Comedian Arj Barker Defends Decision To Kick Breastfeeding Mom Out Of His Show

An Australian mother says she was “pretty humiliated” after comedian Arj Barker threw her out of one of his live performances over the weekend — but Barker is defending his decision.

The American comic — who co-starred in “Flight of the Conchords” and is very popular in Australia — was on stage at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne on Saturday night as part of the city’s international comedy festival when he asked a breastfeeding audience member to leave because her baby was routinely making noises during his set.

The mother, Trish Faranda, told Australia radio station 3AW Melbourne that before she became a parent, she went to “lots” of Barker’s shows and “was trying to get back to enjoying something that I enjoyed before kids.”

So, when she bought tickets to his show, she “didn’t think much” of bringing her “generally happy baby” — a 7-month-old daughter named Clara — along because she “assumed that she wouldn’t be too much trouble.”

Faranda said she also made sure to sit close to an aisle so she could “make a quick exit if the baby got rowdy.”

“So, I was sitting there, and she gurgled a bit,” Faranda told 3AW Melbourne. “It was probably the equivalent if someone was coughing.”

She said that Barker noticed the baby’s noises pretty early on in his set and cracked a few jokes about the situation.

“At the end of this little skit he did of a little baby in the room, he sort of said, ‘I speak baby, and she said, “Take me outside.”’ And at that point, I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t think he was joking about that,’” Faranda said.

Shortly after this, her daughter made a “little noise” again, which prompted Barker to give Faranda the boot.

“I was actually breastfeeding while he came and stood in front of me, and then he was