“You’ve got to get the funny in life from somewhere,” says comedian Louie Anderson. “For me, that was my mom.”
Comedy Central and Loki Films celebrate Mother’s Day with Call Your Mother (Sunday, May 10, at 10pm ET/PT) a documentary film featuring some of the biggest names in comedy revealing what role their moms have had in shaping their careers.
For many comics, it was Mom who drove them to acting lessons or signed them up for talent shows. For Jo Koy, impressions of his Filipina mother became one of the biggest and funniest parts of his standup act. “I was really scared to talk about my mom,” Koy says. “But once I started, it was over with.”
There’s also a tendency for standup performers to keep it clean when mom’s in the audience. David Spade had to change about a third of his set when his mom attended a show in Vegas. After all, he kisses his mother with that mouth.
Other comedians featured in the film include Awkwafina, Jimmy Carr, Bridget Everett, Fortune Feimster, Rachel Feinstein, Judah Friedlander, Jim Gaffigan, Judy Gold, Jen Kirkman, Bobby Lee, the Lucas brothers, Norm Macdonald, Jim Norton, Tig Notaro, Yvonne Orji, Kristen Schaal and Roy Wood Jr.