Picket Fence Post

A few weeks ago, I posted a video from Lifetime’s web site, a comic short from its Mommy Madness series, featuring an at-home Las Vegas mom of two, Angela Hoover. I was so taken with the satire that I tracked Angela Hoover down and she fielded several of my questions about how she got started making these videos about the insanity of parenthood for a national network.

With a background in commercials and experience in stand-up, the Philadelphia-born Hoover has been a self-employed bookkeeper and was the host of Lifetime’s Mother’s Day Weekend Movie Marathon. Here’s an edited Q&A with Hoover:

Meredith O’Brien, Picket Fence Post: How did you get involved with Lifetime and how did the idea for these Mommy Madness video shorts come about?

Angela Hoover, Mommy Madness: My manager introduced me to producer Rosemond Cranner. We clicked right away. She then kept one of my demo tapes and vowed we would work together. I was very flattered but in L.A., things don’t always happen right away, so I sort of forgot about it, moved to Vegas and changed diapers. Well, two kids later, she came up with this idea of a real mom in the trenches with a comical twist. (Is there any other way?) We came up with some episode ideas, which she took to Lifetime and before I knew it, she was e-mailing me from her BlackBerry saying, “They want to do it!”

Apparently moving away from Hollywood and finger-painting with my children in Las Vegas brought me to my dreams faster than any type of action I could possibly take in tinsel town.

O’Brien: Who writes the scripts?

Hoover: It’s collaborative. Some I write. Some the producers write. Some we write together. And then, oftentimes, it’s improv.

O’Brien: What do you hope viewers will gain from watching them? What’s your intent , to satirize over-the-top parenting, to simply provide a laugh?

Hoover: To provide a relief to moms, making people laugh, specifically moms who really need it is very important. I wanted a place where moms, working or stay-at-home, could see a lighter side of motherhood, where we could collectively dump the perfect mom facade. Just because you give birth doesn’t mean you’re an instant mom. You were a whole other person before the baby, so you are learning as you go.

O’Brien: How would you describe your parenting style? Is it anything like what’s portrayed in the videos?

Hoover: Some of it is. Some of it is not. Obviously I would never forgo diapers to buy a bottle of wine like in the money episode. I currently have 486 diapers at home and only two bottles of wine. When I moved to Vegas, I hated it and I complained about it all the time. Because complaining always magically changes your situation. But after a while I realized, “Hey, I’m here, my children and I are about to burst into flames, why not make peace with the situation and get creative?” That’s how “It’s Getting Hot in Here” came about.

O’Brien: What do your kids think of the filming? What about your husband?

Hoover: When the crew is here, the kids are spoiled rotten. It’s toys and cupcakes and more toys. My husband is not particularly interested in being in front of the camera which is hilarious because when we go out, oftentimes, people mistake him for an actor.

O’Brien: What are your future plans, work-wise? Any chance of seeing more of Angela Hoover on Lifetime, either on its web site or its TV networks?

Hoover: I hope so. We’re in the beginning stages of putting together a mommy stand-up tour. It’s all so crazy. So the answer is yes, you will see me, but I don’t know where yet. Most likely at the grocery store.