George Lewis strikes comedy gold imagining two toddlers chatting

A few years ago, George Lewis was driving back from performing in a comedy club when he realised he had to change his life.

- Amelia Nierenberg

BRIGHTON, England - A few years ago, George Lewis was driving back from performing in a comedy club when he realised he had to change his life.

He had played the same club several years earlier, also for just a few minutes and for little more than money for petrol. Both times, he did what he had to do. He showed up. He made the audience laugh.

Now, though, he was a parent. He needed a more stable income and his material felt tired. Yet, the thing that filled his days - looking after his children - was a no-go for stand-up, older comics told him: a sure way to get pigeonholed.

"It was like: 'Maybe when you have kids, don't mention that you've got kids,'" he said, recalling their earlier advice.

"Obviously," he continued, "now, I realise it's quite the opposite."

In the years since that night, Lewis, now 37, has become a bard of British parenting comedy. He is on his first tour as a headliner, and his shows keep selling out. His route to success began after the Covid-19 pandemic, when he began posting short online videos that gently mocked - and commiserated with - his fellow British millennial parents.

In some sketches, Lewis acts the harried grown-up. In one clip, he is trying to adhere to a nap schedule while driving. There is an unseen toddler in the back who must not be allowed to fall asleep.

As they approach home, he gets increasingly desperate.