Joe Pasquale: My real joy in life growing up was making my mum laugh
The comedian, 61, said that his mother also had a ‘weak bladder’ and would joke about putting newspaper underneath herself before he began talking.
Joe Pasquale says that his “real joy in life” while growing up was making his mother laugh, as she suffered from depression.
The comedian, 61, said that his mother also had a “weak bladder” and would joke about putting newspaper underneath herself before he began talking.
Speaking to Kate Thornton on her podcast White Wine Question Time, Pasquale recalled his religious upbring by his staunchly Catholic father, as well as a near death experience.
“I used to make my mum laugh as a kid growing up and that was my real joy in life because she suffered from depression,” he said.
“As she got older she had a weak bladder… I’d go round to see her and she would say, ‘Don’t you say a word, don’t say nothing yet… I’ve got to put a newspaper under me’.
“And she would literally wet herself… there was no Tena ladies in those days and before I could say anything, because I’d literally go round there just trying to make her laugh and it was a great thing that I did, for me personally and for her.
“But she couldn’t cope with it.”
Pasquale also recalled being made to go to confession at the age of five years old and making up things to say.
“My dad was a staunch Catholic. My mum was Church of England so she wasn’t a churchgoer as such,” he said.
“But Dad was. I went to a Catholic school and I remember having to go to confession at five years old… what had I done at five years old that I had to confess?
“So I’d go in there and I’d say, ‘I threw a stone at Vincent Garvey today’. And I hadn’t really… So then a week later, I could go back and say I’d lied last week because I’d lied in the confession.”
During the episode Pasquale also revealed he had recently almost impaled himself on a prop moose head following a show.
The comedian said he had refused to go to A&E until the morning, adding: “I had seven stitches and I’ve got a great big hole in the back of my leg, but if I’d gone straight down on my belly, I’d be dead.”
White Wine Question Time is available to listen to on all podcast platforms.
