There Are Mums Way Worse Than You: Irrefutable Proof That You Are Indeed a Fantastic Parent

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Glenn Boozan: Oh, man, I have a couple. But my number one that I think of that makes me laugh every time I look at it is there’s a harp seal mom. She has left her baby on an iceberg and she’s swimming away and just flipping the baby off. And it just is so—and with a warm smile on her face. Like, I just love the energy that she’s bringing.

Glenn Boozan is a WGA-winning and Emmy-nominated comedy writer whose credits include—among others— Conan, Home Economics, and Sarah Silverman’s I Love You, America. She lives in Los Angeles. And I really found my voice at UCB in New York, the sketch and improv—I don’t know if it’s defuncted now, but I think it just got sold. But that’s where I realized what I really wanted to do. And I was doing a lot of sketch and improv there and then just applied for jobs and wrote and wrote and wrote. And that’s the end of the story. You know what? Unless you’re bugging me. And that’s why there are authors and writers way worse than me because it’s applicable to everyone. The quokka mom is also a worse writer than me, so I can look at this book and be like, yes, advice for myself. So, I’m kind of assuming like, I mean, you’re not a parent, but you’re a human, so I’m assuming that you’re no different, right? So, do you have any words of wisdom on how you manage your own negative self-talk as you mentioned at the beginning, how, you know, sometimes hunched down and hating like every single thing that you’ve written that day, you know, like, so how do you manage your own self-talk? Bianca Schulze: I love it. Well, thank you so, so much. And keep making us laugh. And keep making us smile. Thank you.Bianca Schulze: So yeah, and it’s totally fine to go put your kid in front of the TV to get that darn shower. Boozan isn’t a mom herself, but she believes that her outsider point of view is the central reason that she was able to write such a heartfelt and praiseworthy books about parents.

Bianca Schulze: So, the focus here on this podcast is always typically children’s books and raising readers. But for Mother’s Day, because it’s coming up soon, I wanted to talk about your picture book that is definitely not for kids. Before we get into the why or the what or the who inspired you to write this book, I want to talk a little about the fact that you are a comedy writer. Will you tell us how somebody becomes a comedy writer and what that looks like on a day-to-day basis?So, all right. If our listeners were to take away one important point today, what would you want that to be?

Hachette Book Group is a leading book publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the third-largest publisher in the world. Social MediaBianca Schulze: I love it. I am not against TV. Obviously, I’m a huge reader and have books in every room for my kids and my kids love to read. But yes, we work that TV out too. Bianca Schulze: I love it. I love it, too. I think every parent has maybe not done that but has at some point felt that way. Glenn Boozan: That is a good question. I have sort of this phrase. I mean, I’m not always good at it. Let me start by saying that. But I have this phrase that I have started saying to myself that I find very helpful whenever I’m feeling very self- judgy. I sit down, take a breath, and say, who is this thought serving? Like, who? Who benefits from me thinking this bad thing about myself? And most of the time, when I try to find an answer, it’s no one.

Glenn Boozan: It’s so gnarly. And because it’s not one of those facts, I think that if you’re a koala scientist, like if that’s your specialty, I imagine that’s not what you lead with when you’re telling people about your job. Yeah. Like when you’re giving little kids a tour of the zoo and you’re like, look at the koalas. I have to imagine it’s embarrassing to have to be like and also, for their first solid meal, the koala babies eat their mother’s feces. Anyway, moving on to the monkeys, that’s not the first thing you lead with. The Children’s Book Review In this episode, I talk with WGA-winning and Emmy-nominated comedy writer Glenn Boozan about her picture book for adults that sheds some humor on parenting, There Are Moms Way Worse Than You: Irrefutable Proof That You Are Indeed a Fantastic Parent.About the Author Glenn Boozanis a WGA-winning and Emmy-nominated comedy writer whose credits include Conan, Comedy Central’s Lights Out with David Spade, Sarah Silverman’s I Love You, Americaon Hulu,and TruTV’s Adam Ruins Everything. She lives in Los Angeles, a 30-minute drive from her mother, which apparently is still too far. Glenn Boozan: So, I was hanging out with my sister a year or two ago, and she has two kids. So, she was pregnant with her second and raising her toddler at the time. And she expressed to me panic and stress about being a bad mom. Or she was like, oh, I don’t know if I’m feeding my kids the right things and blah, blah, blah. And I was sort of looking at her like, Alex, what are you talking about? You’re the perfect mother.