Mae Martin is an absolute gem on the Free Fringe. Taking to the stage with an top-notch song choice, her sense of humour is somewhat self-deprecating but nonetheless her likeable persona shines through. She's got an excellent style of anecdote and it's hard not to fall for her dorky attitude towards liberality and identity.
The whole room is absolutely smitten.
Martin guides the audience through aspects of her home life growing up in Canada: from her liberal parents to her mother's anxious catchphrase, she takes a nice observational approach to slightly less conventional anecdotes. There's less of an emphasis on pun-filled punch lines, but when they do show up they're delivered with a mix of defeatist attitude and pride in the wordplay which really suits Martin's awkward and yet cool onstage persona. Whether she's waxing lyrical about the Goddess club (a club I now wish to join) or her childhood Christmas wishes, Martin has a great way of giving the audience an insight into her world.
The show takes on themes of identity and sexual identity in particular, and it's brilliant to see a comedian who can discuss queer and LGBTQA identity with a firm grounding in the definitions of these terms, and an open mind toward the discussion, all the while keeping it brilliantly funny. Martin's "Mae specifics" lead to an excellent set of jokes, and her sexuality is never made the butt of the joke.
Martin's stand-up isn't so much in your face as it is an excellent insight into her mind and the world around her. She'll deliver some gentler material and then throw in excellent punchlines, and her callbacks are well placed throughout the set. There's some lack of confidence in her persona but I don't see why as the whole room is absolutely smitten.
