DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, HOST:
What would happen if adults talked like kids, if we took the issues and concerns we deal with on a daily basis but paired it with the energy, curiosity and, yes, judgment that kids have? It might sound something like this.
(SOUNDBITE OF INSTAGRAM VIDEO)
ALYCE CHAN: You drive a fancy car. Did you pay for the whole thing? Do you have a husband? Do you like him? My brother plays a lot of video games, and he's not working right now. He hasn't been working for, like, 18 years. His wife is going to divorce him. Should we go for ice cream?
KURTZLEBEN: That's comedian Alyce Chan, better known as MOM-COM NYC on Instagram. There she shares the pains of adulthood through the blunt and hilarious words of a small child, and she shares them with her more than 500,000 followers. And she joins me now to talk about her comedy. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
CHAN: Hi, Danielle. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited.
KURTZLEBEN: Well, these videos that we're talking about, in particular, about if adults talked like kids, they get a lot of views. And I confess that me and my friends have definitely shared them with each other quite a bit. And you have more than 500,000 followers on Instagram who see these. So why do you think these videos, in particular, have gotten so much engagement?
CHAN: Yeah. Danielle, I was actually surprised, too, because it just accelerated in the last three weeks. I remember I did a video of something very similar a couple years ago, and it did really well. And this is how kind of, like, a content creator thinks. If something worked well, just repeat it and make it slightly different. And so this one was an easy one for me 'cause I knew people liked it two years ago. I'm just going to quickly do one. Took me 30 seconds, posted it. I think my Instagram grew about 200,000 in the past three weeks...
KURTZLEBEN: Wow.
CHAN: ...Just based on this theme.
KURTZLEBEN: I should add here that in all these videos, you're on a playground, and you're interspersing these blunt questions with the way that kids jump around and say, hey, watch this, watch this, and, you know, do a flip or a jump or something. So here's another clip that I thought was very funny.
(SOUNDBITE OF INSTAGRAM VIDEO)
CHAN: How much do you have in your 401(k)? Do you know what chlamydia is? What are you going to be for Halloween? I'm going to get a facelift.
KURTZLEBEN: I'm curious - how do you decide what invasive questions to put in these videos? - 'cause you've done several of them.
CHAN: Yeah, and it's getting harder, Danielle, because I'm like, I think I've asked all the questions.
KURTZLEBEN: (Laughter).
CHAN: Some of these questions I've actually have had in my head.
KURTZLEBEN: (Laughter) Like, you've wanted to ask your friends, how much...
CHAN: Yeah.
KURTZLEBEN: ...Is in your 401(k)? Yeah.
CHAN: Yeah, I do. I'm very curious. And I'm curious when my friends renovate their kitchens. I'm like, I really want to know how much it is.
KURTZLEBEN: Yeah.
CHAN: But I'm like, Alyce, you don't ask that (laughter). So these are...
KURTZLEBEN: Totally.
CHAN: Right. And then, like, I think the word chlamydia is very funny.
KURTZLEBEN: True.
CHAN: The first time I heard it in my 20s, I thought that was really funny. So I just kind of integrated that. The financial questions, I think a lot of us are curious, and we're just - we know better than to ask our neighbors how much their kitchen renovation was. It actually gives me a little reprieve. It's a great outlet for me to just ask these things because I can't do this on my day-to-day life.
KURTZLEBEN: I ask questions for a living, and so we're going to get a little bit meta here because...
CHAN: OK.
KURTZLEBEN: ...This is entirely true. Before I ask you a question, it has to be scripted. It goes through two editors, and then it has a final review before I get to say the words out loud. These very words right here. Is the kids' way of just spitting out the question better than what we usually do in daily life?
CHAN: I don't know if it will gain you more friends or lose friendships. I actually do talk like that to closer friends. Like, I was sitting down with my best friend, and I was like, you know what? I'm just going to get into character. I said, how much money do you make? And he looks at me. He goes, Alyce, are you serious? I was like, yep. He goes, no, seriously? I was like, yeah. How much? He goes, OK. And he told me. I'm like, how much does your wife make? And he just told me, and I'm like, I can't believe this works (laughter).
KURTZLEBEN: Wait. So you started asking questions like that as a result of doing these videos. Like...
CHAN: Yeah. I think I'm becoming this character, Danielle.
(LAUGHTER)
CHAN: I'm like - it's almost like I don't have as much of a filter. I think the lines are being blurred now. I'm getting into this character.
KURTZLEBEN: Even though you would warn against becoming this character, you're doing it anyway.
CHAN: I mean, I know how to act appropriately because I've been trained to act like an adult for many years. But because I'm always around my kids, I'm hearing these no-filter questions and comments. So it's very hard for me to decipher sometimes what's appropriate and what's not appropriate.
KURTZLEBEN: There's always an urge as a parent to present yourself as super put together, both yourself and your kids. So...
CHAN: Yeah.
KURTZLEBEN: ...It must be cathartic to make comedy showing all of these messy and absurd parts of not just parenthood, really, but adulthood.
CHAN: It's truly cathartic 'cause I feel like we hold so much, and we contain so much, and we have to be a proper way. And once we get home, we can really just unleash. But what if we were able to do that in public?
KURTZLEBEN: Maybe relatedly, you've said before that comedy for you is like therapy. Why is that?
CHAN: It is because I will go through problems and issues at home - either they're minor or big. I've also talked about grief and postpartum, as well. And I try to make it funny, and that trains my brain to look at it with a different lens, so with a different perspective. I talk about how my mom behaves around me and how she insults me, but I know that she loves me. So - or how my kids talk to me and how they call me - you know, how come you look so old in the morning and tired all the time? So like, if I look at it with a different angle, I can put it from a distance and not take it so personally. I create art with it and make people laugh, and it's very empowering. I don't hold on to anger or resentment as a result.
KURTZLEBEN: Have your kids seen your videos, and if so, what do they think of them?
CHAN: They think all my videos are cringe.
KURTZLEBEN: (Laughter).
CHAN: That's the word they like to use.
KURTZLEBEN: Success.
CHAN: My 12 - yes. And I'm like, that's great. My 12-year-old is like, you need to do more of this. You need to, like, do farting sounds, and I'm like, you're not my demographic. I'm not trying to attract 12-year-old boys, but thank you for your input.
KURTZLEBEN: (Laughter).
CHAN: I'm like, I'm looking for parents, middle-aged women, women in perimenopause.
KURTZLEBEN: Yeah.
CHAN: You know, that's my target audience.
KURTZLEBEN: That's comedian Alyce Chan. She's behind the MOM-COM NYC Instagram account. Alyce, this has been great. Thank you.
CHAN: Thank you so much, Danielle, for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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