Mae Martin Was ‘Nervous’ to Tour America as a ‘Canadian Trans Person’ in ‘the Current Climate,’ but Was Pleasantly Surprised (Exclusive)
Mae Martin Was ‘Nervous’ to Tour America as a ‘Canadian Trans Person’ in ‘the Current Climate,’ but Was Pleasantly Surprised (Exclusive)
Meredith WilshereSat, June 27, 2026 at 11:58 AM UTC
0
Mae MartinCredit: Saty+Pratha/Netflix -
Mae Martin says their first North American tour left them “pleasantly surprised” by the kindness and community they experienced
Fans gifted Martin unique trinkets like crystals and even a possum tooth during meet-and-greets, which they found meaningful
Martin says that comedy is more important now than ever since it helps "point out the absurdity of everything from the mundane to the massive systemic"
Mae Martin just finished their first North American tour, and despite initial nerves, they say it went off without a hitch.
The Canadian comedian, 39, who uses they/them pronouns, tells PEOPLE they were “excited and also a little nervous in the current climate to be a Canadian trans person going across America on a bus.”
They didn't know what to expect or how they would be received, but in the end, they were “pleasantly surprised by people” and “fell in love with America on the tour.”
“I met so many incredible people and woke up in a different city every morning, and made a point of finding all the weird esoteric tourist things in each city, and the audiences were incredible," Martin shares. "It felt very reassuring, actually, about how everybody just wants really to get together and have a good time and feel a sense of community and commonality and laugh."
Mae MartinCredit: Saty+Pratha/Netflix
After each show, the Wayward creator did a meet-and-greet with fans, who came bearing gifts after Martin had mentioned their love of trinkets on a podcast.
“I sort of ended up regretting that because I ended up having to ship back 12 boxes of strange oddities that people had given me. I feel like I have to open a museum because I don't want to throw them out because they're meaningful and they have a sort of magical power to them because people were giving me everything from crystals to a possum tooth that they'd harvested or a lucky penny they found when they were five,” Martin shares, calling the experience a “highlight and also a stressor.”
Dealing with increasing amounts of clutter added yet another layer of difficulty to their sleeping situation.
“I'd never slept on a bus before, and I really thought that was going to be no problem, and then I'd adjust, and I really did not adjust," they admit. "But I think that the exhaustion made it more fun in a way because it was satisfyingly grueling, and I was vaguely delirious for a lot of it. And sometimes that's when I have my most fun shows."
While Martin toured across the whole United States, they say visiting Boston was one of their favorite experiences.
Advertisement
“I'd never been, and that show was incredible. During the day, I went into this little store and I met a 102-year-old woman named Patricia Bartevian. I happened to stumble in, and then this woman told me her amazing life story," they share. "She used to be part of a double act in Hollywood with her sister and I've never met a 102-year-old woman. We talked for a long time and I bought a necklace from her and some of her honey that her bees make."
Along with starring on shows like Wayward and the British comedy reality TV challenge show Taskmaster, Martin also hosts the Handsome podcast alongside Tig Notaro and Fortune Feimster.
Martin notes that they can "usually guess" what fans will recognize them from, but the “nicest” thing is “walking around in the world and having someone yell, ‘Keep it handsome' or ‘Hi handsome!' Having a stranger just go, ‘Hi, handsome' just makes my day.”
Mae MartinCredit: HoorayMae/Instagram
Right now, they're working on new music and recording their special for Netflix. As a "deep comedy fan," they say the art form is more important now than ever.
“I really feel that there's an appetite for just pure silliness as this sort of respite from all the horrors of the world," Martin tells PEOPLE.
“Comedy gets your defenses down, and then you can make people think, and there must be a physiological thing, when people are laughing and relaxed, then they don't notice that their minds might be subtly being changed or expanded,” they add.
Martin says that “comedy is always helpful because the point of comedy is to point out the absurdity of everything from the mundane to the massive systemic.”
“It's always helpful because it encourages critical thinking.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
