“People’s Relationships to Their Moms is Always Deep”: Director Rachel Grady on the Comedy Central Doc Call Your Mother

The latest film from the Academy Award-nominated team of Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, Call Your Mother is a laugh-out-loud love letter to one of the most universally defining figures in all of our lives. (That would be our moms.) Executive produced by Caroline Hirsch, the force behind legendary comedy club Carolines on Broadway and the New York Comedy Festival, the doc airs on Comedy Central on May 10th (Mother’s Day, naturally).

Featuring a vast and eclectic array of interviews with famous funny folks — everyone from Awkwafina, to Tig Notaro, to Jim Gaffigan and Jo Koy discuss their mother’s influence on their work — interspersed with clips from mom-based stand-up routines, the film notably also goes in a deeper and more poignant direction. Bookended by a startlingly transparent Louie Anderson, whose mother is deceased, and featuring longer scenes of comics interacting with their moms (including Bridget Everett, David Spade, Roy Wood Jr., and even Norm Macdonald), Call Your Mother ultimately transforms into an unexpectedly sincere exhortation to — as Anderson himself urges directly to the camera — reach out to and celebrate those you love while you still can.

Filmmaker took the time to reach out to Rachel Grady, co-owner with Heidi Ewing of Loki Films, a week before the airdate to learn how the two turned a one-liner into a feature-length doc.

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.