Glaswegian cussing, crowd work extraordinaire MARTHA MCBRIER is the Queen of the Free Fringe. Her show at this year’s festival launches a campaign against the perennial HAPPINESS BULLY in her hard-hitting and hilarious show about suicide, country music and not smiling just because the office idiot told you to cheer up. She talks to Female First about working class heroes and her favourite comedian, Billy Connolly.
Martha McBrier by Steve Ullathorne
In 1974, me and four of my siblings were in Tom Dunnachie Children’s Home in Coatbridge. It was every bit as grim as you’d expect (well, it was the seventies). One of the care staff kindly, if slightly inappropriately, played us a Billy Connolly LP. We listened to ‘The Crucifixion’ routine, and the carer explained “some people think it’s against God, but they are Catholics”. This demonstrated where Coatbridge stood in the then quite rampant religious divide in the West of Scotland.
It was wonderful to hear stories about people I could recognise in my neighbourhood, saying phrases I understood and in a broad Glaswegian accent. It was joyous. I was mesmerised. It was imprinted on my brain there and then.
Growing up loving new ‘alternative’ comedy, I adored Jenny Éclair, Hattie Hayridge and Linda Smith. They were all so different. As a young comic, I modelled myself on all of them as I experimented with my own style. I think there’s still a little of all of their influence in my comedy, even now. Although, strangely, I have never been compared to any female comics… only to men.
I also loved sitcoms, but what was missing for me was a working-class voice. Sure, I enjoyed ‘Butterflies’ and ‘The Good Life’ but I could not relate to any of it: not the characters, not the lifestyle, not the twee world or the tidy houses. Stand-up comedy was also a bit London, innit, so it was a challenge for us Northern types to manoeuvre a way into the industry. Glaswegian at the time, was the wrong type of ‘classy.’
Then along came Victoria Wood and Caroline Aherne. Eureka! ‘The Royle Family,’ and ‘Dinner Ladies’. Beautifully crafted and achingly realistic. This is what I had been waiting for. Both of these women drew from their own experiences and brought life to the most wonderful, relatable characters with their brutally droll dialogue, that still makes me laugh now. I wish so much that Aherne and Wood were both still here. They were the biggest influence on my writing and gave me the courage to create strong, feisty female characters.
Nowadays I am still drawn to the storytellers: Mike Birbiglia, and my favourite comedian at the moment - Kerry Godliman. As my style has evolved from improvising to storytelling, I am in awe of the art form and of those who do it well.
I saw Billy Connolly live for the first time in 2016 and witnessed two hours of comedy genius. His performance was less animated, and he was perceivably frail with Parkinson’s and prostate cancer, but he was (as he ever was) a brilliantly funny storyteller. I wept with laughter and following the show was struck by something Connolly had said about his comedy in the 1980’s:“when you leave the show, you will say how you laughed, and when you’re asked ‘what were his routines about’, you won’t be able to remember.” I laughed even more. That is why Billy Connolly is my all-time favourite comedian.
Martha McBrier’s ‘Happiness Bully’ is at Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 1st –25th August). Tickets and more information: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/martha-mcbrier-happiness-bully
Tagged in Edinburgh Festival Fringe