IVF, Episiotomies, and Gross-Out Truths: Lily Phillips Brings Crying to Edinburgh Fringe

In Crying, comedian Lily Phillips lays bare the messy, painful, and often absurd truths of early motherhood – from toxic positivity to postnatal depression and the strange compulsion to overshare in Tesco. Drawing from her own experience of birth, IVF, and the identity rupture that follows, Phillips delivers a show that is brutally honest and darkly funny. Ahead of her run at the Edinburgh Fringe, she speaks to Cultural Dose about the pressure to enjoy motherhood, the comedy in chaos, and why laughter might be the most subversive response of all.

Tell us about your show, Crying.

Crying is a show about having a baby, a show I didn't want to write because I thought I would just pop her out and carry on as normal. I have now realised I was an idiot and completely unprepared for what was ahead, and I think a lot of women are. There’s a lot of toxic positivity around birth and motherhood which I found very suffocating. Everyone telling you to enjoy this wonderful time, but I remember sitting on the toilet whilst still breastfeeding my baby, deranged with tiredness, desperately trying not to pop my vaginal stitches, thinking this doesn’t feel THAT enjoyable.

What was the moment you decided to write it?

It was physically impossible not to! As soon as I started gigging again (too soon by the way — I was mad! And then had to stop again!) I would come on stage and immediately blurt out, ‘I just had a baby!’ even though I hadn’t written any jokes about it yet. But I have written lots of jokes now, don’t worry!

Crying is a very personal show but also funny. What were some of the challenges in writing it?

Trying to find the funny in the darkness is hard, but I delight in that challenge! Finding the line between too dark and just dark enough is interesting to me. I focus mainly on birth and early baby stages and wanted to give an accurate account of how lost I felt during that time, but now she’s two I’m actually loving being her mother, which is great but unhelpful for writing this show.

What kind of audience reaction have you had so far?

A lot of women (who’ve experienced birth) nodding and clapping in agreement with every word that comes out of my mouth, which makes me feel like the content is landing and also not alone! Some men have been tricky — one guy walked out of one of my previews, leaving his wife in the front row having the time of her life!

What do you wish someone had told you about motherhood that no one did?

That birth is fucking awful and the first year of parenting is brutal as shit, so don’t waste energy on pretending you're enjoying it. And stay the fuck off Instagram.

What do you hope audiences in Edinburgh take away from the show?

Mainly that they laugh and have a good time — but I do have an ulterior motive! I do feel like I need to warn people, be as honest as I can, even if that makes people uncomfortable for a moment. Society isn’t keen on women speaking negatively about motherhood — if you say you’re quite tired, they’re like, ‘Oh no! She hates her baby!’

Lily Philips will be performing Crying from 30^th July – 12^th August at Monkey Barrell MB2. Tickets available HERE.