- She would rather me talk about her
and her be the center of attention
- Oh, that's true.
- Than me not talk about her at all.
- Oh, that is so true!
- The worse part would be not including her in my set,
- That's true.
- 'Cause then no one's looking at her.
- Although I never say include me in something.
Anything I do in my life can be on the stage
and I have no idea what it's gonna be.
(jazzy piano music)
- Anytime she's come to a live show
and I start talking about her,
you can just immediately see her perk up
and she'll go, "That's true, that story's true.
"That happened, yup."
- [Mom] True, I've embarrassed her.
Not meaning to!
I came up a little fun name I would use for her
and oh, I still use it some now.
And I would say, in addressing her, I would say,
"Smooches, pooches, and cream."
- So I was in junior high, I'm not sure,
it's seventh or eighth grade.
And I was playing softball.
My mom came to the fence right before the game
and she goes, "Smooches, pooches, and cream!"
(laughs)
And my friends turned to me like,
"She calls you smooches, pooches, and cream?"
My friends even made a song where they go,
(sings) "Smooches, pooches, cream." (laughs)
My mom's such a big part of my life obviously.
I think mothers and daughters have that relationship.
I think, from day one when I started writing comedy
it was always like, jokes about my mom.
The were always kind of coming to the forefront of my brain.
My mom was trying to get me to dress more like a little lady
and for some reason her vision of what a little lady
should dress like was that she would put me in
these like, power suits.
I looked like a 50-year-old woman lawyer
in my power suit.
Just mm, mm, mm.
- [Mom] To I'm like having that was somewhat embarrassing
is there was a time when her father and I had separated,
we were divorcing, money was very tight.
There were times when I was either too busy
or didn't get a bill paid and we have had the phone cut off
or the electricity cut off on occasion.
Not as a habit.
- I talked about how she (laughs) loved,
she had been born with money
and we lost it all over the years
and she was living as a like, kind of a rich woman
in a poor woman's world.
So she would come home with signs that said like,
"It's Wine O'Clock,"
and then the lights were getting shut off.
(laughs)
- [Mom] And she has mentioned that in her comedy,
but I think because she has,
it has relieved stress for me.
You know, I just realized that's just part of
what we went through.
It's okay.
But when I first heard it I thought,
"Oh, people are gonna know!"
- As a family unit, we grew up going to Hooters a lot.
And then I told a story about how,
when she was dating a very religious man,
he did not approve of such a restaurant.
We were trying to figure out where to go eat one night
and I was like, "Oh, well let's just go to Hooters."
And he was standing right here beside her
and my mom, outta nowhere, she's like,
"I have never eaten at Hooters!"
(laughter)
I was like, "What are you talking about?
"My babysitter was a Hooters' waitress!"
"No!
(laughter)
"No!"
(laughter)
- [Mom] Our family started going to Hooters
pretty early on.
And so it was just a family thing.
Honestly, I love the chicken wings.
And to this day, Hooters has my favorite wings.
- You can always tell when my mom's tipsy
'cause she'll stick one finger out,
just like this, and start dancing like this.
(laughter)
Just judging people while she's dancing.
(laughter)
She would ask for a Whiskey Sour and double cherries.
- [Mom] I'm not much of a drinker,
but give me a Whiskey Sour on the rocks
if I'm to really celebrate.
- Man, I know my mom pretty well, I had no idea.
- [Mom] And I did find out something about Whiskey Sours.
When I ordered I would always say double cherries
'cause I love the cherries.
You know, they'll soak up the drink.
And one particular time when I ordered double cherries,
well it turned out that the waitress thought
I had meant double, but not cherries.
I wondered how many times I had been having
a double all those years.
I thought, "Maybe that's why I love Whiskey Sours so much."
- She enjoys attention.
- Just say I'm a good sport.
- You're a good sport.
- Thank you.
- And you like attention.
- Well, that's true.
- She's a good lady, a good woman, and a big heart.
So when she's, she has come to my shows people flock to her.
They wanna meet this woman who these stories are about.
She's a very big influence.
(jazzy piano music)