Comedian Rosebud Baker has gone through intense tragedy, grief and addiction in her life. But for her, nothing has been more viscerally “traumatic” than the experience of becoming a mother. Baker—who grew up traditionally conservative as the granddaughter of George H.W. Bush’s secretary of state James Baker—finds a way to turn that trauma into super dark comedy in her new Netflix special ‘The Mother Lode,’ half of which she recorded while pregnant and the other half after giving birth. In this episode, Baker discusses how her political upbringing has influenced her approach to both parenting and comedy and how becoming a mother has only made her more ambitious to succeed as a comedian. She also discusses the unique challenges of her role as “Weekend Update” writer on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ what makes a great joke for Colin Jost and Michael Che, why she thinks her viral comments about ‘SNL’ host Travis Kelce “practicing reading” were misconstrued, and why she’s “dying” to perform at a celebrity roast. Follow Rosebud Baker on Instagram @rosebudbaker and TikTok @rosebudbaker Follow Matt Wilstein on Bluesky @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod and Threads @lastlaughpodHighlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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