Interview: Mae Martin

On November 3, ace Bristol comedy promoters Chuckle Busters bring the award-winning stand-up and star of R4’s Mae Martin’s Guide to 21st Century Sexuality to the Wardrobe Theatre. In her new show Dope, Mae “examines a lifetime of obsessions, fandom and addiction and shines a light on that one weird shrimp we all have in our brains that is happy to pursue short-term pleasure despite long-term consequences.”
Here’s Mae to tell us more.

“She examines a lifetime of obsessions, fandom and addiction”. Tell us more…?
Hmm. I don’t want to give too much away, but one thing that escalated from a casual interest to a full-blown obsession is COMEDY. I started watching comedy live when I was 13 – I would see about four or five shows a week, lurking around green room doors like a little creep trying to talk to my favourite comedians in Toronto, where I grew up. Then I started doing stand-up myself and got so into it that by 15 I had dropped out of school to do it full time. That’s one of the things I talk about in the show!

Pics: Ed Moore

There’s a steady stream of brilliant comics coming from Canada to the UK – Craig Campbell, Glenn Wool, Katherine Ryan, Tom Stade, yourself… why is this, do you think?
I think Canadians are well-suited to the UK because we share a) a Queen and b) a healthy dose of self-deprecation. This is a generalisation but I think we’re not particularly aggressive and we’re happy to make ourselves the butt of the joke, which is in more in line with British than American stand-up.

How do you find the comedy scene here? And it is pretty London-centric, or not so much?
I live in London but I’m so excited to get out on the road and play cities I haven’t played before. The scene in the UK is amazing, it’s so massive that there are cliques within cliques and trends within trends – tons of people making a living doing very different styles and things. It’s not just dominated by a few clubs, there are lots of ways to navigate the scene as a comedian. I really love it.

Tell us about the impetus behind, and the experience of making, Mae Martin’s Guide to 21st Century Sexuality.
That series was based on my 2015 show Us, which explored sexuality, looking at it through the lens of my own super-bohemian upbringing. I’ve always dated men and women, since I was a teen, and was lucky that my parents were hippies who made it a total non-issue. Since emerging from that cocoon, though, I’ve seen so many friends and girlfriends/boyfriends of mine struggle with coming out, with being forced to label their sexuality etcetera, that I wanted to present my thesis on sexuality. Which is: sexuality is a fluid, dynamic thing, it doesn’t need to be restricted or obscured by rigid labels, and everyone needs to chill out about it. I’m writing a book for teens right now which I’m hoping will be a chance to explore those issues further.

Mae Martin plays the Wardrobe Theatre on November 3. For more info, visit www.thewardrobetheatre.com/livetheatre/chucklebusters-mae-martin-dope
She’s also at the Rondo Theatre, Bath on November 4. For more info, visit www.rondotheatre.co.uk/event/mae-martin-dope

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