Laurence Clark returns to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival after a two-year hiatus to the Assembly George Square Box. His new hour is called ‘An Irresponsible Father’s Guide To Parenting’ and is the follow up to 2016’s ‘Independence’.
Growing up, Laurence never came across any dads with cerebral palsy; which made him think he would never be one himself. Besides, he was way too selfish to look after another human being. He was in love with having a disposable income and going for a poo with no children watching… and having a lie-in without someone belly flopping onto him at 6am!
But then… he meets his wife-to-be Adele and she makes it clear that if they’re to have a future then he had better be prepared for the fact she wants a family… which came as a shock on a first date! What follows is the hilarious, honest, warm story of two people with cerebral palsy traversing the ups and downs of parenthood.
Over the years people on social media have commented that they think it’s irresponsible for Laurence and his wife to have kids in their situation. So he now wants to set the record straight – if he is an irresponsible father, it’s got nothing to do with being disabled! It’s probably more to do with things like strategically balancing his wife’s crutches on his son’s baby walker to make him look like a Dalek!
Because Laurence’s kids are used to their parents – they never questioned it anything! When Tom first started going to school, he was surprised to find not everyone’s dad uses a motorized wheelchair, he’d ask his mates: ‘where do you sit when you can’t be bothered to walk’, he felt genuinely sorry for them.’ And his youngest refuses to make any allowances for him. The other day he told Laurence: “you know what you are dad? A middle-aged man who can’t swim!” All because he doesn’t need armbands now but Laurence still does! Throughout it all, Laurence slowly learns that it’s relatively easy to become a parent, but a hell of a lot harder to be a parent!
Laurence has performed everywhere from the House of Commons to a double-decker bus in Sheffield. His 9 critically acclaimed solo shows at the Edinburgh Fringe have gained him a plethora of four and five star reviews. With television appearances on BBC, ITV and Channel 4, Laurence was the subject of major BBC1 documentary “We Won’t Drop the Baby”. He was awarded Shortlist magazine’s Funniest New Comedian, came runner-up in the Amused Moose Edinburgh Laughter Awards and performs and writes sketches for comedy collective Abnormally Funny People.
