talk about our personal lives on
stage, so whatever is happening
that month or year is gonna be in
the act. And the pregnancy, birth
and baby, was definitely the biggest
event of the year for us.”
“We don’t ask each other for permission
first,” he continued. “We
operate on an ask for forgiveness
basis. If it’s funny enough, the other
person has to suck it up. Unless
they really hate it, then it’ll stop being
said. But we haven’t had that
happen yet. Plus usually we’ll run
new ideas by each other asking,
‘Do you think this is funny?’ And if
the other says, ‘It’s just mean about
me,’ we will rewrite it or not do it -
unless we’re in an argument, then
we might do it once to get it out
of our system. Our only ‘hard’ rule
is each of us will only talk about
their own parents on stage, but not
about their in-laws.”
For Ben, his upbringing is based
on his native Russia and growing
up in America after the big move.
He has long joked about being a
double major at Rutgers University
in both Economics and Philosophy
- a combination that proves he
knows how to make money, but
just doesn’t see the point.
Michelle jokes about her upbringing
in the book by noting
she was born in New York City and
has a wide acting range that allows
her to play a New York Jew,
Long Island Jew, New Jersey Jew,
Upper East Side Jew, or an Upper
West Side Jew.
“We were inspired to create the
book because we liked our pregnancy
and new baby jokes, but as
our daughter is now a full-blown
toddler, we couldn’t keep talking
about being pregnant and a newborn,”
said Ben. “So we thought a
book was a cool way of letting our
pregnancy jokes live on and creating
something that’s a fun gift to
give to your newly pregnant/new
parent friends. Michelle had us
read a bunch of books when she
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