More than mom jokes: the duo behind the video series 'imomsohard' take the stage in N.J.
July 14, 2017
By Natalie Pompilio  
For NJ Advance Media

Super models and Hollywood actresses aside, few women thrill to bathing suit season, much less being filmed wearing a suit, much less knowing that almost 20 million people have seen your best side, worst side and, basically, all sides. 
And yet that's exactly what the two women behind the YouTube/Facebook phenomena imomsohard did recently, trying on multiple suits in various styles with awkward cut-outs. They analyzed and laughed at their flaws, like flesh that looked like Pillsbury Crescent Rolls coming out of a tube and a suit that gave the wearer four distinct butt cheeks. 
That honesty, that ability to laugh at themselves and their "Every Mom" personas have madeJen Smedley and Kristin Hensley and their YouTube video series Internet sensations. Since launching around Mother's Day 2016, millions of people have watched and laughed as the pair discuss weird parent worries (among them anthrax the disease, Anthrax the band and asps, the Egyptian snakes); what moms really do on Instagram (Ogle actor Jason Momoa); and drink a lot of Mimosas(Champagne and orange juice).
The pair, both L.A.-based comedians,  are taking their show on the road this summer. They'll stop twice in the Garden State: at Bergen PAC on July 16 and at theCount Basie Theatre on July 17 and promise a show a bit more raunchy than their PG-rated series.

While their bathing suit video is currently their most successful video, they saw their popularity begin to rise right around their third episode, when they discussed hemorrhoids.   
"I never thought I'd say thank you to hemorrhoids," said Hensley, mother to Finn, 6, and Eleanor, 4. 
"I never thought I'd talk about them and have a million people see it," said Smedley, Dashiell, 4, and Delilah, 2.
The idea for the video series came about organically. Hensley, who became a mother before Smedley, would go to her friend with her parenting woes and receive an unexpected reaction.
"She'd come to me and say, 'This terrible thing happened' and she's waiting for me to console her and I'd burst out laughing," said Smedley, noting that now that both women had children, their conversations often dissolve into games of one one-upsmanship. "Here's what I did wrong. What did you do wrong?"
Said Hensley, "We have a 'Worse-Off.'"
It's that honesty, they believe, that have made their videos so popular. They talk about postpartum depression and bladder issues and the afore-mentioned hemorrhoids. While their videos have appeal beyond mothers, the pair imagine a new parent awake in the middle of the night. She's exhausted and stressed and she stumbles upon one of their videos. She finds herself laughing for the first time in day, finally realizing hers are a shared struggle.
"The worst thing to do would be to show how to do things right," said Hensley, who added that she'd have nothing to contribute to a series about correctly raising children.
Smedley and Hensley know their message is getting out. In the swimsuit video, both woman start out wearing a typical male bathing costume-- long shorts and a t-shirt. They demonstrate how easy it is to move around in the suits.
"Nobody's ever died from a swimsuit," Smedley notes.  "I do feel like there were a  few episodes  of 'Baywatch,' where some cast members had a rough go of it  basically because they were almost, like, cut through the middle."
The duo try on suits with cut-outs on the side or in the middle; a bikini with an unflattering high waisted bottom; a one-piece that Hensley said she needed a guide to get into. "I'm going to look like I love cheese no matter what because I love cheese," Smedley said.
Hensley shuts down the fashion show. "Know what's really sexy? Joy. Let's just all go to the beach and be the same --"
"-- and have a good time," Smedley finished. 
The day the video posted, a woman posted a comment and photo of herselfs that reminded the pair why their silly videos are actually serious. She wrote, "I'm a 3XL and I'm going to the beach today because of what you ladies taught me."
 
Natalie Pompilio is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. She can be reached at nataliepompilio@yahoo.com.