Comedians and dads Phillip Kopczynski and Harry J. Riley team up for night of Bro Dads

As Phillip Kopczynski puts it, there’s a saying among comics: “Have kids and you’ll immediately have seven more minutes of material.”

With three children between them, Kopczynski and fellow comic Harry J. Riley have more than enough material for their standup comedy and storytelling show, Bro Dads.

Kopczynski and Riley began their careers in comedy when their children were young and have included various amounts of child-related material over the years.

The paired noticed similarities in their experiences as fathers and decided to put together a themed night.

“A lot of our material revolves around that — guys who had kids when they were in their early 20s,” Kopczynski said. “Yet our styles our considerably different so it still makes it interesting.”

The pair’s sets tend to include jokes about both their children and their experiences as fathers.

If he thinks a joke might be more teasing than playful, Kopczynski will discuss it with his sons first.

“I’ll be like ‘Are you OK with this? Say your friend finds this online,’” he said.

Riley, on the other hand, only tells his daughter his jokes after he gets offstage.

“I don’t think she would approve of what my approach to her is,” he said. “It’s not bad, but I do give details that she would probably be embarrassed (by). But if the joke is really good, I’ll tell her later. She’ll laugh then because she knows everybody else laughed, but I’m not going to tell her that joke beforehand because she’ll be like ‘Don’t tell that on stage.’”

Balancing children and comedy gives Kopczynski and Riley a different take on fatherhood.

“You travel a lot and you’re gone a lot on the weekends and evenings when you’re performing,” Kopczynski said. “A lot of people want to have that level of freedom so they wait quite a bit to have children. To be Harry’s and my age, we’re 35, 36, and to be dealing with preteens, teenagers, is a little unique.”

Both comedians think parents will enjoy the show not only because they have children and can relate to the material, but also because Kopczynski and Riley are more relatable than celebrities.

“People want to see ‘This guy tells jokes for a living, but when he gets home he still has to deal with the same things that I have to deal with… He has the same concerns that every other parent has,’” Riley said.

Though the pair stresses that audience members don’t have to have kids to have a good time.

“You know how when they advertise ‘Disney on Ice’ they make it seem like ‘You can only enjoy this if you have a kid with you’”? Riley said. “What if you just like ice skating? I want people to understand that if they come to the show, you’ll enjoy it. Just because the subject matter might lean to one side doesn’t mean that you’re not going to like the jokes.”