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From Cop Cars to Comedy Clubs: A Mom’s Second Act with Mandy Simonson
30th September 2025 • Moms Unhinged Comedy • Andrea Marie
00:00:00 00:32:08

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Mandy Simonson has thick skin and a sharp wit—and she’s needed both. After ten years as a Bay Area police officer, surviving stage three breast cancer, and raising two daughters, stand-up comedy feels like the easy part.

In this episode, Mandy sits down with Andrea to share how her past shaped her comedy, from undercover train patrols and neon “dating vests” to chemo with a newborn at home. She opens up about divorce, resilience, and why she finally said yes to the stage at 48.

Motherhood, midlife, and comedy collide in the best (and funniest) ways when Mandy tells her story.

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Transcripts

Mandy Simonson:

Being divorced is weird though.

Mandy Simonson:

God, it's weird.

Mandy Simonson:

I've never had anyone legally not like me before.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, okay.

Mandy Simonson:

Signed by a judge.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, okay, that's official.

Mandy Simonson:

That hurts a little bit more.

Mandy Simonson:

It hurts when you're paying for it.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, ow.

Mandy Simonson:

I don't know though.

Mandy Simonson:

We were married for like 20 years and I thought we were on the same page.

Mandy Simonson:

Like I thought we were both letting ourselves go.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, okay.

Mandy Simonson:

Like I was wearing onesies to bed and he was wearing Crocs in

Mandy Simonson:

public, so I was like, that's okay.

Mandy Simonson:

Like, duh.

Mandy Simonson:

We've chosen our paths.

Andrea Vahl:

We are Moms Unhinged, a nationally touring standup comedy show.

Andrea Vahl:

Join us in our podcast as we explore everything from motherhood,

Andrea Vahl:

midlife, crisis, marriage, divorce, online dating, menopause, and

Andrea Vahl:

other things that irritate us.

Andrea Marie:

Hello everyone, we are Moms Unhinged.

Andrea Marie:

I'm your host Andrea.

Andrea Marie:

I have the amazing, the fantastic, the wonderful Mandy Simonson.

Andrea Marie:

Welcome, welcome.

Andrea Marie:

Mandy is one of our Portland based comedians.

Andrea Marie:

She is so hilarious.

Andrea Marie:

You've gotta check out her socials.

Andrea Marie:

We'll get to that at the end where you can find her.

Andrea Marie:

But she's so funny.

Andrea Marie:

So welcome.

Andrea Marie:

Thanks Mandy.

Mandy Simonson:

Thank you with that good introduction.

Mandy Simonson:

I was hoping you were gonna introduce somebody else.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, they sound great.

Mandy Simonson:

Oh, you.

Mandy Simonson:

It says you're beautiful.

Mandy Simonson:

So I was like, okay, that's, she's not talking about me.

Mandy Simonson:

All right.

Mandy Simonson:

So fun.

Mandy Simonson:

Thank you for having me.

Mandy Simonson:

I appreciate it.

Andrea Marie:

Yes.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Andrea Marie:

Super excited.

Andrea Marie:

You guys just got back not long ago from Alaska where you did some

Andrea Marie:

shows and some whale watching.

Mandy Simonson:

There's a joke in their somewhere, but we'll leave

Mandy Simonson:

that.

Mandy Simonson:

We did one 7:00 PM you know, regular cleanish show and then

:

00 PM: naughty business.

:

And we can't believe how many people came out for the 10:00 PM show.

:

They wanted dirty in Juno and we gave it to them.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Andrea Marie:

Juno's a little filthy.

Mandy Simonson:

Juno is a little naughty and they were locals and they wanted it.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Andrea Marie:

That's so, so awesome.

Andrea Marie:

So awesome.

Andrea Marie:

I love those like double shows.

Andrea Marie:

That's so, so great.

Mandy Simonson:

Learned a lot about Juno.

Mandy Simonson:

I didn't know much.

Andrea Marie:

I know I hadn't either.

Andrea Marie:

We had the, that was our second time there.

Andrea Marie:

We had gone last year.

Andrea Marie:

It was me , Nancy Norton, and a couple of other wonderful comedians as well.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah, so fun and, yeah, you can only get there by plane.

Mandy Simonson:

I didn't realize, I also didn't realize you could

Mandy Simonson:

live a full life without a TJ Maxx.

Mandy Simonson:

I didn't know.

Mandy Simonson:

Well, apparently you can, so I was.

Andrea Marie:

Some people.

Mandy Simonson:

Like, where do you guys get your shoes?

Mandy Simonson:

But anyway, they seem to be doing it, yeah.

Andrea Marie:

So you are, you have been going all over with festivals and with

Andrea Marie:

Moms Unhinged with all kinds of shows.

Andrea Marie:

You're busy, busy doing comedy, and you are now essentially a full-time comedian.

Mandy Simonson:

I hate to say that 'cause then I should be better.

Mandy Simonson:

I just have the luxury of being able to do that, of putting my time into it.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, I'm medically retired from my former job and so I get a retirement,

Mandy Simonson:

so, I just decided if I'm gonna do this at, I'm 52, I started at 48.

Mandy Simonson:

If I'm gonna do this, let's do it.

Mandy Simonson:

And I have the ability to.

Mandy Simonson:

So yeah, I'm I'm going for it.

Mandy Simonson:

'cause this is the time.

Andrea Marie:

That's awesome.

Andrea Marie:

Yes, it is.

Andrea Marie:

Let's just, any time's the time really, I mean.

Mandy Simonson:

Well, unless you're dead and that 52 feels like

Mandy Simonson:

I'm inching my way towards it.

Mandy Simonson:

So I was like, let's get going.

Andrea Marie:

One foot in the grave, this will kill you faster.

Mandy Simonson:

I hope, I'm hoping.

Andrea Marie:

And you have one daughter.

Mandy Simonson:

I have two.

Andrea Marie:

Oh, you have two

Mandy Simonson:

two

Andrea Marie:

daughters?

Andrea Marie:

Where did I get?

Andrea Marie:

Maybe

Mandy Simonson:

I don't care about either of them really.

Mandy Simonson:

I don't mean they're so forgettable.

Mandy Simonson:

I do have two dogs.

Mandy Simonson:

That's really more important.

Mandy Simonson:

We could talk about that if you want.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, two daughters, and 16.

Andrea Marie:

Okay.

Andrea Marie:

That's great.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

One goes to school in Colorado where you are.

Andrea Marie:

Oh, nice, nice.

Mandy Simonson:

So a little.

Andrea Marie:

I didn't, I don't even think I knew that.

Andrea Marie:

That's so awesome.

Andrea Marie:

Or I knew it and I forgot.

Mandy Simonson:

Well, got a lot of to keep track of.

Andrea Marie:

Likely, more likely.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

That's okay.

Andrea Marie:

But you alluded to your other former job, which I

Andrea Marie:

wanna dive into a little bit more.

Andrea Marie:

'Cause it's so interesting.

Andrea Marie:

So before you got into comedy you were a cop.

Mandy Simonson:

I was a police officer for about 10 years in the Bay Area.

Mandy Simonson:

Oh yeah, you can call a cop.

Mandy Simonson:

We've been caught a lot of things and cop is pretty nice.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, I grew up in a law enforcement household.

Mandy Simonson:

My dad was an Oakland police, eventually a sergeant.

Mandy Simonson:

He was a homicide investigator, a robbery sergeant.

Mandy Simonson:

So it was sort of part of my life growing up.

Mandy Simonson:

I pretty much thought I was an officer of the law growing up.

Mandy Simonson:

I mean, I was a substitute crossing guard in fifth grade,

Mandy Simonson:

so that really sealed the deal.

Mandy Simonson:

And I felt pretty.

Andrea Marie:

There's a lot of power in that.

Andrea Marie:

There's a lot of power in crossing.

Andrea Marie:

I was a crossing guard for a while, and I'm telling you it, it went to my head.

Mandy Simonson:

I kept the vest.

Andrea Marie:

I wanted to keep the stop sign.

Andrea Marie:

I really did.

Mandy Simonson:

I use the vest now, just more in dating, but it's been fun.

Andrea Marie:

Danger.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, caution.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah mm-hmm.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm not a red flag, I'm a neon vest, is what I am.

Andrea Marie:

Easier to spot.

Mandy Simonson:

I grew up in it.

Mandy Simonson:

So then, yeah, at 24 I went through the Oakland Police Academy and then

Mandy Simonson:

yeah, did that for about 10 years.

Mandy Simonson:

Met my then husband there, ex now, and I got medically retired

Mandy Simonson:

for having breast cancer.

Mandy Simonson:

So it's been a journey.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm full of.

Andrea Marie:

We've got a lot to unpack here.

Andrea Marie:

We have got so much to unpack.

Andrea Marie:

So, so did you like?

Andrea Marie:

What did you do?

Andrea Marie:

What was?

Mandy Simonson:

What was this?

Andrea Marie:

Do police officers have specialties?

Andrea Marie:

I don't even know.

Mandy Simonson:

Okay, okay.

Mandy Simonson:

Well, mine was sort of an inherently a specialty because I worked for BART,

Mandy Simonson:

which is a transit agency in the Bay Area.

Mandy Simonson:

So, it was the only job, it was the only police job that I applied for.

Mandy Simonson:

I was living at home with my parents, Jim and Carolyn, you're lovely.

Mandy Simonson:

I had to get outta there.

Mandy Simonson:

Once they were like, you need to empty the dishwasher on a regular basis.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, I'm a goddamn adult.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm getting outta here.

Mandy Simonson:

So I only applied to that department and I got picked up very quickly before I

Mandy Simonson:

could even realize like, what am I doing?

Mandy Simonson:

And then went through the police academy and on the streets

Mandy Simonson:

at 24 and I was like, oh no.

Mandy Simonson:

I was raised in the suburb, like, fight me.

Mandy Simonson:

But I had two older brothers that tormented me.

Mandy Simonson:

So that helped.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

So.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Andrea Marie:

It toughens you up.

Mandy Simonson:

Toughens you up, like, I would kick a suspect in the shins and

Mandy Simonson:

just really that helped having brothers?

Andrea Marie:

Did you have to get physical?

Andrea Marie:

Did you have?

Mandy Simonson:

Oh yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

In training, I got punched in the face.

Andrea Marie:

Whoa.

Mandy Simonson:

By a woman, like, yeah, in the academy.

Mandy Simonson:

We boxed each other and got pepper sprayed and had to handcuff somebody.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, oh yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

I've been in plenty of fights.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, like it wasn't honestly having two brothers going hands on with somebody.

Mandy Simonson:

You're just sort of like, the whole time I'm screaming like, I'm

Mandy Simonson:

gonna tell mom and they're like.

Andrea Marie:

Okay lady.

Mandy Simonson:

Trying to summon my mom.

Mandy Simonson:

They're like, we're in the middle of Oakland.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm like, well, she'll come, be here.

Andrea Marie:

She will put you in a corner.

Mandy Simonson:

She woke up.

Mandy Simonson:

And so it was sort of this a natural progression.

Mandy Simonson:

I knew I wanted to do something with people.

Mandy Simonson:

I didn't wanna just sit behind a desk.

Mandy Simonson:

I thought I might be a social worker.

Mandy Simonson:

My mom was a child welfare worker and I thought I might do that.

Mandy Simonson:

And she said, come to work with me for a couple days.

Mandy Simonson:

She knew I didn't have the temperament for it.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm kind of a no excuses girl.

Mandy Simonson:

And with social work, you have to give a lot of, I guess the word is empathy.

Mandy Simonson:

No thanks.

Andrea Marie:

They don't get paid enough.

Mandy Simonson:

Apparently there's reflective listening.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, let's cut to the chase, get your shit done.

Andrea Marie:

Reflect it, yada, yada ya.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm like, does this reflect it?

Mandy Simonson:

And

Mandy Simonson:

she had to get her master's degree for that.

Mandy Simonson:

And I was like, well, I'm not going to school to get paid less

Mandy Simonson:

than a police officer makes.

Mandy Simonson:

So, yeah, I ended up just doing it at 24.

Mandy Simonson:

I loved it, I really liked that job.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, I mean, I love interacting with people that I would never

Mandy Simonson:

normally come in contact with.

Mandy Simonson:

Like I was sociology major.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm a total people person.

Mandy Simonson:

I love subcultures.

Mandy Simonson:

That's probably why I love travel too.

Mandy Simonson:

I just love learning about a new culture.

Mandy Simonson:

It's my favorite thing to do.

Mandy Simonson:

And you know, with a transit agency, you don't have to go into people's

Mandy Simonson:

homes as much, which was nice.

Mandy Simonson:

So I didn't have to deal with the domestic violence the same,

Mandy Simonson:

which I really didn't want to.

Andrea Marie:

That would be hard, especially as a woman.

Andrea Marie:

I think I would.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

And so we patrolled, we had a couple beats on our station.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm going like this 'cause it's linear.

Mandy Simonson:

It was linear.

Mandy Simonson:

And then, I worked a special assignment for two years where I rode

Mandy Simonson:

trains with like eight other guys.

Mandy Simonson:

I was the token girl.

Mandy Simonson:

Got to do some undercover stuff.

Andrea Marie:

Oh.

Mandy Simonson:

Wearing like a little hat and a Disney backpack and like

Mandy Simonson:

putting lip gloss on the train to draw in, like a sexual assault guy.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, I've turned on this whole train and I have shiny lips.

Mandy Simonson:

Is this what we're trying to do?

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

It was fun.

Mandy Simonson:

It was cool.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Andrea Marie:

And now did you have, so when did you have your?

Andrea Marie:

Were you working as a police officer when you had kids as well?

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, so I was pregnant with my oldest, who's

Mandy Simonson:

20 now, and I hadn't even gone off work yet for maternity leave.

Mandy Simonson:

And I had her at 30 weeks.

Mandy Simonson:

So 10 weeks premature.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, and then I went from that, she was in the hospital for two months.

Mandy Simonson:

Brought her home for three months and that got diagnosed

Mandy Simonson:

with stage three breast cancer.

Andrea Marie:

Oh my gosh.

Mandy Simonson:

This seems busy.

Mandy Simonson:

Is this what everybody's doing?

Andrea Marie:

Wow.

Mandy Simonson:

So it was a busy time.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm sort of the kind of person that's like, well, all right, here we go.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm like, let's get through the crap to get to the good stuff.

Mandy Simonson:

So it was like, get through this.

Mandy Simonson:

But it was stage three breast cancer and it wasn't, you know, it wasn't so.

Mandy Simonson:

Got some new boobs out of it.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah, yeah.

Andrea Marie:

So you've got a little baby at home and you're having to go

Andrea Marie:

through all that medical stuff.

Andrea Marie:

I mean, that's wild.

Mandy Simonson:

And mastectomy and then reconstruction and, yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

So that's one way to raise an independent kid.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

Stay your playpen.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm getting chemo, I'll be back.

Mandy Simonson:

So yeah, I just don't know any other way.

Andrea Marie:

Right.

Andrea Marie:

Well, it's good.

Andrea Marie:

I mean like obviously there's, you know, I mean just very resilient person, so

Andrea Marie:

I mean that's like, that's a huge thing 'cause a lot of people would get super

Andrea Marie:

overwhelmed with all of that and you know.

Mandy Simonson:

What are you gonna do?

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Andrea Marie:

Seeing, doing.

Mandy Simonson:

That's why it's so fun to talk about it on stage now, because I can

Mandy Simonson:

just give cancer the middle finger the way it deserves to get, and it's so fun to be

Mandy Simonson:

irreverent about it because screw that.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm not it.

Mandy Simonson:

I was never gonna let I never, I did think at one point that I might die from it.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, oh man, this is not as fun as I had imagined having a baby.

Mandy Simonson:

But then I was just like, that's not my story.

Mandy Simonson:

And I kind of just never even took it into my psyche.

Mandy Simonson:

I never asked for my stats or anything.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, why are they not making eye contact with me in the doctor's office?

Mandy Simonson:

I mean, it's a scary time.

Andrea Marie:

Right?

Mandy Simonson:

I think my personality was enhanced to look for the funny in it.

Mandy Simonson:

And that's just sort of how I was raised.

Mandy Simonson:

My dad's very, very funny.

Mandy Simonson:

And so that helped.

Mandy Simonson:

And then ultimately I we adopted a baby from Ethiopia after that.

Mandy Simonson:

So yeah.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

Gave me a little bit of material to talk about.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah, you've got a lot of material.

Mandy Simonson:

Like, I should get writing.

Andrea Marie:

There's a lot, a lot of life experience in there.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, yep.

Andrea Marie:

So, I don't even know where to go from there.

Andrea Marie:

Like, there's so much.

Andrea Marie:

Let's get back to your, I'm curious, you said your dad was really funny as well.

Andrea Marie:

So is that where you got your sense of humor?

Mandy Simonson:

I guess so.

Mandy Simonson:

I mean, I'd like to think he got it from me, but that's not really how it works.

Mandy Simonson:

Like he would, he would be carrying one of us.

Mandy Simonson:

I remember a story.

Mandy Simonson:

He was introducing me to my grandma and he was carrying me,

Mandy Simonson:

and then he does a fake trip.

Mandy Simonson:

You know, that's just the, like, he's a Larry Curly Mo three Stooges kind of guy.

Mandy Simonson:

When he was a police officer, they were always doing pranks like.

Mandy Simonson:

Not cool stuff that I started to share on stage.

Mandy Simonson:

And I'm like, yeah, he was a real piece of work.

Mandy Simonson:

The stuff he did.

Mandy Simonson:

But he was, it was his way of getting through really hard stuff,

Mandy Simonson:

being a homicide investigator.

Mandy Simonson:

Like he used to, he would leave for work and I didn't know he was a police officer.

Mandy Simonson:

I thought he was in sales.

Mandy Simonson:

'Cause he'd always say, I'm headed to a grand opening.

Mandy Simonson:

And he meant an autopsy.

Andrea Marie:

My gosh, are you serious?

Andrea Marie:

He would say that.

Mandy Simonson:

He would say.

Mandy Simonson:

And so I would tell people, yeah, my dad's in sales and my brother's

Mandy Simonson:

like, what are you talking about?

Mandy Simonson:

And I'm like, well, he is going to a grand opening.

Mandy Simonson:

They're like, it's an autopsy.

Mandy Simonson:

Okay, what's an autopsy?

Andrea Marie:

Oh my.

Mandy Simonson:

So he just treated everything with humor.

Mandy Simonson:

So he still does, yeah.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah, that is wild.

Andrea Marie:

That is wild.

Andrea Marie:

So, I mean, that's gotta be a stressful, stressful job, homicide,

Andrea Marie:

and I guess probably not dangerous 'cause they've already been killed.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, they're not big of a danger, but he did

Mandy Simonson:

get shot when he was an officer.

Mandy Simonson:

It was in friendly fire, they call it.

Mandy Simonson:

I don't know if you've heard of that, it's a military term.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm like, wow, how friendly can it be?

Mandy Simonson:

You're like, don't worry about it buddy.

Andrea Marie:

I know.

Andrea Marie:

Oopsie, so sorry.

Mandy Simonson:

Ouch.

Mandy Simonson:

Well, I said, what did the guy do?

Mandy Simonson:

Like how are you still friends with him?

Mandy Simonson:

He is like, yeah, he got me a steak dinner.

Mandy Simonson:

Like it wasn't that big of a deal.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, that night he's all, well, no, I had to go to the hospital

Mandy Simonson:

and stuff, but a couple nights later got a steak dinner out of it.

Mandy Simonson:

It was in a shootout with the Black Panthers.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, it was crazy because he was a police officer in Oakland in the sixties.

Mandy Simonson:

That's when he started.

Mandy Simonson:

So a lot of political tension.

Mandy Simonson:

When you say it is a stressful job?

Mandy Simonson:

Yes, but not for my dad.

Mandy Simonson:

He just, he's sort of like me in terms of you make the best officer

Mandy Simonson:

when you can compartmentalize stuff.

Mandy Simonson:

And I don't think that's a conscious thing.

Mandy Simonson:

I think that's just your personality.

Mandy Simonson:

So it would be like, this is what's happening in front of

Mandy Simonson:

me, but it's not my story.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah, yeah.

Andrea Marie:

You're not taking on that energy.

Andrea Marie:

You're not.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, you're like, I'm here to do as much as I can

Mandy Simonson:

for what's in front of me, but it really saves you from that impact.

Mandy Simonson:

And my mom being more of an empath that's a little bit harder with

Mandy Simonson:

social work 'cause you're sort of taking on people's stuff.

Mandy Simonson:

And so eventually that got to her.

Mandy Simonson:

She was tired of seeing a lot of inhumane things happen and not having

Mandy Simonson:

a lot of power to help with it.

Mandy Simonson:

So yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

And then my brother was also a Oakland police officer too, so

Mandy Simonson:

it's sort of, yeah in the fam.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah, for sure.

Andrea Marie:

Now does he still do that?

Mandy Simonson:

No, he put himself through law school and he, uh, he's an attorney.

Andrea Marie:

Oh wow, yeah.

Andrea Marie:

You guys are yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

Civil servants.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah, civil servants.

Mandy Simonson:

Who wants to make a lot of money?

Mandy Simonson:

Ugh, people.

Andrea Marie:

And now, you know, comedy.

Andrea Marie:

Hey.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm like, this is.

Andrea Marie:

Rolling in it.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, let me pick something that really

Mandy Simonson:

yeah, it doesn't pay well.

Mandy Simonson:

So it's okay.

Mandy Simonson:

It's okay.

Mandy Simonson:

Luckily there was a few good investments in the day.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah, yeah.

Andrea Marie:

And the thing about comedy, I think, you know, I you can tell you love it.

Andrea Marie:

I love comedy.

Mandy Simonson:

I love it so much.

Mandy Simonson:

I can't believe I get to do it.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah, that's it.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

And then there's days I'm, it's like a boyfriend.

Mandy Simonson:

Well, I think.

Mandy Simonson:

I haven't had one in a while, but it's like I'm mad at it some days.

Mandy Simonson:

Some days I'm like, and I feel so foolish doing it I'm like.

Mandy Simonson:

And then if you have a set that's rough or whatever, it's like

Mandy Simonson:

that time of chastising myself.

Mandy Simonson:

And I've really had to put in some boundaries of I get this amount of time.

Mandy Simonson:

And then it's done.

Mandy Simonson:

And because I can have days of you fool, what are you doing?

Andrea Marie:

You wallow in it.

Andrea Marie:

I know.

Mandy Simonson:

Like, you old fool.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

And then I'm like, hold on.

Mandy Simonson:

I don't get paid enough to chastise myself.

Mandy Simonson:

But if you wanna be good, you gotta work hard and that hard.

Andrea Marie:

For sure.

Andrea Marie:

It's hard.

Andrea Marie:

I was just at a show.

Andrea Marie:

I know I was just at a show where someone was really upset 'cause he

Andrea Marie:

bombed and I was like, you know what?

Andrea Marie:

This is what we've signed up for.

Andrea Marie:

We have signed up for this.

Mandy Simonson:

And if you wanna push yourself in comedy, you're gonna

Mandy Simonson:

have stuff that's cringey sometimes.

Mandy Simonson:

I mean, not me, but I hear people do.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Andrea Marie:

I've heard, tell me.

Mandy Simonson:

I heard tough.

Mandy Simonson:

So,

Andrea Marie:

what are your, what do your daughters think

Andrea Marie:

of you with this new career?

Mandy Simonson:

Um,

Andrea Marie:

Comedy?

Mandy Simonson:

They're

Mandy Simonson:

so cool about it.

Mandy Simonson:

Um, and I have checked in with them from the beginning because I do talk about them

Mandy Simonson:

on stage and they're totally fine with it.

Mandy Simonson:

I mean, I have a lot of people, I have a brother who's not

Mandy Simonson:

so interested in me anymore.

Mandy Simonson:

'cause he feels like that's totally insensitive and rude and

Mandy Simonson:

they are fine with it.

Mandy Simonson:

And yeah, I'm amazed.

Mandy Simonson:

I don't know how I would've felt about it.

Mandy Simonson:

They know I'm funny and they know I'm not gonna be

Mandy Simonson:

disrespectful to them specifically.

Mandy Simonson:

My youngest will come up to me 'cause I used to work at

Mandy Simonson:

the high school that she's at.

Mandy Simonson:

And she'll say, Ugh somebody came up and was like ugh, I saw your mom's comedy.

Mandy Simonson:

She's like, so funny.

Mandy Simonson:

And then I'll say, well, how, what do you think?

Mandy Simonson:

And she'll say back to them, I know.

Mandy Simonson:

And I'm like, oh so for a teenager, we know that that means it's kind of cool.

Mandy Simonson:

Like that's because otherwise they would tell me if they don't think it's cool.

Mandy Simonson:

And so I think they're excited that I have something that's all mine, you know,

Mandy Simonson:

especially after going through a divorce.

Mandy Simonson:

I started after I got, right after my marriage ended like

Mandy Simonson:

literally three months later.

Mandy Simonson:

And that's when I did my first open mic.

Mandy Simonson:

'Cause I was like, when am I gonna do it if I don't do it now?

Andrea Marie:

So had you been thinking about doing it?

Andrea Marie:

And then you just kind of,

Mandy Simonson:

Not Not really.

Mandy Simonson:

mean, no.

Mandy Simonson:

For years I've always had people say, you should do standup.

Mandy Simonson:

You should do standup.

Mandy Simonson:

And it's like, cool.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, I know I'm funny.

Mandy Simonson:

I've always been funny.

Mandy Simonson:

In middle school I got best sense of humor.

Mandy Simonson:

Oh, that's like official that I'm funny.

Mandy Simonson:

But I just, I always said if I ever do standup, it'll have to be at the Rotary

Mandy Simonson:

Club on a Tuesday at noon because I've got kids and like, what am I gonna?

Mandy Simonson:

I just didn't even understand how to get started, and I never even

Mandy Simonson:

thought about getting started.

Mandy Simonson:

And then, I don't know, the last couple years as my marriage started declining,

Mandy Simonson:

I thought, well, if I ever write a set.

Mandy Simonson:

Then I will go do an open mic, but I just never put any time into it.

Mandy Simonson:

And one day I had a friend who was singing on doing a little show at a

Mandy Simonson:

winery, and I went, I thought, well, I know her and she's pursuing her dream.

Mandy Simonson:

Why can't I do it?

Mandy Simonson:

Why can't I?

Mandy Simonson:

And I wrote a set on a mask.

Mandy Simonson:

I actually have 'em framed right above me.

Andrea Marie:

Aw.

Mandy Simonson:

Up there and I went and did an open mic the next

Mandy Simonson:

day and it was literally one of the best days of my whole life.

Mandy Simonson:

I mean, that's the story that it, it is so silly, but it clicked

Mandy Simonson:

and I thought, this is it.

Mandy Simonson:

I mean, it's a little embarrassing to say 'cause it's like, you know,

Mandy Simonson:

who knows what it'll lead to?

Mandy Simonson:

And maybe I'm not that good and maybe this, but for me it was the start of this

Mandy Simonson:

journey that I knew I needed to be on.

Mandy Simonson:

And I've never been so sure of anything in my whole life.

Mandy Simonson:

It's the weirdest feeling.

Mandy Simonson:

It's hard to admit.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

it's sort of this current that's been taking me.

Andrea Marie:

Mm-hmm.

Andrea Marie:

Mm-hmm, yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

Weird.

Mandy Simonson:

I get chills talking about it and I'm not that.

Mandy Simonson:

It's very strange.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Andrea Marie:

I love that.

Andrea Marie:

I love that, that it just everything clicked into place.

Mandy Simonson:

You're like, well, I hate to break it to you, but this is

Mandy Simonson:

your last show with Mom's Unhinged.

Andrea Marie:

You're already booked, you know?

Andrea Marie:

No, you're so funny.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm such an idiot.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah.

Andrea Marie:

It's so cool.

Andrea Marie:

I love that.

Andrea Marie:

So did you, you never took a class or anything?

Andrea Marie:

Or you just, yeah.

Andrea Marie:

You just, I mean, I know that you've been such a student of it, you've just been

Andrea Marie:

like diving in and like, know all the.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

IOne thing for me that I'm really strong at, well, being funny is one thing,

Mandy Simonson:

as you know, and then there's the, all the rest of comedy, it's like you hear

Mandy Simonson:

people say, oh, being funny is 10%.

Mandy Simonson:

Well, it's gotta be a pretty strong 10%.

Mandy Simonson:

But then it's the bookings and then it's what my favorite part is the networking.

Mandy Simonson:

That's where I shine.

Mandy Simonson:

Like I said, a people person.

Mandy Simonson:

I love connecting dots.

Mandy Simonson:

Oh, you know this person.

Mandy Simonson:

I know that's my favorite part.

Mandy Simonson:

And some people hate that part.

Mandy Simonson:

And for me, it's so fun.

Mandy Simonson:

So I've been spending a lot of time performing in different areas of

Mandy Simonson:

the country and sort of weaving this network of support underneath me.

Mandy Simonson:

I didn't know that I was gonna be doing that, but that's so fun.

Mandy Simonson:

So now I could reach out to a lot of different cities and be like,

Mandy Simonson:

Hey, as I hopefully get better and the bookings get better, who knows?

Mandy Simonson:

Who knows where it'll go but that's been the most fun is meeting the people.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

A nd I know that sounds cheesy, but that's so fun for me.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Andrea Marie:

And the interesting thing is about this business is that it can be,

Andrea Marie:

it can be so many different things.

Andrea Marie:

It can blow up and take off, or it can just be, you know, steady work across.

Andrea Marie:

You know, who knows?

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

Who knows?

Mandy Simonson:

And I don't want to be booked every weekend.

Mandy Simonson:

I don't consider that a grind.

Mandy Simonson:

I do, I say yes to things that feel good.

Mandy Simonson:

They have to meet some criteria for me.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, either the pay or performing in front of people that I have a reason

Mandy Simonson:

I would like to or I need the stage time, but I don't say, I say no to a

Mandy Simonson:

lot of things is that don't serve me.

Mandy Simonson:

And that's I think with age.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

You can go, oh, that's not, I don't really, no, thank you.

Mandy Simonson:

But thank you for asking.

Mandy Simonson:

And I love having free time.

Mandy Simonson:

I can't be creative if I'm always burning, burning.

Andrea Marie:

right?

Mandy Simonson:

I wouldn't be able to come up with new stuff.

Andrea Marie:

Mm-hmm.

Mandy Simonson:

That easily.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah, for sure, for sure.

Mandy Simonson:

My ultimate goal is to, like, my ultimate goal

Mandy Simonson:

is to riff way more like that.

Mandy Simonson:

I would prefer to not even have material at some point.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

We'll see.

Andrea Marie:

We'll see.

Mandy Simonson:

We'll see.

Andrea Marie:

And that is your last Moms Unhinged show.

Mandy Simonson:

And yeah.

Andrea Marie:

Oh, no.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, yeah.

Andrea Marie:

So yeah, and you still have a daughter at home, so, you know, as far

Andrea Marie:

as like saying no to things, you're still, you're still in it a little bit, you know.

Mandy Simonson:

Oh yeah,

Andrea Marie:

yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

So Definitely.

Mandy Simonson:

But she just got her driver's license and she's here halftime.

Mandy Simonson:

So I do have opportunities to go and do what I need.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah.

Andrea Marie:

That's really great.

Andrea Marie:

I don't know.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah sometimes I'm like, is divorce bad?

Mandy Simonson:

I know we've been on shows together and we're like,

Mandy Simonson:

let's make sure there's at least one of us who's not promoting divorce.

Mandy Simonson:

You're like.

Andrea Marie:

I know.

Mandy Simonson:

All your suckers in the audience who are tied

Mandy Simonson:

down to a man like, gross, run.

Mandy Simonson:

I know.

Mandy Simonson:

I say now the best part of my marriage is my divorce.

Mandy Simonson:

I don't, you know, of course.

Mandy Simonson:

Would that have been nice to have a solid marriage that worked out?

Mandy Simonson:

Absolutely.

Mandy Simonson:

In my sad where I am?

Mandy Simonson:

Not one bit.

Andrea Marie:

Mm.

Mandy Simonson:

I really wouldn't change tons.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah, yeah.

Andrea Marie:

It's an interesting thing.

Mandy Simonson:

Even breast cancer, yeah.

Andrea Marie:

Oh yeah, that's interesting.

Andrea Marie:

Even the breast cancer probably gave different gifts.

Mandy Simonson:

You know, this existential stuff that , it's a

Mandy Simonson:

little silly to talk about, but really I wouldn't change my trajectory.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm a lover of life.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm a gratitude in my attitude kind of person, and I like where

Mandy Simonson:

I am and I don't, I couldn't be here without the path that I'm on.

Mandy Simonson:

And really having, being a breast cancer survivor gives me a lot of mental

Mandy Simonson:

license to say, I'm gonna say yes.

Mandy Simonson:

When a trip comes up that I wanna do, I'm like, whoa, what am I winning for?

Mandy Simonson:

So, I don't wanna take, I don't wanna change that part.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah, yeah.

Andrea Marie:

That is such a good point.

Andrea Marie:

Such a good point.

Andrea Marie:

So one thing I like to always ask our guests here is about

Andrea Marie:

an unhinged mom moment.

Andrea Marie:

Could be with your kids, with your parents.

Andrea Marie:

When did things feel a little unhinged?

Andrea Marie:

Other than all the time..

Mandy Simonson:

Oh yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

Well, my youngest daughter is adopted from Ethiopia and she is of course, awesome.

Mandy Simonson:

She and I have had our challenges.

Mandy Simonson:

Woo doggy.

Mandy Simonson:

Thank.

Andrea Marie:

Mm-hmm.

Mandy Simonson:

And I have no worries that she's not gonna do fine in life 'cause

Mandy Simonson:

she, she can stand up when she needs to.

Mandy Simonson:

It's mostly to me, but it's been good practice.

Mandy Simonson:

And I think she was like seven and we were, I was letting her

Mandy Simonson:

know, kind of close to her face that, you know, we don't lie.

Mandy Simonson:

She had told a lie about something and she just went,

Mandy Simonson:

did you eat onions at any point today?

Mandy Simonson:

What?

Mandy Simonson:

Like and she was like, kept going like this while I was trying

Mandy Simonson:

to like scold her about lying.

Mandy Simonson:

And I'm like, finally.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm like, okay, I had a Greek salad.

Mandy Simonson:

And she's like, yep, that's it.

Mandy Simonson:

No.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, are you kidding me?

Mandy Simonson:

Like she could have said like, you're not my real mom.

Mandy Simonson:

But she went for halitosis instead I'm so much trouble.

Mandy Simonson:

And she is, God bless it.

Mandy Simonson:

She's so smart.

Mandy Simonson:

Like, thank God the older one's a little dumb.

Mandy Simonson:

No, not.

Mandy Simonson:

But, when your kids are so smart, you just can't get away with anything.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah yeah.

Andrea Marie:

They will find the angles, they'll find whatever they can,

Andrea Marie:

the loopholes, the comebacks.

Mandy Simonson:

And so I recommend to women that are

Mandy Simonson:

dating is like, find a dumb guy.

Mandy Simonson:

'Cause that's likelihood is you get a ding bat for a kid and that's better.

Mandy Simonson:

But you can tell 'em Christmas has been canceled.

Mandy Simonson:

School starts in July, whatever you need to do.

Mandy Simonson:

But yeah, she's given me rent for my money, but in turn I have

Mandy Simonson:

learned so much about needing to adapt to different personalities.

Mandy Simonson:

You know, there's the lessons in there.

Mandy Simonson:

But when she did that with the onions, I was like, I am

Mandy Simonson:

ill prepared for this child.

Mandy Simonson:

I am so screwed.

Andrea Marie:

I think I would've probably, I think my kids could see in

Andrea Marie:

my eyes when I was getting so crazy, like literally would feel fire in my eyes.

Andrea Marie:

I probably would've lost it.

Andrea Marie:

I would, yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

I started like seeing like prison jumpsuit, orange, like flash over

Mandy Simonson:

my head and I was like, oh my God, could I live in, could I survive in prison?

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, 'cause I need to do something.

Mandy Simonson:

But I had to really learn like, you gotta back off and it's been a journey,

Mandy Simonson:

but we're in way better place than ever.

Mandy Simonson:

And so that's, that's good..

Andrea Marie:

Yeah, that's wild to actually insult you

Andrea Marie:

while you're in trouble.

Andrea Marie:

I mean, right.

Andrea Marie:

We're going for the insult.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

Yep.

Andrea Marie:

Oh, that's bold.

Andrea Marie:

That is bold.

Mandy Simonson:

You have boys, right?

Mandy Simonson:

Not girls.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah, I have two boys.

Andrea Marie:

And they were such good kids, but you know, there were just

Andrea Marie:

definitely always times where you're like, I think that's interesting.

Andrea Marie:

You mentioned prison, and you do see that line.

Andrea Marie:

You see the line, it's right.

Andrea Marie:

It's closer than you think, and you're like, woo, I gotta,

Andrea Marie:

I gotta step back because.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, this is a power struggle that I don't wanna

Mandy Simonson:

be in, but I also have some dignity.

Mandy Simonson:

So how do you extricate yourself?

Mandy Simonson:

I ended up doing this love and logic.

Mandy Simonson:

I don't know if you've ever heard of it.

Andrea Marie:

Oh yeah, we did that as well.

Mandy Simonson:

Oh, thank God For love and logic.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like.

Mandy Simonson:

Oh.

Andrea Marie:

There was no counting to three.

Andrea Marie:

There's no, you know.

Mandy Simonson:

1, 2, 3 magic.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, 1, 2, 3.

Mandy Simonson:

You better start running that.

Mandy Simonson:

That's not what the magic was.

Mandy Simonson:

1, 2, 3.

Andrea Marie:

I know.

Andrea Marie:

I know.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, the love and logic saved me.

Mandy Simonson:

Whatever they were doing was what they were gonna be doing,

Mandy Simonson:

but it helped me just take that breath to go, oh, I'm in trouble.

Mandy Simonson:

So I used to excuse myself into my room a lot and say, I think I left

Mandy Simonson:

the curling iron on and my daughter would be like, later, like you

Mandy Simonson:

always leave that curling iron on.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm like, I know.

Mandy Simonson:

But it just gave me that break to get the hell outta here.

Mandy Simonson:

Remember that sidestepping the power struggle and you had to

Mandy Simonson:

like create, but thank God for it.

Mandy Simonson:

I had to even their little book, I'd flip through it when I was mad.

Mandy Simonson:

I was like, you know,

Mandy Simonson:

thank God.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah,

Mandy Simonson:

It's been a good, that was a helpful, I still use it.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah, it is.

Andrea Marie:

It's really good.

Andrea Marie:

It's just really good to just be like, okay, here's the, there's consequences.

Andrea Marie:

There's, you know, it's immediate, it's related.

Mandy Simonson:

And it gives you kind of tools.

Mandy Simonson:

Like I needed anchor tools and my ex would be like, at the time, he'd

Mandy Simonson:

be like, well, we were married then.

Mandy Simonson:

And he's like, I need everything on a case by case basis.

Mandy Simonson:

I need to like hear their voices.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm like, oh, I've been hearing that he's a pilot.

Mandy Simonson:

He was gone a lot.

Mandy Simonson:

He, I'm like, well, I've been hearing their voices all day every day, and

Mandy Simonson:

I don't have anything more to say.

Mandy Simonson:

We should sell the the program on our merch table Moms Unhinged.

Andrea Marie:

We should.

Andrea Marie:

I feel like we need tools.

Andrea Marie:

We need, we need tools.

Andrea Marie:

Forget the, you know, we sell the wine glasses.

Andrea Marie:

That's, you know.

Mandy Simonson:

Right.

Mandy Simonson:

This will

Andrea Marie:

that's One tool.

Andrea Marie:

That's tool.

Mandy Simonson:

Read this while you're drinking out of it.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Mandy Simonson:

Our wine.

Andrea Marie:

It's like a little two for package.

Andrea Marie:

You know, it's like a bundle.

Mandy Simonson:

See, always thinking.

Mandy Simonson:

Always thinking.

Andrea Marie:

That is so fun.

Andrea Marie:

Mandy, this has been so much fun talking to you.

Andrea Marie:

You're hilarious.

Andrea Marie:

And why don't you tell people where they can find you, connect

Andrea Marie:

with you, all that stuff.

Mandy Simonson:

Ooh.

Mandy Simonson:

I mostly, my Instagram page is huge for what I'm doing.

Mandy Simonson:

I try to post shows.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm kind of all over the place.

Mandy Simonson:

I've got my second round of semifinal, round of Portland's funniest

Mandy Simonson:

person, August 13th, so that it's.

Mandy Simonson:

Type five.

Mandy Simonson:

So I'm doing that.

Mandy Simonson:

I'll be in the Bay Area.

Mandy Simonson:

I'm just got a guest spot there.

Mandy Simonson:

I don't know.

Mandy Simonson:

All over, up and down.

Mandy Simonson:

I don't remember.

Mandy Simonson:

Yeah, I try to take the summer kind of lighter.

Andrea Marie:

Yeah.

Andrea Marie:

Well, and we'll link to your Instagram and whatever other socials in our show notes,

Andrea Marie:

everything so people can follow you.

Andrea Marie:

But

Mandy Simonson:

Thanks having me.

Andrea Marie:

My pleasure.

Andrea Vahl:

Thanks for listening and make sure you subscribe, share, and follow us

Andrea Vahl:

on the socials to get more comedy clips.

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