Jo Piazza Knows Moms Could Pull Off a Heist

Author, podcaster, influencer! Jo Piazza returns to Parenting Is a Joke in the middle of a whirlwind tour for The Parisian Heist, discovering that the greatest luxury of author life isn't glamorous hotels but eating alone at Cracker Barrel, ordering room-service ice cream in a robe, and having nobody ask for a snack or an iPad charger. As Ophira Eisenberg and Jo compare life with a 10-year-old versus a nine-, six-, and three-year-old, they swap stories about a preschooler refusing to wear clothes to a fancy family dinner, settling for "parenting at 60%," and why every ambitious parent needs to stop whispering about having help and start saying it out loud. Their conversation moves easily from raising creative kids—who remake Jurassic Park, shoot stop-motion LEGO dinosaur films, and critique outdated '80s movie jokes—to Jo's meticulous writing process, explaining how she drafts dual timelines straight through before separating and rebuilding them, researches museums across Paris and Amsterdam, and even listens to Gwyneth Paltrow read her manuscript aloud. Along the way they explore the overlooked brilliance of Jo van Gogh, the real mechanics of art heists, why moms might make the best thieves because heists require planning and patience more than action-movie stunts, and how Jo's marriage began with spotting a promising "project" on a reporting trip to the Galápagos. The episode circles back to the small freedoms working parents crave, ending on Jo's perfect solo-tour ritual: eating a chocolate sundae in a hotel robe while watching The Silence of the Lambs instead of discussing tomorrow's family schedule.

📍July Shows are in NYC, Montreal for Just for Laughs Festival

Follow Jo Piazza: https://www.instagram.com/jopiazzaauthor

Check out her new book The Parisian Heist: https://www.jopiazza.com/#about-section

See Ophira LIVE: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/events/

Check out my NEW Comedy Special “I Used to Be Nicer” streaming right now exclusively on Veeps https://veeps.com/ophiraeisenberg or listen to the album https://open.spotify.com/album/1rHqPoBYc78gzMnCrCFoZy

SUBSCRIBE so you never miss O thing: https://www.ophiraeisenberg.com/sign-up

Follow PIAJ:

https://www.instagram.com/parentingisajoke/

https://parentingisajoke.substack.com/

Follow Ophira:

https://www.instagram.com/ophirae/

https://www.facebook.com/OphiraEisenberg/

https://www.tiktok.com/@ophiranyc

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices