Trish Faranda said comedian Arj Barker’s decision to ask her to leave his Sunday night show was “intimidating and humiliating”, and she has done several media interviews to tell her side of the story.
However, when Faranda appeared on The Project with 7-month-old daughter Clara, viewers noted the irony when host Sarah Harris made one “tone-deaf” comment to the mum.
When little Clara started fussing during the interview with the Project hosts, Harris said to Faranda of the little one, “Maybe she can go to Dad just for a quick second ... a mum with three kids, I reckon you need to laugh,” while her co-host Waleed Aly laughed nervously.
Faranda then apologised and handed her baby off screen before explaining she had been “prepared to leave” the comedy show if her baby’s crying was “impacting other people”.
“The fact that he [Barker] was on the mic - it felt intimidating - I was breastfeeding at the time, so you do feel more vulnerable,” she went on.
The Project’s social channels disabled comments after the interview, as the video brought an influx of comments mocking Harris for her remarks.
One viewer noted: “There’s something really really funny about The Project host asking for the baby to leave for being disruptive during the interview and then going right back to empathising with the mother about being asked to take her baby out during a comedy show for being disruptive.”
Another pointed out, “Hilarious. The Project takes aim at comedian Arj Barker because he asked a mother/baby to leave & avoid disrupting a live show. At the 3 min mark Sarah Harris kicks the same baby off the air to avoid disrupting the show. You can’t make this up.”
However, others applauded the TV hosts, with one saying: “Well done The Project and Sarah Harris for showing how distracting a whining baby can be when you’re trying to entertain people.”
Comedian Arj Barker has been criticised for saying a 7-month-old baby in the audience was "disrupting" his show. Photo / Getty Images
It comes after Faranda told 7News the experience had been “intimidating and humiliating”. She said her child’s crying was no louder than “if someone had a cough during the show”.
“If he had just stopped the show, moved the microphone away and said to me, ‘Hey, actually I’m finding it a bit distracting. Do you mind leaving?’, I wouldn’t have minded,” she said.
Faranda was breastfeeding at the time, though Barker later said he didn’t know that because the stage lights made it hard to see the crowd. When she left the venue, about 10 others went with her in solidarity amid heckling from the crowd.
She told A Current Affair baby Clara was fussing when she decided to give her a “quick feed”.
“Arj Barker noticed her and he made some jokes and it was okay, but at the end of that little segment, he said ‘I speak baby and it said take me outside’, and then he repeated that, and everybody was laughing, so everybody thought that was funny,” she said, adding, “I was not quite sure he was joking about that last bit.”
Faranda queried why a comedy show was “not a place for a baby... if they’re not being disruptive”.
“Is it any different to a heckler, do they boot out hecklers if they say something? Comedians put up with a lot, don’t they? I don’t feel like we were anywhere near that level.”
Melbourne mum Trish Faranda was forced to leave a comedy show when her 7-month-old daughter Clara started crying. Photo / The Project
Barker issued a statement on Monday morning that doubled down on his actions, delivering a scathing rebuttal of attendees’ experiences and outlining how the baby was “disrupting” his performance.
“The show is strictly age 15-plus as clearly stated on the ticket site. She had an infant with her. The baby was disrupting my performance,” Barker said.
“On behalf of the other 700 people who paid to see the gig, I politely told her the baby couldn’t stay. She thought I was kidding, which made the exchange a bit awkward.
“I felt bad about the whole situation and stated this on the night more than once. I offered her a refund. Theatre staff should not have seated a baby in my audience in the first place.”
