Mom balances newborn baby and a fledgling career

Andrea Henry is competing in "Funniest Mom in America 3."

If everything had gone to plan, Andrea Henry would have spent the last few months getting to know her newborn daughter, Eve. Instead, she found herself bouncing from Boston to New York and Los Angeles for Nickelodeon's "Funniest Mom in America 3," which premieres Tuesday at 9 p.m.

When Henry auditioned in November, she was eight months pregnant and expected to give it her best shot and then take some time off from comedy. She got the message she had made the next step to New York while she was in the hospital having just given birth. "While I was happy to hear about the show, my mind was obviously elsewhere," she says.

Eve was barely a month old when Henry had to go to New York. That meant making it to the final 13 contestants in Los Angeles was bittersweet. "That was the first time I actually had to leave her for more than an hour or two. That was a little bit terrifying. But then I had to go to Los Angeles a week later, and that was even worse."

The level of competition at "Funniest Mom" was reassuring. As contestants weren't allowed to see one another perform until the Los Angeles portion of the show, Henry was worried she'd be going against noncomedians in a goofy reality show setting. "I was really pleased to see that all the other moms were serious comedians instead of just wacky moms trying to get on TV," she says.

Henry is finally getting a chance to rest this month. She may make a few unannounced appearances, but her schedule is mostly clear until a May 16 gig at the Comedy Studio. "Since the baby was born I've been going up about once a week on the weekends and I don't have anything booked until the end of April, and I'm kind of looking forward to that," she says.

The 30-something Henry is still a bit of a comedy infant herself. She started comedy just 2 1/2 years ago, taking an adult education course with the encouragement of her friends and husband. She found herself envying a character on a sitcom who wanted to become a comedian. "And then I thought, well, why can't I become a comic?" she says. "I saw the class and thought, this will be a unique experience, let's see where it goes."

Now she balances comedy and motherhood with a day job as a counselor at Massasoit Community College. She's also a screenwriter ("Worst Wedding Ever," which she co-wrote with Erin Judge, won the Feature Screenplay Award for comedy at the annual Woods Hole Film Festival on Cape Cod last year). Her husband, David, teaches math at Massasoit.

The couple, who were married in 1999 and live in Norwood , have supported each other through career changes, and David isn't afraid to take care of the kids (Eve is their first) while Andrea is working the clubs. "I didn't expect anything else," he says. "I just assumed that all husbands changed diapers and aren't afraid, but I guess the more old-school guys have more of a hands-off approach."

If being a comic, mother, counselor, and screenwriter stretches her a bit then, she doesn't mind. "Right now, I'm kind of living my ideal," she says. "I've got a day job I enjoy, I'm performing regularly, I've got some great writing partners. Of course, I'd love to make a lot of money doing it, and hopefully that will happen. But if it doesn't, I'm pretty content with what's going on right now."

Tomorrow's "New Faces of Urban Comedy" set for Roxbury's Hibernian Hall has been postponed. . . . Tommy Davidson plays the Comedy Connection tonight through Sunday . . . . Steve Sweeney plays the early show at the Connection tomorrow . . . . Chris Coxen's League of Characters is at the Boston Center for the Arts tomorrow .