Coming up on The 40s Formula. What do you get
when you mix a full -time job, a stand -up career,
and a second pregnancy at 40? I went through
a phase of basically dressing like a dominatrix
in leather pants, leather boots, and everything
else. Imagine being pregnant and dressed like
a dominatrix. That would be sweaty. The best
thing about being a parent is being able to be
embarrassing. I can't wait to tell my kids they're
all s***. And I did like five shows in a row
and the energy was up here. And then I did the
same stuff and the energy was down. Comedy will
take you out like that. You're like, I'm the
best comic in the world. Oh my God, everybody
hates me. Everything I'd say is the truth. I
have one joke about sleeping with my Uber driver.
I introduced a Filipino comedian on stage and
he's not from the Philippines. And it was too
late by then. You're from the Philippines now.
Put yourself in the spaces that you know you
belong. Sasha Frank is a London -born stand -up
comedian, actress, and podcast host based in
Singapore, where she balances corporate life
by day and the comedy mic by night. Known for
her sharp wit and unfiltered honesty, Sasha uses
humor to explore the chaos of motherhood, cultural
identity, single parenting, and now pregnancy
at 40. She's a proud mom, a newlywed, and a rising
voice in Singapore's comedy scene, proving that
reinvention can be hilarious. healing, and completely
unscripted. and winner of the 2025 Asia Podcast
Awards in the Best Health and Wellness Podcast
category. The 40s Formula is your no -fluff,
science meets real -life guide to thriving in
your 40s. What do you get when you mix a full
-time job, a stand -up career, and a second pregnancy
at 40? You get Sasha Frank. Today's guest who
reminds us that reinvention doesn't always look
polished. And sometimes it looks like telling
jokes in a dive bar while Googling geriatric
pregnancy symptoms backstage. In this episode,
we're talking about what it means to be funny
across gender, culture, and life stage, and why
your 40s are the perfect time to stop performing
for everyone else and say what you really mean.
Because sometimes the most powerful punchline
is just telling the truth. And if you found this
episode gave you a chuckle or inspired you to
take a chance, please subscribe, review and share
it with a friend. Welcome, Sasha. Thank you so
much for being with us. Thank you for having
me, ladies. OK, so you are a nine to five or
by day like you have a gig as it were. You're
a comic by night. You are a mom. You are also
about to be a mom again. Yes. When do you sleep?
See, it's so funny you ask me that because I
feel like all I do is sleep right now. I sleep.
Well, I mean, I think I always ran on like, not
little sleep, but high energy. Okay. But I just
seem to have now fitted into my day a heck of
a lot of sleep, in fact, which I think is being
pregnant at 40. But yeah, it's a busy life and
it's very strange now to take a step back and
have to reel some things in. Yeah, well, that's
my thing is like, okay, so you hear about all
these like corporate people. I have a side gig
and it's like I make jewelry or whatever it is.
The crochet stuff. The crochet stuff. You know,
I do baking, right? Your side gig is big. So
yes and no. Okay, the great thing about it is
I can pick and choose how big it is. Like most
side gigs, I think. You know, it's no different
in some ways to any other hobby. you get out
what you put in. So, you know, I had a really
big show a week before last, last week, in fact.
And leading up to that, I was getting so much
stage time. I was doing shows every night, sometimes
more than one at the weekends. And now I'm not
leading up to a big show. I'm kind of able to
take my foot off the accelerator a little bit,
chill out. um nonetheless fitted in a heck of
a lot of naps either way yeah yeah important
again tips for pregnancy in your 40 heck of a
lot of naps okay that's just the realness luckily
i will say you have the advantage that your daughter
is a bit older aka not a toddler yes because
you did it with little with little littles god
why i don't know how because even just parenting
a 12 year old who needs very little from me she
wants less than she even needs she would be glad
if i left her the heck alone um even that it's
still you still have to be present and things
like that so it's definitely a challenge but
I do not know how you or anybody that did it
with little kids did it yeah I mean to be honest
I had a two -year -old and then I had twins and
I just thought fucking hell like oh my gosh I
honestly I cried because I just thought I don't
know how I'm gonna do this my first one was hard
enough how the fuck am I going to get through
with twins? But I got through and it's so much
easier now. And here we are, seven years old.
Yeah, we just, we blacked that all out and arrived
at where we are today. Yeah, so, you know. I
actually have a question for you. Sure. How do
you get into comedy? Like, how does that even
become a thing? Good call. So I always wanted
to do it, right? I always, it was just been a
thing. I grew up in the UK, very, you know, there's
a lot of comedy, particularly around the 80s
and 90s in the UK. Always wanted to do it and
never did it. I actually went to... university
to study acting because they had part of the
syllabus on comedy writing then I can't remember
because it was a thousand years ago something
changed the professor left whatever and it was
a lot of like Shakespeare and finding your inner
tree and stuff and that was not for me and I
just I just wanted to like be on TV and be funny
I didn't really want to do any more than that
and I changed courses went on to do history ended
up in the corporate world and then never got
into comedy always loved it got divorced. It's
like the age old story, got divorced. But it
wasn't that that was the trigger. It was then
another breakup. And I was in the UK and I was
like, what am I going to do when I get back?
I was living in Singapore, gone back to like
lick my wounds in the UK because I was so sad.
I was like, what am I going to do when I get
back to Singapore to focus my mind on something
else? I was like, maybe this is my moment to
do stand up. And I went to a gig as a guy called
Ratchman Blake. He comes to Singapore quite a
lot. And he I went to see his gig and he brought
a local comic on stage and I went up to him after
and was like could I please come on stage at
your next gig because he was doing a series over
a few weeks like the audacity and not just that
but the ridiculousness that he said yes he's
like yeah come back in like two weeks and do
it and I did it and I was hooked and I remain
hooked I'm absolutely addicted so you were like
a cold call comic you just walked up to that
dude yeah Well, you don't ask, you don't get.
It was bizarre in retrospect. Did you give him
a joke? Like, did you come on and like, you know,
make him a little... I don't think I did anything.
I think I was just like... Well, I've committed,
so I have to do it. So I did it. But it was,
in retrospect, a massive chance that he took
because he had a lot of ticket holders that are
paid. So thanks to him for giving me that chance.
And has it been an ever since thing? So literally
ever since that you have been doing comedy? Ever
since. Then I found the local open mic scene.
Then you go from there to the bigger shows and
then to the international festivals and international
shows, etc. So it's just like grown. I mean,
you have to put the work in. And I just, I clearly
just love the sound of my own voice, as my mother
would say about me. Again, I'm listening to the
chorus of the UK voices around me. So yeah, that's
how it happened. So when I saw you last. I was
very pregnant. If you remember, very pregnant.
In fact, a fun fact, it was, I think the gig
was like February 8th and I gave birth on February
21st. I was like, it was so, I remember sitting
on that stool and like having to like readjust
and like I stood for a bit and I was like, God,
this is life. But. At that gig, I remember you
were the only female comic. Everyone else was
male. Is the stereotype true that females in
comedy are obviously far fewer and the unfortunate
stereotype less funny? And what is it like building
your voice in an industry that is not necessarily
welcoming of the females? So it's a... Difficult
one to answer because we have here in Singapore
a great female comedy scene. And it tends to
be female and LGBTQ plus kind of on the same
kind of scene. And it's amazing. The best audience
is so supportive. So, you know, if you go to
those shows, that's where you find all these
wonderful female comics. What is harder is infiltrating
that more male based side of things, which is,
I suppose, the more mainstream. And for me, I
don't. know if it was necessarily a conscious
choice but I wanted to be everywhere I was like
okay I'm gonna do the the female gigs which I
still do and I love them um sorry that's probably
a horrible way to phrase it you know what I mean
I'm gonna do the women's shows but I also wanted
to be part of as I say the more mainstream club
scene so and I put myself in spaces where I don't
know I don't want to say I wasn't welcome because
these guys are all my friends now but I wasn't
I didn't fit in, you know, and I used to go do
all the hangs, all the after show drinks and
things like that. And they used to be, I'm sure,
think, what is this lady doing? I was older for
the most part, you know, expat, a woman. And,
you know, I've just kept pushing and pushing
because I really wanted to be in all those spaces.
And I think that's a really important message.
Put yourself in the spaces that you know you
belong. Don't wait for somebody to invite you.
Well, this was my thing where I was like. I don't
want to be there and be resented and feel like,
yeah, maybe I don't really deserve to be here.
If I, and I hope I'm not resented. I really hope,
and I love the guys that I work with. But if
there is ever that feeling, I want to feel like,
no, I deserve this. I worked for this and I really
have put in the hours. And, you know, there are
times when I step back from comedy for various
life reasons and I'm not putting in the hours.
And then those spots should go to other people.
You know, I don't expect to be able to show up
after three months and be like, hey, so I'm back.
So being in Singapore, Being female and being
expat, do people get your jokes here? Because
British humour is really different, you know?
I mean, I don't know, do Americans get British
humour? I mean, I think you're the least American
American I know. Oh, I think I'm proud of that.
Yeah, let's go with that. Yes, thank you. But,
you know, British humour is a bit different,
you know, so do people get it here? I think so.
I think I probably had to subconsciously switch
up my humour without realising I've done it,
but it's very international here, which is great.
You know, I find... sometimes people come from
overseas they go on stage they haven't adapted
at all from what they would do at home yeah so
that's kind of you know it gets a little bit
trickier for the audience so you know there is
a specific way to talk to audiences in all different
places around the world i mean australia those
are super tough audiences um singapore's less
hard for me i've been here nearly a decade my
husband's singaporean like it's i'm it's a bit
more familiar yeah I'm seeing Pete Davidson tonight
over at the Star Vista. Fantastic. And I'm wondering
how he's going to be received because I feel
like his comedy is pretty American. I actually
don't know who he is. Do you want to tell you
a funny story? Tell me the story, girl. You can
maybe take this out if you need to. I was offered
a ticket to it, which was very nice, but I had
to turn it down because I couldn't be sure if
it was an aisle seat. And being pregnant, I get
up and go to the bathroom so often. I wish you
would have told me. I would have booked you an
aisle seat. I booked you a long million years
ago. yeah when I found out about it but that's
I thought you had a Pete Davidson story for us
and I was like oh did you date him I wish big
fan but no that's so yeah so I will miss it but
it's well hope he doesn't bomb wish the best
for that dude but speaking of bombing can you
share I know this is probably every comedian's
least favorite question it's like tell us about
the time you sucked the most but can you so here's
the thing so two examples the first is I did
do a show that is run by a local comic here with
a very local audience and even though I've been
doing comedy in Singapore my whole career for
some reason it didn't hit. I think I was on early
in the night and I just knew nothing I said was
hitting. And I actually had an audience member
message me after and say, hey, I saw you at this
show. I just want to know, you actually didn't
bomb as much as you thought you did. I think
people were maybe a bit intimidated by you or
they didn't get your accent or something. That's
really nice of that person to do that. And it
was reasonably recent, so it wasn't that early
in my career. However, by the same token, People
bomb all the time. You can be the best comic
ever. I have been, as I said, practicing for
this show that I was doing last week and doing
a lot of shows and a lot of the same material
that was tweaking and tweaking. And I did like
five shows in a row and the energy was up here
and then I did the same stuff and the energy
was down. Comedy will take you out like that.
You're like, I'm the best comic in the world.
Oh my God, everybody hates me. So Amanda, you
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TFF today. How does it make you feel then, like,
in that situation? Like, you know, you've gone
from everyone's laughing, energy's great, and
then to suddenly bombing, and then you're like,
oh, fuck. Like, how does that affect your confidence?
Yeah, how do you bounce back from that? Yeah.
So there's a really well -known comic here, Rishi
Budhrani, who's very famous here, and he says
you have the 11 o 'clock rule. If you did...
great you have until 11 o 'clock the next day
to feel amazing about yourself and if you did
badly you have until 11 o 'clock to let feel
crap and then let it go so i try and channel
that that is such a good rule for life by the
way yeah i think about this in terms of weight
lifting like i do everything in terms of weight
lifting and it's like you have a terrible lift
you feel like a sack of shit you didn't hit any
you know anything close to your normal and you're
like i suck Let it go by 11. Let it go by 11.
We can do that with food as well. You know, like
you ate something crap. Don't worry about it.
It's by tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, darn it. I
wish I hadn't eaten that. And then beep, beep,
beep, beep, beep. Reset. It's such a good motto.
I love it. Yeah. That is such a great motto.
Okay. So you have bombed. I have. You were generous
to share that with us. Have you ever said something
on stage that made the audience uncomfortable?
Like you knew that they were like bristling from
it. I would say no. However, I think comedy is
supposed to be a bit uncomfortable. I think it
is. Now that said, I'm at a disadvantage, if
you want to call it that, as a guest in this
country where I will not push those limits because
I've seen comics do it and I kind of love to
see comics do it. And I've watched the audience
go like this. it's always the comedians laughing
their heads off and the audience are like, whoa.
So I actually wish I had a bit more liberty to
make people feel uncomfortable, but I don't push
it. Have you ever done comedy and stand up in
the UK? Yeah, I have. And so would you do then
different jokes and like really sort of push
the boundaries there a bit more than you do here?
I think, yes, again, more on a subconscious level.
I'm a bit looser. I'm not thinking so much about
it. But when I sit in an audience in the UK,
I notice it. I'm like, oh, wow, this is it just
feels different. It feels more. maybe more daring
I think and that's not to say we don't have amazing
daring comedians here but in the UK it's just
more established and I also think people are
just a bit more straight talkers like they'll
just say it and I think also like Amanda said
at the start you know it is about telling the
truth but it's like how far can you push it absolutely
how like how far have you pushed it everything
i'd say is the truth apart i have one joke about
sleeping with my uber driver i never did but
it comes from truth from being drunk in a taxi
in the uk and apparently the uber driver ended
up with my phone number to be the next day i
don't even remember giving so it kind of comes
from somewhere but it's not true but everything
else i do it comes really from truth But, you
know, again, I try to I don't push the boundaries
too much because I am a guest here and I'm also
a mom and I have a corporate job. So there's
a lot of things that keep me very aware of what
I say. How much mom humor, marriage humor do
you use? Like how much do you use your family
in your in your gig? A lot. So I I used to do
pretty much a lot of dating stuff. My whole thing
was single mom dating. And then when I got asked
to headline this show last week, I was like,
well, I haven't had enough time to write pregnancy
stuff, so I can't do that. What on earth am I
going to say? And I was like, no, but wait, I've
got, you know, I've been a mum for years. You
know, that hasn't changed. I've got all the mum
stuff. I've been a daughter. I've got stuff about
my mum. Sorry, mum, if you see this. So actually
it turned out I had plenty. Because I'm still
the same person. Yeah. What does your daughter
think then of your jokes? Like, does she think,
oh, fucking hell, mum goes again. Obviously,
she's 12, so she's not saying fucking hell. Or
she might be. She might be. Not to my face. Yeah,
not to my face. She kind of likes it, I think.
I say to her sometimes, do you wish you had a
normal mummy? But I don't think she does. She's
funny. So she does make it into my jokes. And
I usually tell her what the jokes are that she
makes it into. Does she find them funny? Yes,
she does. That's true. with kindness. There's
a series of books by one of the former writers
from The Simpsons, and I can't remember which
writer, so apologies, but it's called, the series
is My Mom is a Whatever, and insert weird, so
My Mom is a Mermaid. And my dad is a unicorn.
These are the two that my kids love. And really,
I think it's a story about exactly what you're
talking about. It's about, you know, my mom is
in an unexpected profession. My dad is potentially,
you know, a gay parent. And like, what is that?
You know, like, what is that? How kids can relate
to. I mean, Tyler, there's something you need
to know. But yeah, it's. It's interesting because
I think there is it is different to have a parent
that has a very nontraditional side gig or main
gig, by the way. Yeah. In terms of which which
leads me to kind of a crazy question is like,
how has your comedy. evolved as your personal
life has changed quite a bit I mean it as I said
like I not as much as I thought it would I guess
and maybe that's on me for not putting in as
much into new writing I couldn't write about
pregnancy because I was superstitious right when
I was at the beginning of my pregnancy I didn't
want to go on stage and talk about it so I was
like what am I going to talk about on stage but
it was taking the stuff that I talked about before
that was dating and single mothering and updating
it all to how does that look from the perspective
of someone that's now married yeah you know i
talk about um you know i used to talk about living
with a housemate and spoiler alert the housemate
is my daughter now i talk about my husband having
to move in with me and my housemate so you know
like everything just gets a bit more updated
yeah Yeah, so it does evolve with me for sure.
It's got cleaner, my comedy. As I've stepped
out of the Tinder dating world, I would say it's
got cleaner. If your kids wanted to be comedians,
as their main gig, so they were like, listen,
this is what I'm going for, what would you say?
I mean, I would support it. I think I would be
worried for them. Because it is a tough gig and,
you know, it's very few people make it big. I
would suggest they did it on the side, you know.
But who am I to, you know, I wish I'd done it
full time earlier. And the fact that, again,
you said you wanted to be in comedy kind of forever.
Like it's something that you thought about even
before college. And then once you had the chance,
you jumped at it. How about women who feel like
this, I've missed the chance for this type of
thing? Because you mentioned you're older in
the group that you kind of run with. Again, only
female, expat female, but just the age thing
alone where they're like, oh, I always wanted
to do this, but now I'm too old. What advice
would you give those women? You just simply aren't.
I mean, there is no boundaries to these things
unless it's something you're going to do that
has an actual age limit attached. There's no
bad time to get into it. And if anything, for
comedy particularly, you're older, you're wiser.
That's probably not just comedy, right? For life,
you're older, you're wiser, you have eons more
experience. This is the time. This is the time
to do it. Not, you know, not the opposite. Yeah.
And if I may offer, I feel that way about pregnancy.
Like, thank God I wasn't pregnant younger than
I was. Things would not have been figured out
so well. There's definitely a big difference
to me. I was 27, 28 when I was pregnant last
time. And 40 this time is definitely different.
Yeah. What are the differences that you know?
I mean, obviously being older, but like meaning
literally like what are the specific differences?
I mean, I do think a lot of pregnancy symptoms
are just an extension of being older. You know,
all the things that come with being older, the
aches, the pains, the digestive problems. It's
just that. Amplified. Yes. I think I am mentally
much more stable than I was. I mean, I had horrible
mental health in my first pregnancy. Awful. And
this time around, I mean. The first trimester,
I was a horrid human being, as my husband would
tell you. As most people are. But my mental health
in general is great and I'm happy and I'm calmer.
I can enjoy it more. So I would say doing it
at 40 is easier in some ways, except energy wise.
Yeah. Hence the naps. All the naps. Hence the
many naps. So were you a funny kid growing up?
So one of the things I feel like tends to happen
with some people when they're, funny is actually
they they're kind of almost hiding something
they're hiding behind something do you feel like
that was you or you I honestly just think I like
telling jokes and maybe I've got some deep -rooted
stuff that I really need to see a therapist about
but it's really deep -rooted because you don't
even know yeah I was just yeah I was a funny
kid I always acted I always loved doing anything
comedic when I was doing acting I did that from
like two years old so it's always been in me
but I don't necessarily think it comes from trauma
all the time although I say that and then I look
at my jokes I'm like oh there's some trauma in
there a little dash of trauma just to keep it
interesting but you know it makes it a bit funny
yeah we all have trauma we all just challenge
it we channel it different ways yeah You mentioned
that energy and kind of symptoms are two of the
big challenges to being pregnant in your 40s.
And I think that's actually a really great segue
into one of our favorite segments of the week,
which is Fuel Your 40s featuring The Meat Club.
So our sponsors, The Meat Club, have given us
a question for you. And it's basically, what
is your pre -show protein forward meal that helps
sustain your energy as a comic while pregnant?
Well, pregnant, so I'm eating a lot of eggs,
which is not really meat forward. Yeah, protein
forward though, for sure. Protein forward, but
yeah, a lot of eggs, I would say. You know, I
was prior to pregnancy eating a lot of chicken
breast. Now I eat chicken breast, but it's 900
different things with it. But yeah, I'm starting
to eat a lot of beef in my house at the moment,
which is... which is good because, you know,
the more protein, the more full. And I cannot
be hungry on stage. Can you imagine your stomach
growling? Because it happens to us. We used to
record in the studio and then you hear this like
in the background. Yeah, it is really, it's really
distracting. And so definitely again, chicken,
eggs, beef, you can get it all at the meat club
with our code TFF20 for $20 off. So all great
tips. What is a universal truth about motherhood?
that you think could be its own stand -up special.
Like, this is something we all get. I think,
and maybe it will come for you a bit later, and
Jasmine, I don't know how old your kids are.
Ten and... Oh, so you'll get this. The best thing
about being a parent is being able to be embarrassing.
Yes. Oh, I can't wait. I can't wait and you know
it. The best. It's the most fun. And I mean,
at 12, it's great because she's still got this
constant look of annoyance. And yeah, that's
my favorite thing to do. Oh, I really, I always
say that. I have said this on air and I'll say
it. And one day you can play this back for me.
I cannot wait for my kids to be preteens and
teens because I really, that's my time to shine.
That's when my sarcasm and my absolute lack of
boundaries around embarrassment will just come
to a... beautiful fruition and i can't wait to
tell my kids they're assholes yeah like no joke
i cannot like show them how dumb their decisions
are yeah so great yesterday actually i got burnt
by my seven -year -old yesterday he was having
a piano lesson and um i walked in and the teacher
was like oh do you want to just sit here for
his performance kind of make him feel like you
know he's having a real performance He did it.
And I was like, oh, clapping. Oh, that was excellent.
He was like, yes, I know that was excellent.
But then the piano teacher commented and said,
oh, your left hand was a little bit too loud.
And he goes, okay, mommy, rate me out of 10.
I said, I think it was an eight. And he, his
face just dropped. And I said, I'm only giving
you an eight because, you know, your teacher
said your left hand was a bit loud. So you should
work on that and you can do a little bit better.
And you can improve. He goes, well, mommy, I
think your cooking needs to improve. I was like,
whoa, shit burns. Wow. Seven year old. That is
a, that is a serious comment. I did not see that
coming. I was like, wow. And cooking is my thing.
So I was like, cute ass. But anyway, I couldn't
say that to him. Not long though. You can say,
sometimes I say, my daughter will tell me a story
and sometimes I go, that was really boring. See,
I can't wait to burn my kids. My kids wouldn't
even get that. You know, they would just like
babble away. All right, so this is our fun feature
called Hot or Hype. Okay. So I'm going to present
you with some kind of issues or stereotypes or,
you know, hot topics. You tell me if you think
legit, it's hot, or not so much it's hype. And
you can tell us why. This is not a one -word
answer thing. All right. Pretty girls can't be
funny. Oh, hype? Absolutely not. There is no
correlation whatsoever to your looks and your
comedy. None. Exactly. Look at you, right? That's
why I brought it up because I was like, I feel
like that's a fourth thing you didn't mention.
Like, you know, being female, being, you know,
over 40, but also like being conventionally pretty.
Like, does that, does that hit you sometimes?
It was, I mean, it's less of a thing in pregnancy.
It's a lot easier to get laughs being pregnant,
which is so weird. That is kind of funny. I could
see that though. Yeah, just because everything
just seems funnier. What do they call it? The
embodied humor, like Chris Farley humor, you
know, where it's like he's, funny just to watch
him yeah i don't know what it is people are more
relaxed i would sometimes go on stage very dolled
up i went through a phase of basically dressing
like a dominatrix in leather pants leather boots
and everything out and things like that and it
didn't always get a great response on stage i
wonder like i wonder if that made people uncomfortable
yeah And now I'm very much, so the way I'm dressed
today is now how I dress on stage. This is the
stage look. This is the stage look. And I mean,
at the moment it's everyday look. But yes, because
for exactly that reason, because otherwise it's
not well received. I mean, imagine being pregnant
and dressed like a dominatrix. How do you say
dominatrix? That would be interesting. You know
what I might find that funny? That would be sweaty.
Yeah, leather boots in Singapore is already like
a real stretch. It's a real stretch. Okay, hotter
hype. The second baby, and again, you might not
realize this, the second pregnancy is easier
than the first. I'm going to say hot. I agree
with it. It is easier, maybe not physically,
but mentally. And mentally how? Because you kind
of have more of an idea what's coming. Although
mine was 12 years ago. So statute of limitations.
I think you've seen success in pregnancy. You
know that it can hopefully result in something
good. And you don't have that same worry of this
is unimaginable. How can this possibly have a
baby at the end of it? Yeah, there is something
to be said for familiarity in any, like, process.
Yes, absolutely. Obviously, I think I'm the outlier
here because I went from really wanting to be
pregnant with my first to feeling pregnant too
quickly, I felt, with twins, two boys, because
I already had a son, and I felt like I was just
like, ugh. fuck you know like the second pregnant
and then obviously just being double the size
I was like yeah I found it much harder second
time around mentally and physically I honestly
cannot fathom that different like just the having
the two babies situation two placentas the whole
I mean no yours were identical well no they're
not identical okay I mean they're not I know
everyone thinks that they're not okay fun fact
guys did not know that um no not identical but
my two placentas merged together to become one
big one You had a super placenta? I had it. Have
you heard of this? I've never heard of it. See,
I don't know shit about shit. Now I'm jealous
of your giant placenta. Yeah, yeah, right? It's
like, oh, wow, that must have been a heavy placenta.
I'm a giant placenta. Double placenta. All right,
gal, hot or hype? Mom brain, legitimate neurological
condition. Oh, hot. I am utterly useless. Sometimes
on really basic things. I'm more focused on some
things, but I also forgot my best friend's name.
This week while I was trying to tell a story
about her, I'm not saying which best friend it
was. But funny that you say that because isn't
there evidence to show that some parts of the
brain get bigger and others get smaller? Like
the neuroplasticity during pregnancy has something
to do with survival. So like your senses and
awareness get heightened, but then some of your
logical cognitive gets shrunk. I don't know.
Again, thank you for neurologists that are shivering
hearing me talk about this, but it's true. Oh,
well, that makes sense. I don't know. Just know
I'm more focused on some things. I do a bit better
at work, I think. I'm sharper. But I've also
got someone's name wrong on stage the other day.
I guess the audience wouldn't know, so it's not.
Have you ever forgotten a joke, though? midway
saying it no because my theory is I wrote it
so I can't really forget it because it's my own
words if that makes sense yeah you know if it's
your own words you can't really forget you can
mess it up and then be like oh I forgot to not
say that word which then ruins the punchline
yes but but forgetting the actual content no
yeah have you done that have you messed up a
joke yeah occasionally very very occasionally
yeah but I feel like probably one of the skills
of a pro comic is like like getting around it
like because you're the only one who realizes
you messed it up right but you just tell the
audience they love to know you messed up okay
hot or hype and you've touched on a bit kids
and family are the best tropes for comedians
oh i would say hot because it's so universal
you know if you don't have kids you at least
have been a kid you know a kid you have parents
you know something so yes a hundred percent are
there other things that you find are universally
funny dating for a lot of it that's true even
i find that i've not dated and like i don't even
know yeah i mean i mean probably i don't even
know if i've dated yeah but i still find it funny
you have not missed anything uh dating i mean
i think the very stereotypical man woman how
what's the difference between men and women's
situation it's all it is all trope but it's you
know you have to be universal yeah When I think
about your life, so if you write down you on
paper, what I know about you, right? So it's
like you left the UK to come to Singapore. You
went back to the UK after divorce. You said licked
your wounds, came back to Singapore, single -mommed
it for a while, met a new guy. So like all these
kind of things. How is that giving you a perspective
on like having it all figured out? Because what
I'm trying to get at is that you don't have a
clean, linear life. You have an up and down sort
of pathway. And I think women think by this age,
by 40, I should have exactly what I had set out
at 25. You probably have nothing similar to that.
I probably have now what I would have wanted
at 18, but it's taken me 22 years to get here,
I would say. So I have the comedy career. You
know, I have a career that I love. And I have
a really hot husband. So that's what I always
tell people. 18 -year -old me would be really
proud of that. Yeah, well, and 42 -year -old
me stupidly thought that Sasha's husband was
younger than her. Yes! Not, not, and again, that's
not... It's because he looks young. By the way,
you are his favorite person on the planet for
that. Every time he asked me, what are you doing
today? And I was like, I'm going to record the
podcast. He's like giggling to himself. I was
like, oh, shut up. A funny story about that.
I also have a Singaporean husband. And when we
were interviewing our very first helper. Well,
our only helper. We went through the entire interview.
She was super attentive, super professional.
And at the end, we said, you know, do you have
any questions for us? And up to this point, she
had not said anything except answer the things
we had. So do you have any questions for us?
And she said, just one. How old is sir? And I
genuinely think she was concerned that he could
not employ her. I literally was like, I mean,
it was such a genuine, she was like, how old
is sir? And I was like, oh. And at that time,
God, what was he? 20, 20. It started with a two.
Okay, so let's just all settle down. She thought
she was going to have to look after him as well.
Pretty much, pretty much. Which, I mean, was
she wrong? I mean, probably not. She was not.
Sherry Tyler, I mean, I don't know you like that.
Yeah, but again, probably there's more taking
care in one side of the partnership. Anywho,
all right, gal. So you've given us, first of
all, a lot of laughs, which is exactly what I
was hoping on this episode. But secondly, we
would like to know a bit more about your 40s
formula. So when you give advice to women, and
again, you've just entered the age group, but
you've done a lot of living. OK, you've been
through divorce, again, single mom, some of these
things that I think women in their 40s would
think were traumatically impassable to get through.
Yeah. What's your advice for women in their 40s
that really want to thrive? I would say energy
wise, quality over quantity is my thing. So don't
spread yourself too thin. I used to do it. Choose
where you have to put your energy. Choose where
you want to put your energy. and put it there
and you will be so much happier because I was
a people pleaser I wanted to spread myself across
whoever needed me not anymore now I just spend
my time doing what I want to do with the people
I want to do it with this is welcome to the no
shits given decade absolutely I'm so horribly
unsociable sometimes now compared to I used to
be the biggest extrovert and now I'm like yeah
yeah you know I'm pretty hard to to get time
with but I mean pregnancy is part of that yeah
but still like you said dropping the people pleasing
I think is something you know we I still know
women in their 50s struggling with that so the
fact that you have nailed that girl energy up
people pleasing down yes absolutely thank you
so much for being with us today we so appreciate
it Sasha thanks He's like, you've got to get
that off immediately. I introduced a Filipino
comedian on stage the other day and he did not
live in the Philippines and was not from the
Philippines. And it was too late by then. There
was no re -recording. I was like, fuck it. You're
from the Philippines now. What does it mean to
be Filipino today?