Ahead of starting his 10th UK tour at the Southbank Centre in September, comedian Laurence Clark revealed the abuse he and his wife received after appearing in a BBC1 documentary.
The show title, ‘Irresponsible Father’ refers to all the ‘nasty’ comments he received on the social media after he and his wife Adele, who both have cerebral palsy, said on the BBC1 TV documentary ‘We won’t drop the baby’ that they were expecting their second child.
When the documentary was broadcast, he started receiving comments saying that he shouldn’t be allowed to have children, but he turned this negativity into a life lesson.
Lauurence said: “I am irresponsible for other reasons, but to me being a father is not one of those reasons.”
He added: “It’s quite upsetting that people said all these horrible things, but I thought about it and the best thing was to do something positive about it”.
“I did this show about what people said about me and challenging that prejudice to let the people laugh at me,” he added.
The British comedian will play ‘An Irresponsible Father’s Guide to Parenting’ around UK after performing at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.
He admitted that every time he starts a show, he finds hard to get the first laugh.
He said: “It’s important to show people that is going to be worthy, that is funny.”
When asked why he never thought about being a parent, he said that idea never came out because he never saw people with cerebral palsy having children.
He said: “That affects how you see yourself.
“My wife was the opposite of me,” Laurence added.
When both Adele and him met, she told him that if they were to have a future together, then having children would be involved.
After having their first child Tom, now 13 years old, it took him seven years to be convinced about having their second child Jamie, who is now six years old.
About the way he loves his children, he said: “There’s no difference at all between the love that other parents give to their children to the love I give to mine.”
This path has, at times, not been a pleasant walk for the Clark family.
He added: “I think that the best thing I do is challenging prejudice and educate people but at the end of the day.
“I do what I do to make people laugh.
“The best thing is to get in and have a go because is how you will progress.”
Image credit: Steve Ullathorne
