
About this episode
In this episode of Parenting Is a Joke, Ophira Eisenberg sits down with longtime friend and comedian Jon Fisch to talk about becoming the parent he always knew he wanted to be—just not in the order he expected—starting with the moment he learned his girlfriend was pregnant while sitting across from his mother at a Cheesecake Factory in the Natick Mall. They trade stories about raising young kids during COVID, from how lockdown accidentally turned Jon’s son into an early, voracious reader thanks to curbside bookstore recommendations, to navigating a preemie birth amid constantly shifting hospital rules that changed by the nursing shift. The conversation drifts easily between creative life and parenting logic, including Jon’s observation that stand-up used to provide “purpose” at night until kids rewired the entire day, and how slowing down during the pandemic made comedy feel more enjoyable again. The heart of the episode lands on a darkly funny family legend involving his niece’s beloved owl lovey—one of many identical backups—which Jon confirms his brother once decapitated in a moment of exhausted bedtime brinkmanship, a parenting move so extreme it later came full circle when that same niece gifted her remaining owls to Jon’s newborn daughter.
📍February Shows are in Anchorage, Alaska, Pine Plains, NY, Nashville, NT, KY, Chicago, IL, Madison, WI
Follow Jon Fisch: https://www.instagram.com/jdfisch
See Ophira LIVE: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/events/
SUBSCRIBE so you never miss O thing: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/sign-up
Follow PIAJ:
https://www.instagram.com/parentingisajoke/
https://parentingisajoke.substack.com/
Follow Ophira:
https://www.instagram.com/ophirae/
https://www.facebook.com/OphiraEisenberg/
https://www.tiktok.com/@ophiranyc
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Get every episode summarized
Each time Parenting is a Joke publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from Parenting is a Joke

Christine Walters is an Everyday Champion Mom
Parenting is a Joke
May 12, 202646:02pending

Taking Care of Mama with Corey Ryan Forrester
Parenting is a Joke
May 5, 202628:31pending

Corey Ryan Forrester Solves It All With Build-A-Bear
Parenting is a Joke
Apr 28, 202641:25failed

The Parent Trap with Ahri Findling
Parenting is a Joke
Apr 21, 202635:26failed