A mom's Instagram monologues about being a parent and caregiver to a husband with cancer have gone viral
At first glance, Lisa Marie Riley's life seems anything but funny. Her husband has cancer, and is on his fourth round of chemo, with more bad days than good. Riley took leave from her job as a court stenographer to look after their kids, twin 17-year-old girls and a 3-year-old boy.
But through it all — and in the midst of a pandemic — Riley has kept her sense of humor, and helped other people laugh too.
"I wasn't trying to be funny, I was just trying to be myself," Riley told Insider. "I'm not a comedian."
Riley's Instagram page, One Funny Lisa Marie (formerly One Funny Mommy), has amassed nearly 200,000 followers since it started in 2019.
"I think they connected with the fact that I just don't give a sh-t," Riley said. "A lot of people are thinking it but they won't say it. I'm saying it."
The idea for an Instagram page came from Riley's sister.
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Riley, who was born and raised in Brooklyn and now lives in Staten Island, always had a big New York personality and sense of humor. When her husband was diagnosed with cancer, her sister thought starting an Instagram account might give Riley an outlet.
Riley soon began started delivering monologues about her daily life. She covers the little things, like repairing a hole in her husband's pants or discussing how a blazer can make her feel like a whole new woman, as well as the bigger issues, like updates on husband's health. Before long, strangers started following along.
Throughout the pandemic and her husband's cancer battle, the page has grown into a community. A Christmas post about her husband's fourth round of chemo drew over 3,000 comments.
"These people have helped me more than I've helped them," Riley said. At the end of a long day, she sometimes climbs into bed and reads the kind comments from strangers in Ireland, Canada, Australia and around the United States.
"It's such a great, great feeling that there's still such a nice community," she said. Her followers have connected not just with her, but with each other as well, she said.
Riley's approach to comedy is blunt, poking fun at the day-to-day life of a mom and caregiver. She stays away from mean-spirited jokes, but doesn't worry too much about being politically correct.
"People are always going to get offended by something," she said.
Despite her many fans, at home Riley is still just mom — especially to her two 17-year-olds.
"They don't find me cool or anything like that," she said. "I've always been so embarrassing to them. It's not gonna to change."
Although her husband was the catalyst for the Instagram page, he prefers to stay off-camera.
Once, Riley dreamed of being a weather girl. That aspiration has come and gone, but if someone offered her a talk-show host position today she'd be sprinting out the door of her family home, she said. For now, however, being known as One Funny Lisa Marie is enough fun.
"I'm flattered that people find it funny, that it has become what it is," she said. "There's a lot of great people and great opportunity."
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