"This show is so engrossing, I realise I’ve barely made any notes." Nione Meakin reviews Canadian newcomer Mae Martin.
Canadian stand-up Mae Martin takes a while to warm up but is a delight once she gets into her stride. Wide-eyed and hilariously neurotic, she worries about everything from being cool to the likelihood of a zombie apocalypse. She’s 25 – ‘an age when you should know whether or not you like olives’ – and frets about lacking purpose in the same breath as imagining how great it would be to date a centaur.
In reflective mode, Martin looks back at her life so far and plots her awkward development into the person she’s become; the flatmates, the heartbreak and her ongoing fears that American rapper Kesha might actually be the antichrist. Her natural warmth and self-deprecation is beguiling – how could you fail to love someone who describes their gangly pubescent self as "a gay spidermonkey"? – and despite her vocal coach’s damning indictment, she has a great voice.
She could perhaps make more of this; guitar songs on cyberstalking and teenage summer camp crushes prove rewarding detours from the stand-up, but are regrettably brief and delivered with an abashed lack of fanfare.
It’s all fascinating, funny stuff that's reminiscent of Josie Long a few years ago – the mixture of intelligence and shy geekiness maybe, or the taste for honesty that sees Martin admit to reading erotic Harry Potter fan fiction.
This show is so engrossing, I realise I’ve barely made any notes which, while unhelpful for me, is a sure sign of a good comedian. Behind the nervy demeanour, Martin is a deceptively skilled stand-up with an enviable ability to turn a rag-bag of random thoughts into original and refreshing material.
Look out for this one – she’s a treat.
Mae Martin: Mae Day is at Just The Tonic at the Caves at 4pm until 26th August
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