Laurie Kilmartin Gets Away With It

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People often claim there aren’t any comedians today who challenge norms like George Carlin did, but they might not be looking in all the right places. The term “edgy” is often misused, simply describing comedians who express common beliefs with more profanity. Consider Laurie Kilmartin, a long-time comedy writer for Conan, who sparked controversy in 2022 with a bold statement on MSNBC: she joked about wanting to seduce an anti-abortion lawmaker and then have an abortion. Instead of backing down from the backlash, Kilmartin doubled down, even expanding on the joke in a special and suggesting she’d do the same to Sean Hannity. Like Carlin, what truly makes her comedy stand out isn’t how she says things, but what she says. You can see many examples of her brave, funny, and uncompromising humor in a fantastic set she performed on Conan in June 2017 – it’s well worth watching.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZCxXqi5pnAg?si=mP_Fw3gt0E9Bx_w1

Kilmartin started her routine by revealing she’d already had several awkward conversations with her 10-year-old son about personal privacy. She joked about telling him, “Please don’t knock on Mom’s door when she’s…occupied,” which got a big laugh from the audience. She followed that up quickly with another joke about him needing to be self-sufficient, saying, “Get your own apple juice, I’m busy with my own!” While she didn’t use any curse words (except for one Spanish term), the humor was definitely edgy. The core of the joke – prioritizing personal time over her child’s needs – is considered highly inappropriate. Surprisingly, instead of being offended, the audience loved it, giving her a third round of applause within the first 50 seconds. She even followed up with a joke about abandoning an infant at a church, and the audience continued to react positively.

Kilmartin continues to challenge social norms with her candid humor, openly stating she often has sex on the first date. Her jokes consistently address behaviors society deems unacceptable, and she deliberately plays into negative stereotypes about single mothers – that they are self-centered, uncaring, and overly sexual – without any defensiveness. Audiences are captivated by her honesty. She emphasizes this isn’t just a bit, stating she likes to share this openly with a crowd, which consistently earns enthusiastic applause. Kilmartin’s success stems from two things: her incredibly sharp and concise writing, developed from years of crafting jokes for late-night TV, and her engaging delivery. She’s approachable, self-assured, and relaxed, using smiles and expressive faces to connect with the audience and make it clear she’s performing comedy.

Kilmartin cleverly addresses any potential judgment from the audience by pointing out that many of them may one day find themselves as single parents. With a bright smile, she jokes, “Love dies and children live,” earning another round of applause. She then shares a personal story, revealing she named her son, Mohammed Morales, after friends suggested a more common first name to complement his Hispanic last name. This earns her a seventh standing ovation. Kilmartin continues, receiving further applause when she mentions Mohammed has been accepted to nine universities and, humorously, escorted off twelve airplanes. She recounts a moment when her son asked about his race, and her response – “Let’s ask a cop” – sparked the longest ovation of the night. She concludes the story by stating, “Turns out my son is Mexican.”

What sets Kilmartin apart as a comedian is her ability to tell fully developed stories with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Most comedians don’t consistently craft such complete narratives in a concise way. Kilmartin doesn’t launch into long, rambling routines; she delivers a whole story in the time it takes other comics to tell a few short jokes. This skill is particularly evident in her set on Conan, where she recounts a story about enforcing a “Spanish only” rule at home on Sundays. She playfully acknowledges the potential irony of a white woman making such a rule by intentionally using a very Americanized, high-school-level Spanish accent. She jokes that she deliberately puts her son in dangerous situations on those days, explaining that true fluency requires being able to beg for your life in a language.

Kilmartin intentionally plays the villain in her act, a daring move for a female comedian who often faces a tougher climb for audience approval than men. Despite the clearly fictional nature of her stories, she closes her Conan set with a troubling two-minute tale: she almost let her biracial son drown because he wasn’t fluent in Spanish – even though she isn’t either. She jokes, “So my son goes underwater to think,” which gets a big laugh. The story has a three-part structure where her son ultimately gets the upper hand. His final line, delivered with perfect grammar, is a surprisingly defiant, “Ayuda mi, puta!” – a phrase that’s both a cry for help and an insult. Kilmartin, seemingly unfazed, ends with, “Oh my gosh, what a Mother’s Day!”

Comedian Anthony Jeselnik, riffing on Andy Warhol, once explained that the aim of controversial stand-up is simply to “get away with it” – to make people laugh and win them over, rather than alienate them. Hayley Kilmartin clearly strives for this with her bold jokes, wanting applause, not awkwardness. It’s surprisingly difficult to achieve; many comedians try to follow in the footsteps of George Carlin, but few succeed because it requires exceptional comedic talent. Kilmartin possesses that talent, with sharp writing and a confident stage presence, and the result is a tight, hilarious, and undeniably provocative show.

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2026-01-13 17:55