A Canadian comedian once told me that when you first go out there to imagine that you're actually just going back out for the encore, that all the clapping is because they've already seen you do your thing and they want to see more. You can train your mind to do anything.

Mae Martin

I have the armour of self-worth that comes from having open-minded parents who felt there was nothing wrong with me.

Mae Martin

Don't edit yourself too much. Don't be afraid of looking stupid, 'cool' is so rarely funny I think. And just do it! Do as many gigs as you possibly can, and watch as many gigs as you possibly can. You'll get the rhythm of it in your head and make lovely friends.

Mae Martin

I want people to see how universal experiences of intimacy are, regardless of demographic or label or whatever.

Mae Martin

Making someone laugh is a good way to get their defences down so that they might then be open to new ideas, especially when they're laughing at some common ground they relate to. Comedy's always been an amazing tool for social change.

Mae Martin

I don't have much time for the 'sad clown' thing. It's only associated with comedians because of the disparity between feeling like that and what we do for a living. I bet there are loads of sad bankers and sad dentists. We just don't notice because they aren't bringing that much joy to the world.

Mae Martin

I can't tell you how much money I waste on plaid shirts, whisky that I hate the taste of, and Moleskine notebooks that I never write in.

Mae Martin

Talking about darker stuff from my life was definitely very cathartic and at times confronting.

Mae Martin

I'd love to write more observational comedy but the stuff people seem to respond to is the most personal so it's snowballed from there.

Mae Martin

As a child I wanted to be a kind of hybrid of Ferris Beuller, Ace Ventura, Bette Midler, and Lucille Ball.

Mae Martin

If I could go back and tell 13-year-old self that I would be on screen with Lisa Kudrow, spending my birthday on a ghost train in Blackpool with her, I would have been beside myself.

Mae Martin

I'm attracted to funny people with nice hands who smell good and are kind to people.

Mae Martin

I'm so unqualified to be a family therapist.

Mae Martin

If you bite and chew the peel of a banana, then eat the fruit of the banana itself, you will find that it tastes like a tomato. I swear.

Mae Martin

If I had met Bette Midler, I wouldn't be answering these questions right now because I'd have spontaneously combusted and gone to heaven.

Mae Martin

I love being gut-wrenchingly honest.

Mae Martin

You don't need a murder on a Martian colony. What is more dramatic than love? There's highs and lows, especially in your twenties, when it completely takes you over.

Mae Martin

Love is universal, luckily, but also in general I've found that whenever I've been the most specific in my stand-up, revealing some weird neurosis or quirk I'm ashamed of, that's what people relate to the most. Specificity is key!

Mae Martin

Watching comedy for the first time I felt absolutely on fire. I just couldn't believe there was this environment where people were being applauded for the weirdest things about themselves.

Mae Martin

It was a slow process of getting closer and closer to my actual personality on stage. And now there's very little separation. I definitely find the more open and vulnerable I am, the more people enjoy it.

Mae Martin

If you're unhappy, you can't make anything.

Mae Martin