Lucy Porter
Sometimes my kids don’t even know I’m gone. I’m like a ninja
When Lucy Porter announced her first pregnancy, she was told it would be career suicide.
Almost a decade on, the Fringe favourite is returning to Edinburgh with her 15th comedy hour – and her two children, Emily, eight, and seven-year-old John.
“I had people tell me it would be the death of my career, that I wouldn’t be able to do the gigs any more or put in the hours,” said Lucy, whose husband, Justin Edwards, is also a comedian and actor. “There was a certain amount of negativity, especially when I had another baby within 14 months.
“But I was inspired by Jenny Eclair, who has a wonderful daughter, and Jo Brand, who has two kids. They were my role models who’d done it and come out the other side.
“Now we are out the other side, too, and my kids love the festival. They love going to see shows and wandering around this place where everyone knows Mummy and Daddy.”
Lucy took two years off from working the Fringe – but she was still there the first year accompanying Justin, who had a show – and it was all change when she returned.
“The Fringe used to be a month of parties for me, but it’s a very different experience now,” she admitted.
“The baby years were tough. If both of us were each doing a show, we would be throwing a baby at each other across the Pleasance Courtyard, running around the hills of Edinburgh with a buggy trying to get to where we needed to be. I don’t necessarily recommend that.”
Lucy says that, while she doesn’t speak specifically about her children, her material can’t help but be influenced by motherhood.
“I don’t tell funny stories about them, because I fear they will be embarrassed when they get older, and in a couple of years they will be bigger than me and able to beat me up,” said the 46-year-old.
“But I do talk about the world they have brought me in to, like interacting with school mums, the PTA, Brownies and so on.”
She added:
“It’s the same for all working parents, especially freelancers. It’s hard and is about making sacrifices.
“But being a stand-up is quite good because I can often put the kids to bed and I’m back in before they wake up. Sometimes they don’t even know I’m gone – I’m like a ninja!”