ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — There is something empowering about being in a group of intelligent women who are comfortable enough to play the fool and the jester, and poke and pry open female stereotypes, Allison Kelly says.
“I’m probably obsessed with (this idea) because I notice it in us, that it’s celebrating smart women who are well-read, supportive of each other and collaborate really well, but we’re also really silly and like the idea of female frivolity that sometimes makes people think you’re dumb,” she said.
As someone who teaches at the university level, she gets made fun of for her constant usage of the word “like,” a fact she both acknowledges and provides evidence for within the same sentence, managing to somehow throw in three “likes” in a row.
While sitting over hot mugs and small plates in a downtown coffee shop before the recent lockdown measures on the Avalon Peninsula were put in place, Kelly was adamant in her resolve to get this idea out before the conversation ended. But she was cautious, making sure to give space to her co-comediennes to disagree.
After all, Kelly is just one quarter of Mom’s Girls, the St. John’s-based sketch comedy troupe that includes Stef Curran, Elizabeth Hicks and Andie Bulman.
“It’s reclaiming the stereotypes of women and making it into something that is impressive,” Curran said. “We can play those (characters) because we have all experienced stereotypical backlash in our life and bullying about who we are.”
In 2018, while working on another project, Hicks and Curran decided to make an all-female sketch comedy troupe for a single Christmas show — not only would it be fun, but it would strike a better balance in a mostly male comedy scene.
“There’s not enough female representation in sketch here anymore, from what we had been aware of,” she said. “(And) we each bring something really specific to the table.”
Bulman has a wonderful standup presence and Kelly is a great actor, Curran said. So, it was an easy choice for her and Hicks.
“I was honoured,” Bulman said. “When I got the email, I remember saying to my husband, ‘I can’t (expletive) this up.’ … I was so sweaty immediately.”
But once the Christmas special was done, the snowball kept rolling.
“We liked each other so much that, well, we can never be separated,” Hicks said.
It was inevitable, Kelly said, since they began talking every day and tossing ideas back and forth.
“When we’re in this setting, we can all just joke. And if we write something and it’s garbage, there is no stress to ever perfect it,” Curran said.
Together, they’ve written sketches touching on a variety of topics and themes, including current affairs and toying with Shakespeare’s characters.
“The three witches at the start of Macbeth…,” Bulman says, trailing a little.
“We can do it for you real quick, if you want,” Hicks says.
“They’re trying to plan where to have the hurly-burly, but they can’t make their schedules work,” Kelly finishes.
“Did we actually put the hurly-burly in our phones?” Bulman says.
The conversation circles the table, a dialogue punctured by laughter, as they riff on the sketch and off each other.
Currently, Mom’s Girls are writing and producing a children’s show called “Tales from the Floordrobe.” Filming begins this spring.
They’re also transforming a live sketch comedy show called “Mom’s Girls Gone Wild,” which was scheduled for the LSPU Hall on March 18. That show, which was written with Amelia Manuel, Veronica Dymond and Marquita Walsh, had to be cancelled when the Avalon went into Alert Level 5.
"Do we try to shoot it like a television show and have a ("Saturday Night Live"), people can tune in from home kind of thing, or do we wait and see when we can do this in person?” Bulman said in a telephone interview. “It’s been almost like a cool creative exercise.”
Whatever it is, it will be directed by Petrina Bromley of the musical “Come From Away,” Bulman said.
“We don’t want to pass up an opportunity to work with her,” she said.
Andrew Waterman reports on East Coast culture. [email protected] | Twitter: @andrewlwaterman
