Getting To Know... Mae Martin

We chanced upon the affable and very funny Canadian comic Mae Martin at the recent That Comedy Thing and liked her so much that we simply had to find out more about her:

Comedy is a constant source of stress for my parents. Comedy can be everything from a powerful tool of subversion to a whoopee cushion and both are equally as valuable. For me, comedy is a way for to confirm whether or not my opinions and feelings are shared by others - I present them to an audience and if they laugh instead of staring at me blankly, then I know I am not insane.

I'm inspired by eating large amounts of cheese before bed. It helps me to have profoundly memorable dreams. I recommend half a wheel of brie half-an-hour before sleeping. Seriously. It's an expensive habit but you will thank me when you are having dreams about Angelina Jolie fighting zombies every night. I am also inspired by tabloid magazines, other comics who I admire (I am a massive comedy nerd), and the impending apocalypse, which provides me with a sense of urgency that helps me to write new material.

Canada is more than twice as big as the UK but with half as many people. So there is a lot of space to paddle around lakes birdwatching and communing with nature. In the event of a global catastrophe, Canada is the place to be. We can form a new Utopian society in the Great Canadian North where the zombies, flooding, and civil unrest can't reach us.

Canada is also where I began doing comedy, 10 years ago, when I was about 13 and in the midst of a fairly tumultuous puberty. I don't know if British audiences would have indulged me when I was that age, I was lucky to be doing comedy in a country that doesn't heckle. Since moving to London I have fallen in love with British audiences, especially the way they participate, answering rhetorical questions...

My father grew up in the UK and instilled a great love of British comedy in me, so it is thrilling to be here.

If I could only listen to three albums for the rest of my life they would be... WHAT?! STOP IT! This is an impossible question. I have been sitting, beads of sweat slowly trickling down my face, staring at the computer screen for 45 minutes trying to narrow it down to three. As my top 6 albums are all by The Beatles this question comes down to which three Beatles albums I like best. In this moment I think Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road, and Let It Be, but ask me again in 15 minutes.

Runners up include Spice World, Dark Side of the Moon, John Lennon's Double Fantasy and an album which has yet to be recorded called Harry Potter: The Musical, starring the cast of all the Harry Potter films. They will sing, read excerpts from the novels and reenact my favourite scenes from the films.

It might surprise people to learn that the owl is the only bird to drop its upper eyelid to wink. All other birds raise their lower eyelids. What's up with that?!

Aside from comedy, I have no talents.

Find out more about Mae at her website.