Performing pregnancy: Comic content, critique and ambivalence in pregnant stand-up comedy

Stand-up comedy has recently become a primary site where representations of pregnancy are increasingly prevalent. Yet little academic work focuses on pregnant stand-up comedians and their performances. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this article examines the cultural comedy. Thematic analysis by Amy Schumer, Ellie Taylor Ali Wong identifies three significant features characterising performances: (1) Comedic Corporeality, Vulgarity Ambiguity; (2) Breaking Silences through ‘Unruly Expectant Mother’; (3) Critiquing Maternity Inequality Pregnant Stand-Up? We examine how interacts with disrupts dominant representations, illustrating functions simultaneously as comic content critique in Such characterised complexity ambivalence is central to argue it precisely such that provides productive means understand theoretical significances