Mom Humor: Comedy Trio Bringing Show to Packard

WARREN, Ohio — Dena Blizzard, Tiffany Jenkins and Meredith Masony had each built a comedy career on the idiosyncrasies of motherhood.

They had been separately mining the same themes for years, and sort of knew each other. Blizzard and Masony hadn’t actually met, but Jenkins knew both of them and she got them together around this time last year. 

Each of the three has kids. When they got to talking, they could sense the power and universality of their humor.

“Tiff said, ‘We all have kids but of different ages. What if we went out on tour together?’” Blizzard recalled during a recent telephone interview. 

The “My Name Is Not Mom” comedy tour was born.

With three online fanbases already in place, the act was an immediate hit and has been greeted by packed houses. It will make its Mahoning Valley debut on Friday, April 22, at Packard Music Hall.

“We didn’t know how long it would last,” Blizzard said. “All of us knew there was something special there, but we didn’t know for sure until we got on stage.”

As it stands now, there is no end in sight.

Blizzard describes the show as part standup, part improv and part storytelling. Each comedian does about 20 minutes of their own material, and the three also team up for other segments.

“We all have the same idea,” Blizzard said. “We’re just being real about motherhood but with three different voices.”

One recurring theme is, which phase of childhood is the hardest on a mom? With their kids being in three distinct age groups, the three funny ladies can hit it from all angles.

“We talk about how different moms respond based on the age of their kids,” she said. “The audience gets three different perspectives.”

Some of the segments play off the people in the audience. 

“In one part, we talk to the audience and go over their photos [which audience members can submit in advance],” Blizzard said.

In addition to their tour, the three “Not Moms” also stay busy with solo careers and maintain strong social media presences. The wine-loving Blizzard does an hourlong bit on Facebook every morning.

With a background in radio, she launched her comedy career 20 years ago.

“For the first 10 years, I wrote about my kids and my husband,” she said, before developing it into the “One Funny Mother” solo show. “We launched it in 2013, toured for a while and did it Off-Broadway in 2016,” she said.

The “My Name Is Not Mom” tour brings women – as well as some husbands and boyfriends – together under an umbrella of shared experience. The humor is highly relatable, regardless of where you are in the motherhood journey, Blizzard said.

“There is something that will speak to you,” she said. “If you’re young and haven’t had kids, you can see what’s coming down the road.”

Women in their 60s and 70s whose kids are now adults also get it.

“They’ll say, ’I remember that!’,” Blizzard said. “For a mother, it always seems like it was just yesterday.”

Tickets for Friday’s My Name Is Not Mom show at Packard Music Hall range from $35 to $65 (plus applicable fees) and are available at Ticketmaster.com and the Packard box office. The show starts at 7 p.m.

Pictured: “My Name Is Not Mom,” a comedy tour featuring (from left) Tiffany Jenkins, Dena Blizzard and Meredith Masony.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.