One of the small surprises of fatherhood is how impressed some people are by the slightest attempt at child care. Dads like me benefit from low expectations, one of many of the resonant premises sharply exploited by the stand-up comic Ali Wong in “Baby Cobra,” her hit Netflix special last year.

“It takes so little to be considered a great dad, and it also takes so little to be considered a bad mom,” she said, if in more colorful language.

It may be one of the reasons the best-known comedy about parenthood has been from the perspective of men. If a female comic built an act around grousing about her children the way Louis C. K. or Bill Cosby did, would audiences judge her more harshly? The question is not academic: Mom comedy is on the verge of a breakthrough.

Natasha Leggero is the latest in a series of high-profile comics recently doing jokes about pregnancy, tying it to a point despairing about current politics on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” this month: “This is not a good time to be sober,” she said. Last year, Tig Notaro did a late-night bit about her new twins. Chelsea Peretti, who recently gave birth, captioned an Instagram photo of herself pregnant: “Beyoncé Shmonce.” Ms. Wong, who shot her last special while seven months pregnant, has been touring a new show about motherhood. But before her hotly anticipated next special comes out in 2018, several comics are turning diapers and epidurals into blunt, confessional comedy.