Comedy duo #IMOMSOHARD returns to downtown Tucson on Friday, November 13, for a 7:30 p.m. performance at Fox Tucson Theatre. Kristin Hensley and Jen Smedley are bringing their Crashing Out Tour, whose subjects include parenting middle schoolers, aging parents and midlife changes.
The show draws on the life stage both performers are navigating: Hensley and Smedley each have two children in middle school, the Arizona Daily Star reports. Their third book, The Middle School Mom’s Survival Guide, was published October 20, 2026, according to Simon & Schuster; its title and categories connect it to motherhood and teenagers.
Tickets for the Fox show are listed as running from $24 to $67, per the Arizona Daily Star, with the performance expected to last between one hour and one hour 20 minutes, according to the duo's own ticket page. That same page notes refunds are available through a buyer's original point of purchase.
Where The Tour's Title Came From
Hensley told Duluth station WDIO that the tour title came from her children, who “keep saying we're crashing out all the time.” She said the phrase fits a period when her parents are difficult to manage, her children are in middle and high school, and she is navigating perimenopause and menopause. The duo has performed together for 10 years, WDIO reported.
That stretch of family chaos is exactly what the Fox Tucson Theatre show is built around, according to the Arizona Daily Star, with Hensley describing stories about middle-school kids and navigating difficult situations delivered in a spirit of encouragement rather than complaint. Smedley has said the live shows exist so women can laugh about shared challenges and feel less alone on stage together.
A wider caregiving picture
The family pressures reflected in the show are part of a broader caregiving pattern. AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving report that nearly 17 million family caregivers—29% of caregivers of an adult—are raising children while also caring for an adult with a complex medical condition or disability.
From A Facebook Video To Bestselling Books
#IMOMSOHARD's rise started small. Hensley and Smedley posted their first video to Facebook in 2016, and it pulled in 5 million views, according to the Arizona Daily Star. The pair say they decided to start touring after just two or three videos, and began hitting the road soon after those early posts went up.
In 2017, they took their Summer Break Tour out with their own kids in tow for about four weeks, bringing along Hensley's mother, Smedley's sister-in-law, and a tour manager, per the Daily Star. The duo's momentum carried into print: their debut book, #IMomSoHard, became a New York Times bestseller in 2019, they released the children's book The Meanest of Meanies in 2021, and now The Middle School Mom’s Survival Guide marks their third title. Simon & Schuster credits the pair with more than 2.1 million fans across social media and says their videos have drawn nearly 400 million views worldwide, though those figures come from the publisher itself.
Audience Bags, Penny Slots And A Tucson History
Tucson isn't new territory for the duo. They performed their Mom's Night Out Round 2 Tour at AVA at Casino del Sol in 2019, and their most recent prior Tucson stop came at Fox Tucson Theatre in 2023, according to the Arizona Daily Star.
The Crashing Out Tour is bringing back a question-and-answer segment along with the duo's signature bit: searching bags pulled from the audience live onstage. Past bag searches have turned up underwear, bikinis, marijuana edibles, and joints, the Daily Star reports, and Smedley has recalled one audience member who smuggled rum in breastfeeding bags. Smedley has also said she plays penny slots, a small detail that fits the casino-circuit chapter of the duo's touring history.
New Material For Middle School Years
Hensley has also drawn material straight from her own house, saying her son recently beat her in a sex-education quiz. She's framed that moment as proof that parents now have content available to help them talk with their kids about bodily changes and reproduction, a theme that threads through the new book as much as the live show.
Fox Tucson Theatre, located at 17 W. Congress St., hosts Friday's 7:30 p.m. performance. For context on how the tour is traveling beyond Arizona, a Tucson fall-events roundup from the Arizona Daily Star noted the Crashing Out Tour's November 13 Fox date as one of more than 30 comedy shows arriving in Tucson this fall.
