Mae Martin

Mae Pearl Martin[1] (born 2 May 1987) is a Canadian comedian, actor, and screenwriter. They co-created, co-wrote and starred in the Channel 4/Netflix comedy series Feel Good. They received a nomination for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for their work on Feel Good.

Mae Martin
Mae Martin performing on stage in 2015
Born
Mae Pearl Martin

(1987-05-02) 2 May 1987
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Alma materThe Second City
Occupations
  • Comedian
  • actor
  • screenwriter
Relatives
Websitemaemartin.net

Early life

Mae Martin was born in Toronto on 2 May 1987,[2][3] the child of Canadian writer and teacher Wendy Martin[4] and the former actor and musician turned English food writer James Chatto.[5][3][6] Martin has one older brother.[3][4] They were baptised in a village on the Greek island of Corfu, where their family lived for several years.[7] James and Wendy were very open-minded and accepting,[6] ex-hippies, and comedy fans. The family home was filled with recordings of British and American comedy classics.[4]

Martin attended an all-girls school[8] in Toronto. Martin saw their first comedy show at age 11, began booking gigs as part of the comedy troupe The Young and the Useless at age 13, and dropped out of school to pursue comedy full time at 15.[6]

Career

Martin's career started in Canada at age 13, as part of the three-person comedy troupe The Young and the Useless.[6][9] They worked The Second City comedy club, both in the box office and as a stand-up comedian.[4]

At the age of 16, Martin was the youngest-ever nominee for the Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award.[10] Martin's work in Canada includes writing for the sketch comedy series Baroness von Sketch Show,[11] for which they are a two-time Canadian Screen Award winner for Best Writing in a Variety or Sketch Comedy Series.[12]

In 2011, Martin moved to London to enter the British comedy scene.[13] Their 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival show, titled Mae Martin: Us,[14] led to[15] the BBC Radio 4 series Mae Martin's Guide to 21st Century Sexuality.[16] Martin has appeared on the British television and radio programme The Now Show,[17] and has co-hosted GrownUpLand.[18]

In 2017 they debuted Dope, a show about addiction in all forms, at Edinburgh, which was shortlisted for the Edinburgh Comedy award.[19] The show refers to both recreational drugs as well as to dopamine, the brain chemical associated with compulsive behaviour, and drew on the work of Dr Gabor Maté, among other researchers.[20] Dope was modified into a half-hour Netflix comedy special, released in January 2019 as part of the Comedians of the World collection.[21]

In 2019, Martin released the YA book Can Everyone Please Calm Down? A Guide to 21st Century Sexuality.[22]

Martin co-created, wrote, and starred in the 2020 Channel 4 comedy series Feel Good alongside long-time collaborator Joe Hampson.[23][24] The second season was released in 2021.[25][26] The show tackles relationships, queerness, addiction, and privilege.[4] Lucy Mangan of the Guardian praised the series as "immaculately written" and "properly funny" in her review.[26]

In 2022, they appeared in LOL: Last One Laughing Canada.[27] Later that year, they appeared in the HBO Max series The Flight Attendant in a recurring role as Grace St. James.

In 2023 Martin appeared as a contestant and won[28] series 15 of Channel 4 comedy game show Taskmaster.

Personal life

Martin describes childhood obsessions with Bette Midler,[29] The Kids in the Hall,[30] Pee-wee Herman and the Rocky Horror Show, which they now point to as signs of an addictive personality.[4] At 11 years old, Martin was taken to a comedy club and fell in love with stand-up.[29] Martin and two friends became known as "the Groupies" for going to see Family Circus Maximus (a play from The Second City improv troupe) 160 times in a year.[4]

At age 14, Martin started drinking and taking drugs.[4] At 15, Martin dropped out of school to work full-time at the Second City comedy club. At 16, their parents kicked them out of the house,[20] and they stayed with comedian friends, who were in their 20s and 30s. Abusive relationships were normalised in the night-time scene: Martin says that "If you put a teenage girl in any industry like that, there's going to be people taking advantage."[4] Martin eventually went to rehabilitation.[15]

Martin came out publicly as non-binary in 2021.[31][32] Martin uses they/them pronouns.[33] They have dated both men and women, stating in April 2021 that they are bisexual after previously resisting labelling their sexuality.[3][31][34] In June 2021, Martin described themselves as "a queer person".[8] Martin shared that they had top surgery in late 2021.[22]

Filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes
2001 Bagatelle Grace Short film
Television
Year Title Role Notes
2003 Cream of Comedy N/A TV special; writer only
2012 Upstaged Mae Television short
2014 Sketch My Life N/A Writer only
2016–2019 Baroness von Sketch Show Employee Episode: "It Satisfies on a Very Basic Level"; also writer/story editor – 29 episodes
2017 Uncle Imogen 2 episodes
2018 Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier Themself 4 episodes; writer on episode: "Jon Richardson"
2019 Comedians of the World Themself Episode: "Mae Martin"; also writer and producer
2020–2021 Feel Good Mae 12 episodes; also creator and writer – 6 episodes
2021 Richard Osman's House of Games Themself 5 episodes – Season 4
2022 LOL: Last One Laughing Themself Competitor; Canadian version
The Flight Attendant Grace St. James 7 episodes
Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration Themself
2023 Taskmaster Themself Season 15
Mae Martin: SAP N/A Netflix Comedy Special

References
  1. Horne, Alex. "20 Questions with MAE MARTIN Series 15 Taskmaster". Taskmaster. YouTube. Event occurs at 1:00–1:20. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  2. Alexander, Ella (10 March 2020). "Meet Mae Martin: The comedian redefining the modern love story". Harper's Bazaar. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  3. Dessau, Bruce (8 August 2017). "Mae Martin: 'I like to do shows that open a dialogue'". www.standard.co.uk. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  4. "Feel Good's Mae Martin: 'If you put a teenage girl in any industry, people will take advantage'". the Guardian. 5 July 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  5. "Feel Good is coming". Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  6. Smith, Dominic (26 April 2013). "Mae Martin". The Argus. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  7. Chatto, James (2005). The Greek for love : a memoir of Corfu. [Toronto]: Random House Canada. p. 314. ISBN 9780679313137.
  8. Martin, Mae (5 June 2021). "'I'm that candlestick!': Mae Martin on their unlikely cultural icons". the Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  9. "CBC leads Comedy Award Nominations". The Globe and Mail. 22 April 2009. Archived from the original on 2 November 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  10. Sumi, Glenn (6 November 2003). "Cream of Comedy 2003 nominees". NOW Toronto. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  11. Krauser, Emily (15 August 2017). "'Baroness von Sketch Show' Co-Creator Carolyn Taylor Finds the Funny in Life's Absurdities". ET Canada. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021.
  12. "Canadian Screen Awards 2017: Baroness von Sketch Show, Orphan Black big winners". CBC News, 8 March 2017.
  13. "Canadian comic Mae Martin on mining their past for hit Netflix series 'Feel Good'". thestar.com. 22 June 2021.
  14. Alexander, Ella (17 May 2016). "Mae Martin's Guide to 21st Century Sexuality". Glamour. Archived from the original on 2 November 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  15. Gilbey, Ryan (15 August 2017). "Edinburgh star Mae Martin: 'I had a breakup and noticed how similar it felt to getting off drugs'". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  16. Mae Martin (presenter) (12 October 2016). Mae Martin's Guide to 21st Century Sexuality. London: BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  17. "The Now Show". 48. Episode 1. London: BBC Radio 4. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  18. "GrownUpLand – GrownUpLand – BBC Radio 4". BBC. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  19. Logan, Brian (24 August 2017). "Mae Martin: Dope review – hair-raising comedy about romance and rehab". the Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  20. Wiseman, Eva (15 March 2020). "Mae Martin: 'It's enriching to share things you're ashamed of'". The Observer. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  21. Bennett, Steve. "Comedians Of The World: Mae Martin – Dope : Reviews 2019 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  22. "The formation of Mae Martin". British GQ. 6 June 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  23. Salam, Maya (24 May 2021). "Mae Martin Embraces Ambiguity in 'Feel Good,' and in Life". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  24. "BAFTA TV 2021: The Winners and Nominations for the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards and British Academy Television Craft Awards". BAFTA. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  25. @netflix (18 February 2020). "Mae Martin created and stars in Feel Good, a semi-autobiographical exploration of love, addiction, and sexuality that you really won't want to miss" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  26. Mangan, Lucy (18 March 2020). "Feel Good – Mae Martin's immaculate romcom will have you head over heels". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  27. David Friend, "Tom Green, Andrew Phung vie to be ‘last one laughing’ on Canadian reality competition". Toronto Star, January 12, 2022.
  28. Sarrubba, Stefania (1 June 2023). "Taskmaster finds its season 15 champion in bizarre finale". Digital Spy. Retrieved 8 June 2023. Tonight's (June 1) final episode saw the coveted golden head going to Mae Martin, who earned the precious trophy by finishing off with 174 points total.
  29. Wiseman, Eva (15 March 2020). "Mae Martin: 'It's enriching to share things you're ashamed of'". The Observer. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  30. Wilner, Norman (16 March 2020). "Canadian Mae Martin on her Netflix show, reworking bits of her life and her Kids in the Hall fandom". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  31. Milton, Josh (14 April 2021). "Feel Good comedian Mae Martin comes out as non-binary". PinkNews. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  32. "Guilty Feminist Podcast, episode 196". YouTube. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  33. Martin, Mae. "Mae Martin (hooraymae)". Instagram. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  34. Logan, Brian (10 November 2016). "Mae Martin's candid bid to make sexuality 'one less thing kids worry about'". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
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