Trish Faranda’s night out to see comedian Arj Barker turned sour when she was asked to leave the show due to her seven-month-old baby’s presence. Despite receiving positive comments initially, Barker stopped his performance and requested Faranda and her baby to exit, causing embarrassment and discomfort.
An Uncomfortable Experience
Faranda, once a devoted fan of Barker, left disappointed, feeling disconnected from her pre-motherhood self. Faranda, accompanied by her baby, attended Barker’s show, only to find herself singled out and asked to leave.
She expressed her surprise, stating that her baby wasn’t loud or disruptive, and she would have left voluntarily if that were the case.
She came into the show with her baby strapped to her chest in a carrier, which caught a bunch of people by surprise and even told her that it’s great that her baby is getting early “comedy” influences.
People were commenting, obviously, because it’s something you don’t see every day – sadly. I get embarrassed easily and I would have left straight away if I thought she was loud and uncontrollable.
This wasn’t the first time she brought her baby for a show as earlier in the festival she went to Dave Hughes’ performance, Fully Furnished. Dave noticed the baby, made a few jokes and moved on with his set, which Feranda describes as a positive experience.
Seated near the aisle at Arj Barker’s show, with her sister and a friend, they made a plan that if the baby was going to disturb anyone they would,
If it was going to impact anybody else I was going to just get out of there
Mixed Reactions from the Audience
The baby was gurgling and even giggling from time to time during the show to which the comedian even joked about and made comments. Comments that left Feranda questioning whether or not he was serious because well… he was a comedian.
I speak fluent baby and it said take me outside.
When the baby started to “whinge” that was when Feranda started breastfeeding her to which Barker came up to her and said that she was disrupting the show and told her to leave.
Allegedly there were a lot of people who heckled her when she got up to leave, that left her quite humiliated. Even from other women as, another audience member points out,
There were a couple of ladies that yelled out, ‘Yeah, just get out of here’… I just couldn’t believe it. The abuse this lady got from the crowd … I was like, ‘Are we serious here as people?
Though hecklers obviously stayed, there were groups of people who also left the venue in solidarity with Feranda. When she was outside the venue she saw that there were about 10 people who followed her out, most of them were women and grandmothers.
Comedian Statements
Barker said in a statement that the baby was indeed not crying but “talking” as babies do. But, reaffirms his decision that he only wanted to maintain audience focus.
I was quite concerned. In my experience of doing comedy for nearly 35 years, an audience’s focus is a delicate thing. If a noise or movement distracts people mid-joke, the payoff can be greatly diminished. At this point, with about 50 minutes of show left, I made a difficult decision, I calmly informed the woman holding the baby that the baby couldn’t stay.
Barker then mentioned that the show was strictly for audiences age 15 and above and that whether or not she was breastfeeding had no factor in why she was kicked out of the show. He says,
It’s been mentioned that she was breastfeeding the baby, which may or may not be the case, but to suggest that this had anything to do with my actions is blatantly false as I couldn’t see well enough to know if she was or wasn’t (the audience was in the dark and I had bright lights in my face) nor would I care. This was ALL to do with AUDIO disruption of my show, nothing more. (For the record, I support public breastfeeding, as it’s perfectly natural.)
MICF Statement
Though the MICF was informed of the situation and have received complaints about the situation, they remind fans that Arj Barker’s show was independently produced and not by the festival.
However they say that audience members and performers have to have mutual respect for one another. As a festival spokesperson says,
In our festival-managed venues, babes in arms are generally allowed, but we do ask people to sit up the back with their child so they can quickly and easily leave if the baby gets noisy so as not to disturb the artist and other patrons… Any interaction between performers and their audiences requires sensitivity and respect
Being a Former Fan
Feranda expresses her disappointment with the whole interaction saying that she used to be a big fan of Barker and his show was a way for her to reconnect with the time before she had a kid.
I was excited because this is a pre-children version of myself that I can reconnect with – but that didn’t go to plan, obviously.
The project – “how dare Arj Barker kick a crying child out of a comedy show”
Also the project – “can you ditch the baby for this interview..it’s pretty bloody annoying”
— LostOnABike (@lostonabikeOz) April 22, 2024
Social media is abuzz with the recent controversies with some expressing support for the mother as they can empathize with new mothers wanting to feel “normal again”. While others call out the mother as selfish for bringing a baby to potentially disrupt dozens of paying customers.
“I have nothing against mums, obviously.”
Comedian #ArjBarker is responding to intense backlash this morning after telling a breastfeeding mother to leave his show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. #9Today
READ MORE: https://t.co/ry7Q0meRer pic.twitter.com/cOlVQ8fq9r
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) April 22, 2024
We keep an eye out for all things comedy especially on stuff from the MICF and the upcoming Fringe so stay tuned! And if you’re looking to laugh out loud live then we’ve got a bunch of hilarious comedy shows playing at Big Belly Comedy Club, every night so come on in!
