Life Uncut - Taxidermy Pigeons, Career Changes In Your 30s & Dating In Your 40s. Uncut with Lizzy Hoo

Episode Date: April 23, 2026

If you're in need of a laugh and a reminder that life in your 40s can actually be the best chapter yet, this is the episode for you. Our guest today is Lizzy Hoo. You'll know her from Have You Been Paying Attention, The Cheap Seats, and her own Amazon Prime special. She's also the host of The Lizzy Hoo Show podcast and has been performing standup comedy all over the country since 2017, when she walked into a standup course on a complete whim and accidentally found her calling. We chat: Taxidermy pigeons  Growing up with a Chinese Malaysian dad and an Irish Australian mum Quitting her corporate career at 32 to do standup, the year she made $50 from comedy, and the moment she realised it was actually a viable career What it was like to be fast tracked in the industry and go from open mics to the Opera House within a year Being in an open relationship in her 40s, how it ended and what she actually took from the experience What dating in your 40s actually looks like compared to your 30s Coming to terms with not wanting kids, trying for a while, facing the question of IVF, and finding genuine peace in the decision Why the loosest people Lizzy knows are her mum friends, and the 20 year tradition of their annual Christmas party Navigating friendships when everyone is in completely different life stages You can find more from Lizzy’s website  and her Instagram  You can watch us on Youtube Find us on Instagram Join us on tiktok Or join the Facebook Discussion Group Hosted by Britt Hockley & Laura Byrne Produced by Keeshia Pettit Video Produced by Vanessa Beckford & Lachy Pugsley Tell your mum, tell your dad, tell your dog, tell your friend and share the love because WE LOVE LOVE! XxSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi guys and welcome back to another episode of Life Uncut. I'm Laura. I'm Brittany. Today's episode is for anyone who is in need of a good laugh. I'm so sorry but that pun was written by producer Keisha. I take no credit for it. You didn't have to say it. Well I feel like I needed to put it out there just in case everyone's like what was that Laura? Look, our guest today is Lizzie Who, who has been doing stand-up comedy since 2017, basically started stand-up comedy just on a whim, decided on a massive career change, figured out she was kind of good at it, and now she has her own Amazon Prime special. Lizzie's also the host of her own podcast, it's The Lizzie Who Show, and has performed

all over the country and become a very familiar face on TV, with being on shows like Have You Been Paying Attention and also The Cheap Seats. I love the content that Lizzie covers because it is so relatable to just being an adult and surviving life at this stage I relate a lot to the co-parenting of the dog situation co-parenting of a dog thank god you don't have to co-parent Delilah you just got to keep him in the divorce her in the divorce but also things like dating family life there was one quip that I did love that Lizzie said is that she's realized that actually talking about her family is quite a good thing to monetize and profitable for us. So we can get into that as well. Lizzie,

welcome to the pod. It's such a joy to have you here. Oh, thank you so much for having me. This is awesome. You have really, you have really done your research. I love this. Do you know what, actually, we were talking about earlier, producer Keisha, back before when she was not in a relationship, when she was not in a relationship now, she went on a first date to one of your shows and she was like, put it into the prep notes. But I thought that might be an enjoyable one for you and I've seen you at Just for Laughs as well so I mean we have done our we have done our research yes you have I can't believe Keisha went on a first date to one of my shows because my shows I get lots of messages after my show is going I saw your show and then I broke up with my

boyfriend a lot well I don't think that relationship lasted so I think they only went on one date so maybe that says a lot yeah Lizzie we start every episode with your embarrassing story you're accidentally unfiltered. I am going to assume you have some absolute bangers. What have you got for us today? Oh, I've got so many. I'm going to tell a lot throughout the episode, but I thought I would start with this one. This is kind of a recent one. I was seeing this guy. It was never going to go anywhere. I had no intention of ever being in a relationship. It kind of got to a point where I felt like I was just researching a character in a movie that I would never write he felt like that to me I went back to his house a few times and he had he had a

lot of problems but he also had uh taxidermy pigeons on top of his bed like on his bed head I don't think it matters ones are too many just two one is too many two but they were like kissing each other what it was so weird and the first yeah bizarre he had like all this artwork and then he just had these like taxidermy and I was like okay okay yeah I think these are gonna have to go if we're gonna sleep together have you seen the thread that's going viral at the moment and it's just men sharing like their homes and how they've decorated their homes and most of them are just like blank empty rooms with a chair or like a tiny random artwork on the wall that they've sticky taped on and then we've got who you're dating who's got two dead pigeons looking

over maybe he thought they were lovebirds yes he's a grown man he knows what a pigeon is but in like in the taxidermy world I think pigeons probably like the lowest rung as well like that's that's rodent level you know like maybe if it was a tiger or something I think that's worse much bigger I don't know do you yeah that would have been like really confronting do you do a deep dive on that because like surely you asked what the backstory is maybe they were his pet pigeons or his grandma's pigeons like I know my grandma used to race pigeons so maybe it had something like sentimental oh maybe it had a meaningful no I didn't ask I was like we gotta get them out of here because I'm really losing my mojo having to look at these pigeons

in the eye this is no good well look Lizzie one thing that I think is so interesting about your story is how you had like a total career shift and how you had life was kind of laid out for you you're following the normal plan of you know being diligent I guess like nine to five worker and then you find yourself in stand-up comedy something that you're amazing at and you've taken this total different tangent in life before we get into all that I want to start this kind of like having a better understanding of what you were like when you were a kid and growing up and I know that you have an Irish Australian mum and you've talked a lot about your dad being Chinese Malaysian and he also features quite a bit in your comedy Chan talk to me about what it was like

growing up and kind of like how those years formed the comedy that you do now oh I think they're really formative years I mean all childhoods are but I reckon I had a really like quite an idyllic life growing up I lived in Brisbane I grew up in the suburbs I lived in this suburb where everyone on the street went to the same school we all went to the same church like I was like raised a staunch Catholic I'm not Catholic anymore but you know I went to church every weekend but it was like we played sports on the weekend like having a like a Chinese dad and a white mom was just normal for me I didn't feel weird except for those times where you know people would ask if me and my mom were together no one I reckon in my 42 years of living they would ask my mom like

oh wow what has she got in her like you know comments like that uh growing up and my mom would always she's a bit of a smart ass and she would just always reply like oh she's got a bit of Vegemite and toast and milk that's it she had breakfast this morning yeah but it's so funny because I recently I'm jumping to another story but recently my mom and I were in Sydney and we were in an Uber together and the Uber driver said to me he was like oh what do you do for work and I said oh I've got a fan on my hands here uh and I said I'm a I'm a comedian and he's like oh I thought you were her NDIS care worker oh my god way to keep you humble Lizzie so like when I was growing up everyone thought I was a if I was just with my mom everyone thought I was adopted and

now I'm older everyone thinks I'm her NDIS care worker oh my god it's problematic on so many levels like my god yeah and my mom just laughed she was just like this is so funny she just replied well she's she kind of is my carer I mean you laugh at that right and a lot of comedians take this in their stride and they turn it into their content but does that hit you on a deeper level at all it kind of just like I think now that especially now that I'm a comedian and I have an outlet for this type of thing like comedy is so good you can have a gripe during the day and you can literally get on stage that night and air it and you might never say it again but you've kind of like dealt with it yeah and for me that sort of stuff I just laugh at I think I've always

laughed at especially growing up and you know I didn't experience much racism as a kid but I grew up in Brisbane in the 90s it was Pauline Hanson era like it was kind of that time luckily I had quite like a beautiful community that I grew up with my best friend was half Japanese her mom was also white her dad was Japanese like we kind of we would play along with it we would tell everyone we were sisters and we would hate like we would just we loved that we were something a bit different like I always remember growing up and feeling like my culture was something to be proud of like you know when you had those international food days at school do you remember those like you'd all bring a plate from your culture we were so boring because I was like I mean on my mom's

maybe but it was like there is no culture there so we were like here's a lamington like you know they still they still do that now my my little niece is half indian and she's only 18 months old but they did it at her preschool like two weeks ago and you get to bring something in you know from your culture which is pretty cool that they're still doing it that is cool and i just remember like bringing you know a big plate of noodles that my dad had made and just being like really proud like yeah this is what I get to eat at home I'm sorry for you guys talk to us a little bit about something that I love about you and I read something about this the other day actually but you changed career at 32 and there's a lot of people I think in life

that that cruise through and think that they're too old to try something new or they don't have the time or they don't have the energy or where would they start and I actually read something just yesterday that was saying women actually change career the most at age 43 so really you were ahead of the game so as much as people think oh my god I'm in my 30s how can I start fresh you went from like corporate to stand-up comedy which is a big jump talk to us about that time period how and why did that come about oh big changes it feels like it's 10 years ago it feels crazy that I started comedy 10 years ago but I was living in Sydney I was working corporate I was living in north sydney doing the whole thing i had just moved back from i just done this year

this crazy year in mongolia as a volunteer for the government as a journalist trainer uh yeah it was it was a wild year and it was it was so much fun like i got this job you got an allowance you don't really get paid but you live pretty well and i worked at this economics magazine and i had the best years the best year of my life to date like it's the coolest thing i've ever done but you know you're horse riding every weekend you're drinking you're out you're having these crazy cultural experiences and then I got to Sydney after that and I just had this like reverse culture shock or something I just went into I just felt really down on myself I was like depressed I was hating life I hated my job that I had I was an account manager at a marketing and design agency and then

I just I was seeing a therapist at the time and she said to me look you've got a I feel like you need to have a creative outlet like you need to do something exciting in your life so I went to Sydney Community College and I started doing all these courses I started doing like millinery course sewing courses and then I got an email that was like yeah I know at one point in my life I was like I'm gonna make hats I actually love that though I love you figuring it out and being like I'm just going to try it all. Yeah, I just wanted to try it and I was having fun trying it because I knew I wanted to do something else.

I just didn't know what it was. And then I got an email from the college that was like, try stand-up comedy. And I thought, yeah, I'm at rock bottom. Let's do it. Let's try stand-up comedy. And I tried it. It was a really simple course, four Monday nights.

I didn't know anything about comedy really. Like I knew a few people that did comedy. and then at the end he put a friends and family show on and I invited all my workmates all my friends because I thought it would just be like a one-off bucket list sort of situation and I just really enjoyed it and I think from that point on I just got hooked that's so ballsy it's so ballsy but I mean even with that the way you describe it it's like you've started something you've just finished a short course that doesn't always eventuate into being career leading or career defining where was it or I guess how did that change come about where you were like okay

I'm able to leave this like marketing accounting background and actually forge a career that's not just like a career that I'm going to get buy-in but is like substantial and substantiated like how did where did that sort of tipping point occur yeah because that that was hard for me I didn't realize you could have a career as a comedian until I started to do things like the Melbourne comedy festival and I was like oh okay this is like an actual genuine career path that you can follow and you can make money off this remember getting my first corporate gig and thinking oh okay this is like another way that you can make money it didn't really occur to me I reckon until a couple of years in that this was a career path but it wasn't until the end of 2021 post-covid

post-lockdowns and everything that I actually quit my day job so I was working two jobs up until 2021. Wow so then when you started comedy like when you've come out of your short course and by the way when I say ballsy I was trying to put myself in your shoes if I had just done four courses of a stand-up comedy class I would not be inviting everyone I know to come and watch it I would be doing in front of strangers like I'd be on practicing on people that I felt like couldn't couldn't judge me or laugh at me even though you won the laughs but like I think that that is impressive in itself but like when you finish that and you start doing comedy how long until you actually made money like how much of this because I know your escalation it's like and

how much no but I guess it's like it is one of those things where you think that even when you start making money it would be sporadic it would be here and there it's not consistent you've got to build up your audience and your name and and everything else so when you started doing the circuits and popping up at bars and whatever else what was the time period like before you actually made your first dollar from comedy um i think it was probably about a year into it and i got paid 50 bucks and you're like i made it wow yeah i was like this is amazing i got paid 50 bucks for just talking about my dad this is crazy so I mean from that $50 to actually earning real money you know I think I did the festival in 2019 and then 2020 obviously it wasn't on and then in 2021

uh we did get to do Melbourne Comedy Festival and I had a really good run I sold out all my shows and uh full transparency I earned like twenty thousand dollars and I was like wow that's chunky like that's a big and I was like okay I guess this is what you can make like if you get better and better obviously there's going to be more and more like this is a viable path for me but because I was also 32 and I had a job I had a career I had a really good life the comedy had to really take over for me to quit my job yeah for sure like you're 32 you're used to certain things I'm like I'm not gonna go back and like live in a share house or like slum it or not go out for dinners and stuff like that like I'm used to a certain level of life by now but then you

also find yourself doing like the hustle grind where you're running two lives concurrently and they have to try and fit within each other you know you have to try and fit this extracurricular which is a business in and of itself around the business that you have where you're working for someone and you're on their timeline and you're on their schedule how was it because I mean so many people try stand-up comedy I mean some people are talented some people are not as talented but it's really I think the people who break through within Australian media and are able to make a successful career in stand-up comedy but also break into more mainstream comedy which is like across Afrita Rare TV and other sort of metrics. What was it about your style of comedy or the

content that you were doing that was different, do you think? I think maybe I was a little bit relatable. I also think I joined comedy at a time, a really fortuitous time when, you know, producers and TV networks were looking for more women of colour, more women in general and female voices so I feel like I joined at a really really good time I was fast-tracked a little bit because of that and because my comedy was like relatively clean and it was relatable yeah I was reading something interesting just a couple days ago about Richard Gad who is the writer and actor and comedian of Baby Reindeer yeah and he was saying something and I really loved it and I it made me realize how hard it would be for some people he was like acting on

the comedy circuit for years and years and years like 10 years or something I mean his comedy style is very different and he was just saying no one would get it like he would do these mic nights and no one would laugh because his comedy was quite dark and he said he was always so close to giving up but he was like I believe in this and one day it will click like one day it's going to click. And then 10, 12 years later, it's like, it's finally clicked. And now he's blown up to the point that he can barely do it because he's too well-known. But for you, I guess it was almost a little bit different because within one year you went from open mics to like the opera house. That's an insane trajectory. How did you go with that kind of fast paced shooting to fame? Because

then you all of a sudden you've got your own Amazon special. It's like, I feel like you, as much as a year working unpaid is not an overnight success in this kind of a world, it almost is yeah i did get to do a lot of things really quickly and i i do acknowledge that like the just for laughs thing happened and then yeah the amazon special even getting my first gala spot i was really lucky because in 2021 there were no international acts that could come over so there were more uh spots given to aussie acts and i feel like i really benefited from that so yeah i i think there was I was definitely thrown in the deep end and as much as people say when I'm on stage they're like oh you look so confident you look so calm inside I am screaming

I am not feeling confident but I I feel like I have an ability to just be like okay big moment let's do it yeah and just go with it and I think that is also an age thing you know doing it in my 30s as well kind of having that perspective of like you know it's just comedy it's fine like if it doesn't go as planned you're gonna get up tomorrow you're not saving lives just get on with it like also if it doesn't go to plan it's just I mean the worst that can go wrong is some people don't laugh and you're like okay well that fucking was a real ego moral hit but at least it just means you go back tweak your material and come back again with something that's different you said before content that you do is relatively clean which it is i mean and it is very relatable

one of the big points that you have it is a touch and go no it's relatively clean but it's very relatable especially talking about dating dating we had the same things or no i yeah i mean i have two questions there's some stuff that's a little bit r-rated yeah but i mean okay well it is relatively clean the thing is though is there's been a big debate that's been happening across like what you can and can't joke about when it comes to what's off limits now in the public sphere because everyone has opinions on what is fair game and isn't fair game and the idea of is something too woke to be able to make a joke about and everyone seems to have varying opinions on what that looks like what is your opinion on I guess the like where is the line with where you

can find that sweet spot in comedy and also like what are the things that you feel are off limits when it comes to making comedy yeah it is such a big thing that's happened in recent years people talking about you know certain things you can't talk about I love the line I love it when I see comedians who are like really skilled toe the line or just go over it like that's one of my favorite things it's hard though when you know you're watching like a big famous American Netflix comedian toe the line and then every open mic comedian thinks they can do the same but they're just not as skilled and they they can't do it yet and I guess part of me is like well that just takes practice to get there I don't know I feel like you have to be there's certain jokes for you

like there's certain jokes I just would never say like sometimes when I see other people like straight guys doing a joke about trans people I'm like that's not your that's not your lane yeah that's not your arena babe like you stay out of it like I just kind of feel like well I don't need to hear your opinion on this like why why that's just not interesting to me but then other people might watch that and find that interesting to them I don't know I feel like comedy is in it's at such a point now where there are so many different acts and so much variety you can see whoever you want to see and I feel like if you're if you're into the straight white guy comedy which it's so funny a lot of my friends are straight white guys doing comedy then they're very funny

like I will go and watch them like it's very funny or if you want like something that's more silly and fun and clowny there's that as well like I feel like there's comedy for everyone and you can just opt into it what you want you know who does it very well at towing the line is Nikki Glaser like she doesn't actually tow it she often goes over it she crosses it a lot but she doesn't I don't know she's just really hit that sweet spot of making people love her more for it in a way do you when you're performing if you went into it with a worry are you more worried about getting cancelled or are you more worried about it not landing and people not laughing yeah I love Nikki as well she is so good I love roast comedy like I love doing roasts and

Nikki is someone I watch and admire she's amazing okay there's certain jokes that take a long time to get over the line sometimes you really have to massage them and you do that in the rooms like you do that at the open mics and the club nights and stuff like that so you that you are mindful of your audience I think like I think you have to be but yeah that's one of my favorite things is to to get like a hard subject over the line for example last in my last year show I was talking about I was in an open relationship for like 18 months and in my audience like I had to really sort of cushion that and like explain what it is and give different POVs and like but eventually it got over the line we got there and it was one of my favorite bits to do so I really quite enjoy

that process. Talk to me about dating in your 40s because even that saying like I was in an open relationship for a year and a half and I had to figure out how to make people laugh about it and not think it was weird you know I close it because you obviously have to meet people where they are right like everyone's going to be in that room with their own impressions and you don't want to joke to be lost because they're too busy being hung up on the fact like oh my god Lizzie who was an open relationship what is dating like at this point of life and I guess like how has it been different in your 40s to being different in your 30s oh it's so different in your 40s I feel like In your 30s, from when I was dating in my 30s, my early 30s, even like the apps, like I remember

using Tinder in my early 30s and it was so easy. It was just photos and a little blurb. That's all you had to do. And everyone, I think when you're in your early 30s as a woman too, like there's more guys that you appeal to and like you might want different things. I think when I was in my early 30s I was looking for you know the father of my kids and someone I would marry and that sort of thing and you know that never happened and now I'm dating my 40s I went through a big breakup I was with someone for like eight years in my 30s and I went through a big breakup at the end of my 30s and yeah came back to dating in my 40s and holy it had changed it was all different different how different in the way like the different it wasn't just like yeah different

styles of relationships like yeah you could meet someone like I met a guy who was in an open relationship and I had just come out of a relationship I was really into work so for me it kind of worked out perfectly because I didn't have time to be a girlfriend so I would just like we would just hang out probably like maybe every couple of weeks or once a month and like do really special things and that was like enough for me what differentiates then that from maybe like a situationship to an open relationship did you guys build that connection like a really strong emotional romantic connection as well because if you for me if you're like oh we're hanging out like you know every now and then and that sounds just like my 20s like situationship you know so

like what was that differentiation for you to say no it's actually a relationship yeah it was a relationship we yeah we were great mates we always looked forward to hanging out with each other and we always made time for each other I don't know it kind of like it was different to a situationship for me because there was like quite a yeah strong emotional connection and we're still friends now we haven't been romantically involved for a while maybe a year but we're still good mates so yeah yeah I feel yeah I feel like it was different to a situationship how is it when I mean when you're a comedian you're dating do people that you're dating not fear that they're just going to be like comedy fodder well this guy he the open relationship guy we call him in my

friendship group open rello I was like can I joke about this and he's like yeah I think if you date someone creative you have to expect to end up in their work somehow and I was like yeah that's why I like you you're a good guy it's true in a way it's true but then okay so then you've after being in that relationship for a little while I'm assuming that was maybe your first open relationship tell me if I'm wrong how do you feel about looking at those now do you feel like it was just purely because it serves you at this point of your life in your 40s when your career is thriving or do feel like you would continue that did you really take something from that no good question I think it served me at the time like I was just fresh out of a relationship I didn't want to get into

something but this like kind of gave me some like it was just really nice it was nice to have that connection with someone and yeah I don't know maybe the reason we did break up this is juicy get your headline everyone I know his partner got pregnant they got pregnant so I know that must be so he told me and obviously like very happy for them but like he told me when we're out for dinner and then a week later I was like yeah we have to we have to chat we can't continue this I didn't yeah I didn't need a fourth you know what I mean you don't need to be a stepmom in your open relationship there's a line that's it I'm like yeah yeah is the baby mine maybe I don't know is the is the dating pool like as shitty as it was when we're in our 30s like what is the

I guess like what's been your experience apart from the open relationship what has been your overall I guess like experience vibe check of what it's like to be dating in your 40s and the availability of suitable people to date? Look, I've probably taken my foot off the pedal in the last year, but when I first left my long-term relationship, gosh, I reckon that's a really powerful time. When you first step out of a long-term relationship, you've got some crazy energy. And I felt like dating was really easy then because I didn't care. and now I think you know it's been like three years since uh that breakup and now I'm like oh I feel like I'm ready for something again now I'm finding it hard and I think that's just because of

my where I'm at and being impatient and being like I really like a boyfriend right now but that doesn't happen that I have to put myself out there and I have to get that confidence back and and just you know go out on dates and meet people and be a bit more open to stuff well I mean that's normal isn't it it's like life's easier when you don't care and the second something becomes important to you in the front of mind it gets harder and and all of a sudden it's all you think about because when it's like oh I'm really ready why can't I find it now your last show was a bit of a deep dive into your breakup your long-term breakup and your shared custody of your greyhound Owen I believe his name is talk to us a little bit about that what was that breakup like and

how did that inspire you I guess to create like a top-selling show yeah it was a I mean all breakups are really hard right it was a really horrible time and it you know I think largely we did break up because you know we got together when I first started comedy like I was I was not doing comedy as much I was home I was Monday to Friday I was available on the weekends and then all of a sudden I wasn't I was away all the time I was away so much I still am away a lot it makes dating really difficult that we just kind of grew apart and we wanted very different things at the end of our relationship so to make a show about a breakup and about someone you still really care about and he's not a bad guy that was quite hard because I wanted I didn't want him to be viewed as a bad

person because you know often it's easy for the audience to be like oh yeah your ex you know we all hate him like they're on your side but I'm like no no no I would say lines in the show like no he's a good guy we don't hate him yeah and then I would sort of tell reasons like you know sort of funny reasons he was actually I used a voice note of his in the show because I talk about this oh god I talk about this horrible time that I did a radio interview this is so this is so bad this is a horrible story I did a radio interview on ABC AM it went way longer than I expected it to go and I just eaten it was COVID days and I just eaten a really fancy takeaway it was a creamy pasta I got an Asian stomach I shouldn't be eating any creamy pastas and halfway through the interview

I like I just I could feel it but I was still on air and I'm like oh my gosh I don't know what to do and then girls I just like I just I just had to go in the seat that I was sitting in what Lizzie you say excuse me I need to go to the bathroom wait were you in studio were you on the phone where were you no I was at home in an office chair Lizzie you shit your pants because you would rather say excuse me go to the bathroom what is wrong with you okay something we need to work on is people pleasing I know I know I know exactly I was searching people I was like no I can't I can't and because they were coming back and forth and I didn't know if I'd have time to like and now in hindsight I was just panic stations but in hindsight I was like

I could have just I had the producer's number I could have just messaged them and say I'm feeling a little bit sick you could have just hung up and said the connection was lost there's a million a million avenues Lizzie you could have taken like I don't think we need to go through turn your video off and taken your computer to the toilet muted yourself for a second I'm deceased I have never I did not think that that's where this was going she shit her pants you shit your pants in an interview I shit my pants and it was a choice it was an interview I'm so sorry it was a choice but I didn't feel like it at the time I felt like I just I just had to go I had no choice the moral of the story where I'm going with this story is

in the breakup show I tell that story and I asked my ex-boyfriend what his recollection of that night was because he was there because like at the end of the interview when I hung up hang on did he break up with you because I hung up and I just no he should have he stayed I should have kept him what a guy but I yell out after the interview I yell out after the interview I was like babe for hope something's happened he comes in I put his head through the door I'm like I'm gonna need a towel bro go to the shower that is so bad it's so bad so we were broken up and I said hey I messaged him and I said hey I'm gonna tell that story because we're still mates we share a dog we have a house together we don't live together but we own a house together and stuff we're still

in a lot of contact and I messaged him I'm like hey you remember that night that I shit my pants on radio what's what's your recollection of that and he just wrote back oh I'll send you a voice note and he sent me the perfect voice note and I listened to it and I was like I'm gonna have to put that in my shirt and so I actually use his voice in that breakup show about the night that I shit my pants on radio. Anyway, I wasn't expecting to tell that story today. To be fair, what I love the most is that we start this interview with like what's your most embarrassing story?

You talk about a guy that has pigeons above his bed. That's embarrassing for him. You shit your pants. That's your story. I do want to just put this here now in case this happens again. Like I know that this is a video podcast. If you need to go to the toilet, you just let us know and you can excuse yourself and you can come back like nothing happened you do not need to

shit your pants that's unhinged woman you are i'm all good guys i'm good i know this is so great talking about breaking up i've got to hear that you you broke up with someone at a cake shop was that a strategic decision yeah that was open relo because honestly like what i didn't want to break up in my house because that's bad juju and I can't go to his house obviously so I was doing a gig that night it was a Monday night it was actually a year ago yesterday because I remember it was like the Monday night before festival started comedy festival started and I thought I've got to nip this in the bud I have to lose this mental anguish and anyway I messaged the room runner because I was gigging on on the Monday and I said hey can I go in the first half because

I've got to do a breakup tonight I need to get out and he's like sure and so there were people everywhere and we're just out the front we got our cakes we got a cup of tea we sat out the front and we shared our cakes and had a chat and then just like admitted defeat and said yeah we can't do this anymore uh and then we then we shared our top five moments together that is the most civilized breakup I've ever heard this is what is is this dating in your 40s is this dating Laura broke up with her partner once like stole he's broken to his house stole his passport you're sharing your top five I did I did but that was my 20s and I was unhinged I and probably should have gone to jail but that's okay we don't talk about that anymore so leslie did he want to

continue the relationship even though he was having a baby like did you sort of take that option from him uh no i think well maybe he did but i i think we both knew that like his life was going to change dramatically and we should just nip this in the bud now before you know there's no point in continuing this yeah I want to go back to one thing you said a little bit earlier because I do think I mean you said all breakups are painful like all breakups hurt but I do think that there's something quite unique about breaking up at the end of your 30s because especially when you've invested eight years of your 30s with someone and being like oh my god I'm starting again but I'm starting again at 40 what was that period of your life like I ask this because I

think each decade marks something significant like I think each decade kind of feels like your entering a new chapter. And for you, you were entering it in a very profound way in terms of life being completely different. How was that for you? Oh, it was, it was kind of, now I look back on it really empowering in a way. Cause I guess, yeah, my thirties was like that trip to Mongolia and then starting comedy. That was like a huge life moment. And then I think my forties was like going through this crazy breakup. You know, I thought at the time, like during that relationship that I wanted to be you know a mother and have this life with this guy that I really loved but then you know it changed for me and I think I got to know myself better I feel like comedians

look back on their lives constantly and I feel like I really grew as a person and I really changed as a person from doing comedy so when I went through that breakup and then like going into my 40s single it was like really kind of empowering I was just like oh wow I've never felt this version of myself she can do whatever she wants like she's got no one to answer to she's got she can just you know run her own race and I felt like I had a friend actually a friend said to me she's like I've never seen you more yourself than in the last year and that was after I'd gone through the breakup she's like you just you're just so yourself at the moment which is such a compliment yeah did you have like a mental switch in your wants to have kids was

that something that happened as well while you were in the relationship yeah I think if I was true to myself maybe I don't think I ever really wanted kids and then I got to my 30s and I got wrapped up in that thing of and it's so easy to do you know you see all your mates have children and you're like oh that looks pretty cool even now when I see my friends with their kids and they're growing up and they're such good parents and it's like oh that would be pretty cool but now I'm like actually no I'm happy I'm happy with my life but I think in your 30s and you you know as women like our time is on the clock it's running out you kind of have to make these decisions like pretty quickly and I think I just thought yeah I wanted to have children at one

point but now that moment has passed and I'm I'm really glad that I didn't have kids because I'm I'm so happy at 42 now I'm so happy where my life is and I you know I can find love I look after my friends kids you know I'm a godmother my friend just went through a divorce and she's got a little kid I can be there for her like there's other ways that you can still you know scratch that maternal itch if you have it I think this is a really important topic because I think a lot of women go through it and they're battling with those exact feelings of maybe I think this is what I've always wanted and society's pushed me in that direction but maybe it's not that transition period of figuring that out what was it like for you was that like an overnight thing where you

just woke up and you're like I actually don't want them or was it a really sort of slow transition to come to that realization and I guess the question on top of that is was there anything that helps you realize to make that decision because it's a big it's the biggest life decision we're ever going to make so it's you know it's a lot of pressure for a woman in that time period it is a lot of pressure because as soon as you hit 35 everyone's like you gotta start doing it you gotta do it like you're barren soon like all those things they can't yeah oh yeah it's it's just constant like it's kind of like your whole 30s as a woman there's someone saying like you gonna have kids as soon as you turn 40 everyone stops asking it's great no one no one asks anymore

it's amazing but yeah that decision for me me and my ex we did try and have children we tried for a while and it got to the point where I was probably gonna have to do IVF like that was the next step and that was a real question for me because I was like I don't want it that much and I feel like if I did really want children I would have been like yeah okay next step let's do it like I've had friends that have gone through IVF and it's they are just so set on it it's like this is my option this is what I'm going to do they really really want it but I just didn't I just didn't have that feeling and I thought oh you've got to be honest with yourself do you do you really want a child because I feel like if you did you would go through that process I think that that's incredibly

I can see that you're probably having you just said everything in my brain yeah I mean we I was gonna say that's a really powerful conversation because they're conversations that we have had and I can tell I was like thinking for you then Britt not meaning to but you know I think that it is so easy to get caught up in the what is next and like the especially when you're in a relationship without taking stock and really considering what is it that you want don't be wrong I love my kids I love my husband I love my life it's truly I'm so grateful for all of it had i not met matt i wouldn't have three kids like i just wouldn't because if i had i would have ended up having them with a fucking loser and i'd be a mom doing it on my own do you know

what i mean like i think unless you want it so much that you would be happy to do it on your own i don't think that it is something that women should be choosing to do just because they've met the right partner do you know i mean i don't know if i'm saying that right but like yeah yeah i i think that more people have to talk about the absolute desperate want to do it not just because it's the right point of the relationship to have kids. Yeah I totally agree with you and it's one of those things that yeah I think I feel like now especially in the last I don't know five years or so and maybe that's because I'm just in that world but I have a lot of friends like in my friendship circle there's you know a few of us that decided not to have kids and it's kind of

nice like to not be the only one it's not like you're the only one who doesn't have children anymore no it's becoming so much more popular yeah and it's you certainly don't want to just like have kids with anybody that's what I mean yeah that's not going to end well Lizzie you said in your comedy that some of the loosest people you know are your mum friends what is it like you know I mean it's great that you have your network of friends that are also in similar life phases as you but like something that's really powerful for women is that we have these beautiful friendships but what does it look like for you managing them when you have friends who are in different life stages yeah so I have the best friends uh shout out to my friends they're

the best in the world I love them so much uh and some of my friends we've been to we've been friends since we were like 12 years old because we caught the same bus to school you know and then some of my friends I've got from uni and you know different jobs I've had over the years and we've all stayed really quite close but yeah it's it's interesting because yeah we're at different stage well I guess we're at the same stage just different characters you know like some of them have older kids some of them have toddlers some of them don't have children some of them are single some of them are like divorced now so everyone's just on their own little journey but the one thing that we all really count on is each other like that friendship never wavers

which is so cool like whatever in your life is changing like sickness whatever like children's husbands whatever the friendship never changes which is awesome they're those kinds of friends you know the best the best friendships are the ones where you you don't see someone for a year and you just turn up and that's exactly the same that's for sure that's them what makes the mums the loosest oh so every year every year my friends and i we have a christmas party uh we always do it in november because that's when everyone's free and we have it on the same weekend and we've been doing it for 19 years wow oh my gosh that's so nice I know it's so cool uh last year we went to Queenstown it was our first like offshore Christmas party and it was about maybe 14 of us

and it was wild you know you give mums three nights off and going overseas they are not wasting time you know they get there and they are they're drunk on the plane they turn up drunk and you're just like I guess I have to keep up and they're there with the ring leaders as well and I just love it like it was so like for example we had this big night we had a big lunch we were out we're partying at late at night we had the dance floor and we're just in a hotel you know but we've got the dance floor in the lounge room there's people in the toilet doing confessionals you know there's people on the balcony I thought you're about to say something I thought you're about to say I'm in the toilet doing confessionals confessionals

confessionals those mums do let loose yeah they do and then like the next day two of them went on the jet boat ride in Queenstown and we're like you guys are crazy these two mums they're like yeah we're picking into the jet boat ride of course we are we're on holiday and they get up they only had been to bed for like three hours and they go on this jet boat and then later that afternoon we all went on the luge and we were just we had the best time it's just so much fun and um yeah I think this year we're doing our 20th one that's amazing incredible that is such a special thing you know it's also such a good lesson because unless you stick to it it's so easy for these things to be like oh my god we should do a girl's trip every

year and then it just never happens I have one we're on our fourth no third year fourth whatever who cares but we do it the same we've got like October or November because no one's free in December and we have like six of us that go away somewhere we went to Cairns we went down south like we always do something together and it's because it's the one time that as a group of friends we actually get to spend quality time together where we're not like in the throes of our own individual little lives you know and in our own dramas so i feel like when you carve out that time it's just it's very special moms also value time more they do like you can say never get a night off that's my point it's like when you guys have a couple of hours between pick kids

picks up or whatever you may you squeeze every second out of it because you have to whereas like us lazy chicks we just like well kick back watch a Netflix special I'm like I don't have anywhere to be it's like you know so I think it's like it's not that you don't value time as a single person but you haven't had the same pressures and restraints as a mum yeah so like I think that the mums when they're exactly what you just said they are drunk on the plane because they know that that time is not coming again for another year yeah oh they're packing it in they're packing life in yeah Lizzie thank you so much for joining us today you're an absolute queen you're a breath of fresh air i've loved every second can you tell us what you've got coming up where can people find

you where can people go and see you shamelessly plug yourself yeah i will thank you so much for having me that was a fun chat i really loved it i'm doing the the comedy festivals at the moment i'll be at melbourne comedy festival until april 19 and then after that i'll be in brisbane and sydney and then newcastle and then you can just follow me at lizzie who and also have the lizzie new show podcast if you want to stay in touch but yeah that's kind of it thanks so much lizzie we've loved having you on pleasure thank you so much