Mae Martin | Advocate Now

Martin recently told Sonia Baghdady of Advocate Now that they hoped to put forth positivity with their comedy, as current events have felt particularly daunting as of recent.

"I hope from this special that people feel a sense of positivity coming out of it, and feel uplifted in a way," Martin says. "In general, the show is about how we manage to stay, in any way, optimistic when there's this huge wall of bad news coming at us all the time. So, I hope that it manages to make people feel good and less alone."

Martin is nonbinary, and touches on LGBTQ+ topics frequently in SAP, including the recent waves of transphobia from lawmakers and public figures such as Dave Chappelle. Martin says that the representation they bring is important, but that they try not to let it weigh on them.

"I hope there's some young people out there who find it helpful, but you can't get too in your head about that stuff, otherwise you'll worry about representing everyone," they explain, adding, "It always means a lot when people come up to me and say that [my work] has helped them in any way. That's just a positive side effect of making something that you care about."

Fans were first moved by Martin's journey in their semi-autobiographical comedy series Feel Good, as their character, Mae, was open about their struggle to understand their identity. Martin portrayed a queer love story at its highest and lowest moments, something they say was not a conscious decision, but was significant nonetheless.

"I was just trying to write three dimensional characters," Martin says, continuing, "Often times queer characters have to be morally perfect ... I'm not interested in perfect characters. You want people who are selfish and confused and mess up sometimes — just like all of us."

For more interviews like these, watch Advocate Nowon The Advocate Channel.