecklers.

My show is about my journey into new motherhood. It’s a musical comedy that explores love, family and taking a leap into the unknown. It’s about expectations, salami, and slightly about George Clooney. There are uplifting, funny songs played live on piano and guitar, like Alcohol, I’ll Never Take You for Granted Again and Here’s to All the Embarrassing Mothers! There’s even an improvised club song.

It’s a show for everyone, and new mums are a part of everyone. We have to make space for them too!

Fringe is a time for bringing people together, and new parenthood can be isolating. Don’t feel like you’re not invited this EdFringe! Come along, and bring your tiny Plus One.

Tamar Broadbent: Plus One, the Counting House Ballroom, 1pm, until 24 August. Baby-friendly shows are 7 August, 12-14 August and 19-21 August.

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