Bad Momz of Comedy takes on motherhood in ’the burbs and beyond

When you ask the main mom of Bad Momz of Comedy about Mother’s Day, you get a quick hit of reality.

“It’s not relaxing,” said Orly KG of Highland Park, pointing to all the obligations — from end-of-the-year school recitals to proms — facing moms in May.

“Every day should be Mother’s Day, not just one rando day in May.”

Every day is Mother’s Day for Orly KG since she gave up her public relations job in January to devote full time to her comedy and her group of 90 mom comics from across the country. They play comedy clubs and private bookings, with their next local show at the Barrington Boat Company in Port Barrington on May 17.

The group got started only three years ago. Known as Orly KG on the comedy circuit, she took a comedy class and found her new calling. But she quickly discovered that her material didn’t resonate with the under-30 crowd. That got her thinking, and, with the help of friend Alison Parry, Bad Momz got its first gig — at a suburban PTA gathering.

Comedy clubs and an appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” followed.

“I think it was a real need,” Orly KG said. “I didn’t know how many women and moms were looking for a release.”

Mo Good, a Waubonsie Valley High School alum now living on Chicago’s South Side, joined Bad Momz about six months after it kicked off. She said women need a place where they can “unload, unwind” and present art without being judged.

Audiences are mostly women with a “smattering of dudes,” Orly KG said.

“If these moms are going to leave their house and put a bra on,” Orly KG said, “we’re going to give them a good time.”

Whether it’s an R-rated good time or something more family-friendly is up to their audiences.

“We don’t rag on our kids and our husbands at their expense,” she added. “We’re just trying to make sense of our lives at this time.”

That doesn’t mean her act always thrills Orly KG’s daughter, now almost 19 and the younger of her two children. She once attended her mom’s show in North Carolina, where she attends college.

“When I started talking about sex with her dad, I could see her at the door, I could see her put her fingers in her ears and walk out,” Orly KG said.

Good’s children are younger — 9 and 16. She plans to spend Mother’s Day with her sons and her mom. But she has a rule about Mother’s Day gifts: no appliances — and nothing taxing.

“I do not want to put it together,” she said. “I don’t want to read instructions.”

Bad Momz of Comedy

When: Doors open at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 17

Where: Barrington Boat Company, 99 Kazimour Drive, Port Barrington

Tickets: $40 at ticketailor.com