Parenting is a Joke

Writer, comedian, actor Mike Albo joins host Ophira Eisenberg on Parenting is a Joke for a conversation about becoming a sperm donor for two close friends and finding himself in a version of parenthood he never expected. Albo traces the decision back to a deeper question—whether, as a gay man who came of age during the AIDS crisis, he believed he deserved the kind of full family life that once felt out of reach. What follows is both thoughtful and absurd: months of fertility clinic visits in Murray Hill, navigating the “Goldilocks” timing of sperm donation, getting performance reviews on his sperm motility from a stern Eastern European technician, and discovering that even sperm can apparently show up hungover. The discussion moves from the legal realities of donor agreements to the emotional nuances of being a child’s biological father without being a traditional parent, including why he avoids the word “dad,” how his role has evolved as his daughter has grown older, and why preserving his artistic life felt important both for himself and for her. Along the way, Albo and Eisenberg compare notes on horror movies, practical effects, creative identity, and the many ways families get built outside conventional scripts, all while reflecting on what children understand, what they need confirmed, and how relationships take shape over time. The episode ends with one of Albo’s favorite stories: his daughter, raised by two mothers and a gay sperm donor, casually asking, “Is Mike gay?” 📍June Shows are in Las Vegas, Nantucket, MA, New Haven, CT and NYC Follow Mike Albo : https://www.instagram.com/albomike Check out his writing and work: https://www.mikealbo.net/ See Ophira LIVE: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/events/ Check out my NEW Comedy Special “I Used to Be Nicer” streaming right now exclusively on Veeps https://veeps.com/ophiraeisenberg SUBSCRIBE so you never miss O thing: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/sign-up Follow PIAJ: https://www.instagram.com/parentingisajoke/ https://parentingisajoke.substack.com/ Follow Ophira: https://www.instagram.com/ophirae/ https://www.facebook.com/OphiraEisenberg/ https://www.tiktok.com/@ophiranyc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this second conversation with Jon Fisch, Ophira Eisenberg and Jon settle into the daily mechanics of parenting two young kids while maintaining a working stand-up career, from navigating December birthdays, redshirting anxiety, and Malcolm Gladwell math, to the quiet shock of realizing your kid suddenly wants to walk to school alone. Fisch talks through the practical negotiations of comedy life now that bedtime matters—calling clubs to ask when he actually needs to arrive, setting a firm four-figure holiday minimum for skipping Passover, and learning how to sneak out of the house mid-Hot Wheels race without triggering tears. They compare notes on sibling dynamics as Fisch describes his daughter’s recent 180 into devoted big-sister mode, reading books to her brother for an hour while grandparents watched football, and reflect on the strange intimacy of bringing a child to shows where she colors on the floor, doesn’t look up once, and later proudly announces, “You were talking about me.” The episode threads through modern parenting pressure points—YouTube shorts bans, grocery store toy ambushes, American Girl’s Hot Wheels crossover, and the slow realization that kids’ programming is one story told with dogs, trucks, or monsters—before circling back to the moment Fisch explains why leaving for a gig feels hardest when his son suddenly has “a thousand things to say” as he’s reaching for his coat. 📍February Shows are in Anchorage, Alaska, Pine Plains, NY, Nashville, NT, KY, Chicago, IL, Madison, WI Follow Jon Fisch: https://www.instagram.com/jdfisch See Ophira LIVE: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/events/ SUBSCRIBE so you never miss O thing: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/sign-up Follow PIAJ: https://www.instagram.com/parentingisajoke/ https://parentingisajoke.substack.com/ Follow Ophira: https://www.instagram.com/ophirae/ https://www.facebook.com/OphiraEisenberg/ https://www.tiktok.com/@ophiranyc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Ophira Eisenberg reconnects with author, dad, and tattoo artist Phuc Tran for a conversation that zigzags from Star Wars as a childhood lifeline to parenting philosophies shaped by motorcycles, rotary phones, and letting kids touch the metaphorical hot pipe. Tran talks about growing up Vietnamese in a town where missing one TV network meant missing cultural shorthand, and how Star Wars became a rare common language that let him belong, a feeling he’s intentionally recreating with his own daughters by showing them the films before they develop a critical eye. They get into raising kids amid microlabeling culture, with Tran explaining why he wrote “labels are for jars” on the family chalkboard, as well as his years teaching Latin, Greek, and German, arguing that Latin slows kids down in a way modern life rarely does. The conversation moves easily between creative work and parenting ethics, from why he stopped talking tattoo clients out of bad ideas after becoming a parent to how children’s books often serve adult anxieties more than kids’ curiosity. Throughout, Tran frames creativity as something lived rather than branded—whether it’s daughters trading sketchbooks at restaurants instead of phones, apprenticing at the tattoo shop, or his own belief that punk rock shouldn’t be a lifelong personality—before landing on the story of calmly watching his toddler pick herself up in public while a stranger yelled, a moment that neatly captures his faith in letting kids learn by standing back. 📍January Shows are in Las Vegas, NV, Beacon, NY and New York, NY Follow Phuc Tran: https://www.instagram.com/phucskywalker/ See Ophira LIVE: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/events/ SUBSCRIBE so you never miss O thing: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/sign-up Follow PIAJ: https://www.instagram.com/parentingisajoke/ https://parentingisajoke.substack.com/ Follow Ophira: https://www.instagram.com/ophirae/ https://www.facebook.com/OphiraEisenberg/ https://www.tiktok.com/@ophiranyc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Carole Montgomery and Ophira Eisenberg zoom out from early parenting to talk about what happens after the kid grows up, moves out, and then… moves back in. Carole describes her son’s room as a frozen time capsule—albums, toys, and CDs untouched—while explaining how his first attempt at college lasted six months before the classic millennial boomerang returned him home, a pattern she sums up as “they leave, they come back; I moved—he found me.” She reflects on the anxiety that followed him into adulthood, her belief that anxiety is practically the baseline setting now, and the emotional whiplash of touring for weeks before constant phone contact existed, including the moment her six-year-old calmly told her she was “solid” and could go back on the road. The conversation weaves through parenting philosophies shaped by Vegas cul-de-sacs and open-door houses, her resistance to overscheduled childhoods, the reality that almost no kids actually go pro despite intense sports pressure, and the great trophy purge that left only signed baseballs and, somehow, her husband’s awards. Carole also digs into the creation of Funny Women of a Certain Age, venting about theaters that expect comics to sell tickets, sweep floors, and manage social media while still questioning whether women-led comedy events can sell, all before landing on the oddly satisfying moment she told a woman in her mid-30s she was simply too young for the show. 📍January Shows are in Las Vegas, NV, Beacon, NY and New York, NY Follow Carole Montgomery: https://www.instagram.com/carolemontgomerycomic/ See Ophira LIVE: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/events/ SUBSCRIBE so you never miss O thing: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/sign-up Follow PIAJ: https://www.instagram.com/parentingisajoke/ https://parentingisajoke.substack.com/ Follow Ophira: https://www.instagram.com/ophirae/ https://www.facebook.com/OphiraEisenberg/ https://www.tiktok.com/@ophiranyc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices