By Elizabeth Flux
When Trish Faranda was lining up to see comedian Arj Barker on Saturday night she was already nervous. Her seven-month-old daughter was strapped to her chest in a carrier and “people were commenting, obviously, because it’s something you don’t see every day – sadly”, she said.
None of the comments were negative – those who spoke to her joked it was great that her child was getting into comedy early. A short time later, however, Faranda and her baby would be back outside. After making several comments about her daughter’s presence at the show, Barker stood in front of the mother while she was breastfeeding and asked them both to leave.
Trish Faranda and her seven-month-old daughter, Clara.Credit: Penny Stephens
Faranda said she did not believe her daughter was loud. “I get embarrassed easily and I would have left straight away if I thought she was loud and uncontrollable and or even starting to get that way,” she said. “But he didn’t give me the opportunity.”
She had felt anxious about bringing her baby to the performance but had a positive experience earlier in the festival at Dave Hughes’ show, Fully Furnished. Hughes also noticed her daughter but made a joke about his own children and moved on with his set. On Saturday, seated near the aisle with her sister and a friend, “we had a plan that if it was going to impact anybody else I was going to just get out of there”.
She described the baby as gurgling and giggling from time to time. When the baby started to “whinge”, Faranda started breastfeeding at which point Barker stopped in front of her and, while still speaking into the microphone, “was basically saying that I was interrupting his rhythm and I should leave. Then he turned to the crowd to get support from them to say, ‘Get out’.”
Faranda praised the women sitting nearby who told her she shouldn’t leave, though by then she was too uncomfortable to stay. As she left, she was heckled by a few crowd members. “It was just quite humiliating,” she said.
Comedian Arj Barker pictured in 2023.Credit: James D. Morgan/Getty Images
“How awful is it that as a mum you become so isolated because you don’t think you are going to be tolerated with your child in public – because god forbid, they make a little bit of noise, as babies are inclined to do sometimes.”
David, who requested his surname not be published, said he was also at the show, where the mother and child were sitting about four rows from the front and “the baby was making a bit of noise, as babies do”. After Barker asked Faranda to take the baby outside, “it was really awkward”, he said.
A group of about eight women sitting near the mother and child also left, as did several others throughout the evening. However, “there were a couple of ladies that yelled out, ‘Yeah, just get out of here’,” David said. “I just couldn’t believe it. The abuse this lady got from the crowd ... I was like, ‘Are we serious here as people?’”
Outside, Faranda realised that about 10 others had followed her out, most of them mothers and grandmothers who could relate to her experience.
In a statement provided to this masthead titled “BabyGate: Let’s Clear the Air” Barker agreed that the baby was “not crying but ‘talking’ as they do”, and stated: “I was quite concerned. In my experience of doing comedy for nearly 35 years, an audience’s focus is a delicate thing. If a noise or movement distracts people mid-joke, the payoff can be greatly diminished. At this point, with about 50 minutes of show left, I made a difficult decision, I calmly informed the woman holding the baby that the baby couldn’t stay.”
Barker highlighted that the show was “Strictly for Audiences 15+” and added: “It’s been mentioned that she was breastfeeding the baby, which may or may not be the case, but to suggest that this had anything to do with my actions is blatantly false as I couldn’t see well enough to know if she was or wasn’t (the audience was in the dark and I had bright lights in my face) nor would I care. This was ALL to do with AUDIO disruption of my show, nothing more. (For the record, I support public breastfeeding, as it’s perfectly natural.)”
Faranda said Barker initially made comments along the lines of, “I speak fluent baby and it said take me outside.” She started to feel that he wasn’t joking but wasn’t sure. “It’s a comedian, you don’t know if they’re being serious or not.”
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival said it had received two complaints on Sunday.
‘It’s been mentioned that she was breastfeeding the baby ... to suggest that this had anything to do with my actions is blatantly false.’
Arj Barker
“The Melbourne International Comedy Festival was advised of the situation that occurred in Arj Barker’s show on Saturday. Arj is independently produced and at a venue not managed by the festival, however, any interaction between performers and their audiences requires sensitivity and respect,” a festival spokesperson said.
“In our festival-managed venues, babes in arms are generally allowed, but we do ask people to sit up the back with their child so they can quickly and easily leave if the baby gets noisy so as not to disturb the artist and other patrons.”
Barker performed his show, The Mind Field, at the Athenaeum for the past three weeks, in which he set out “to answer some of life’s biggest questions”, according to promotional material.
Before Saturday night, Faranda had been a big fan of Barker’s. “Every time there was a comedy festival I’d always go and see an Arj Barker show,” she said. “So, I was excited because this is a pre-children version of myself that I can reconnect with – but that didn’t go to plan, obviously.”
The Age is a festival media partner.
clarification
MICF has updated its earlier information that they received 10 complaints – in fact, approximately 10 people walked out and there were two complaints.