Mae Martin’s Workshop
Mae Martin’s Workshop
by Joanna Orland
There’s something about Mae. Canadian comedian Mae Martin did not bring a prepared show to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe but instead is using this opportunity of having a month-long audience to workshop new material. Her WIP stories often focus on her family, in particular her mother. Some material is literally hot off the press as Mae read to us an Email her mother had just sent to her that morning regarding Mae’s insomnia. The letter did everything but put Mae’s mind to rest.
In addition to familial stories, Mae fills a bucket with audience suggestions which she pulls out at random and riffs off of. Mae is very good at improvisational stand-up as her personality shines through even more here than in her personal stories. And she is a charmer! Even actress Ellen Page has thought so which comes up in one of Mae’s hilarious stories of her past missed opportunities.
Mae Martin’s Workshop shows the huge potential that her future show will most definitely live up to. She is like an old pro at such a tender age. She belongs on the stage where she is perfectly at ease in her loveable awkwardness. She’s just great, and the fact that she can just get up there with nearly no material and be as funny and likable as she is, says it all.
