Mae Martin: SAP ~ The Jester’s Privilege
You know that feeling of sitting down to have a conversation with somebody, and the other person says they have a good story to tell you, so you watch them go from topic to topic, anecdote to anecdote, all the while promising there’s a point to it all, only to get to the end and even they don’t seem to realize it’s the end?
…
Mae Martin has had an impressive career that hasn’t enjoyed a lot of mainstream popularity, at least in America. Their semi-autobiographical TV show “Feel Good” was hoarded by the British airwaves (which is quite, well, British of them), and in terms of stand-up, a medium they have partaken in since they were thirteen years old, there isn’t a lot on major streaming platforms with their work. However, with a few clips here and there, Martin and their awkward and somehow passionate demeanor shines through the masses, and from what I had seen, a full hour was something I was very excited for.
“SAP” begins, Martin emerges through artificial fir trees onstage, and begins the set with a few anecdotes, some of which happen in the forest or some kind of wilderness. Some of them were funny, some just charming, but clearly a physical theme had been established early. Got it. Then the material shifts into nostalgia and their personal journey through emotions and their rehab back when they were an addict. Okay, theme abandoned, temporarily, I assumed.
Here’s the thing about Martin’s storytelling: it doesn’t even feel like they are telling their experience. As funny as it is to watch someone stumble through a series of events, with tangents constantly coming up as roadblocks you can almost physically see, manifesting and obstructing their train of thought, Martin talks almost as if they are an outside perspective. They aren’t sharing themselves, they are making observational humor on certain parts of their life.
Anyways, the end of the show comes, and they conclude with a Buddhist parable about a man being chased by beasts, finding a tree branch to rest on before falling towards near certain doom, and finding golden sap at the end of the branch. The point was, in a world where giant, insurmountable beasts seem to be looming around every corner and overtop of the world, we must enjoy the sap when we find it in order to press on. A beautiful message to end on, even if the literal ending of the performance was them saying “Thank you for coming,” in a way like they had one more thing to say, and then bailed, you know? Like “Thank you for COMING…” and then they just trail off? You know what I’m talking about?
I like Mae Martin. As a person, they aren’t afraid to speak at least broadly about themselves and the real problems associated with it, and I admire that. I admire their career, and certain bits make me laugh even as they come up in my head now. I even admire what they went for here, tying in a wonderful message around storytelling and humor, it could have been really good. This review could have been really good. But with the disorganization, the charm that doesn’t quite turn the corner into hilarity, and a slightly less personal angle, it all just kind of turns out…
5/10
