Going to a comedy show is supposed to be a fun night out. But for one new mom in Melbourne, Australia, her experience took an uncomfortable turn when the comedian kicked her out for her baby’s noises.
It was this past Saturday at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
American comedian Arj Barker was about an hour into his stand-up set at the Athenaeum Theater when a 7-month-old baby started making noise from the fourth row. The baby, Clara, was cradled in her mom Trish Faranda’s arms.
Let’s take a look at what exactly happened.
A Night at the Comedy Show Turns Controversial
Barker, known for his observational comedy style, made the call to ask Faranda and little Clara to leave. His reasoning? The baby’s noises were interrupting his show, which the 700-person audience had paid for.
“On behalf of the other 700 people there who had paid to see the gig, I politely told her the baby couldn’t stay,” Barker explained to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
He maintained that his decision had nothing to do with Faranda breastfeeding Clara, which some initially speculated. Barker said with the bright stage lights, he couldn’t even tell if breastfeeding was happening.
“It was purely an audio issue, it had nothing to do with her being a mom,” he told Channel 9 News.
A Humiliating Experience for the New Mom
For Faranda’s part, she says she initially thought Barker was just joking when he singled her out. As she started breastfeeding to calm Clara, she packed up to leave, not wanting to disrupt the show any further.
“I didn’t want to ruin anyone’s night, it was never my intention to go and disrupt people or create a scene,” Faranda told Channel 7 News.
But the experience left her humiliated. She recalled Barker being “intimidating” as he stood in front of her, asking them to go. Some audience members even started heckling her on the way out.
About a dozen others – mainly mothers, grandmothers and one “lovely gentleman” – ended up walking out in solidarity with Faranda.
“I’ve been to lots of his shows before children, and you kind of lose yourself a bit when you have kids, and I was just trying to get back to something I enjoyed before I had kids,” Faranda told radio station 3AW.
A Heated Debate Over Babies in Public Spaces
The incident sparked a heated debate in Australia over the rights of mothers to bring babies to public events versus the rights of entertainers and audiences to have disruption-free performances.
Australian politician Ellen Sandell came out firmly on the side of the mom, saying on X (formerly Twitter): “It’s hard enough for new mums to participate in society with all the barriers put in front of them – to be humiliated like this, for just trying to enjoy the comedy festival, is awful.”
Sandell argued that not allowing babies essentially bars new mothers from many public spaces since breastfeeding babies can’t be away from their moms for long periods.
“So if you don’t allow [breastfed] babies in public places, you’re actually saying women/mums aren’t allowed in those places,” she said.
But others felt Barker was well within his rights as the performer. One commenter on X stated: “I am a mother and grandmother and I consider it complete arrogance to think your rights to bring a noisy child to a show outstrip the rights of hundreds of others that have paid to see a show.”
The comedy festival’s organizers didn’t take a firm stance, simply saying “Any interaction between performers and their audiences requires sensitivity and respect” and noting they generally allow babies but ask parents to sit near exits.
Barker, for his part, thanked his supporters on Facebook, who agreed with his decision to prioritize the experience for the majority of the audience.
So, was Barker wrong to kick out the mom and baby? Or were they the ones being inconsiderate? The dramatic incident shows the complicated tensions that can arise over the place of young children in traditionally adult spaces.
What are your thoughts on this? Let s know in the comments section below.
