Today we’d like to introduce you to Angelina Martin.
Hi Angelina, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a stand-up comedian here in Austin. I’m originally from Ojai, California, a small hippie town near the beach, where I took writing workshops at The Ojai Playwrights Conference and took classes and put on staged readings of poems and monologues with my friends at Kim Maxwell Studio. I moved here from San Francisco in 2014 at the age of 19, after dropping out of college. I watched the movie Whip It one time and decided to move to Austin to pursue comedy and become a roller derby girl. I went to one roller skating class that I was thought was open to adults but apparently “all ages” just means kids so I gave up on that short-lived dream and focused on comedy instead. I started taking improv classes at 18 or so in San Francisco and again at 20 at here in Austin at the Hideout Theatre and did my first open mic at age 21. At first, it was difficult to make myself keep going- despite being told I was funny since childhood, I was bombing my ass off at these open mics and I didn’t feel welcomed by the boys club environment at a lot of these mics. I felt in the way and a lot of the sexist and homophobic material that was performed made me feel even more like I wasn’t supposed to be there. When I started going to see actual shows however and saw talented comedians crush and realized that the more bigoted comics I saw at mics weren’t getting booked, I was inspired to work harder to improve.
Within a year, I had become getting regularly booked on shows. I fell deeply in love this art form and determined to become the best I could be. At the same time, I was performing improv and sketch regularly, in addition to working full-time as a server. In 2018, comedians Allison O’Conor and Devon Walker asked me to take over as the host for their weekly stand-up show Buzzkill at The Buzz Mill which I run to this day with my friend Carlton Wilcoxson, an accomplished comedian and host of the popular show Stoned vs. Drunk vs. Sober at The Ballroom at Spiderhouse. Originally started in 2013 by comedian Katie Pengra, Buzzkill has become known for being a fun and free way to see hilarious local talents and out-of-town headliners. I’m very proud to host one of the longest-running weekly comedy shows in Austin and being there every Wednesday is always a highlight of my week! Also in 2018, I created the improv show Slide in the DMs that I still host every month at Fallout Theater. It’s a delightfully flirtatious show where I ask comedians and other local celebrities on to share the strangest and sauciest messages they’ve ever received and a rotating cast of talented improvisers make comedy gold out of it. I very openly cast mostly women and non-binary performers on that show and as a result, it has a femme-heavy atmosphere that I think is unique in the comedy scene. I also do stand-up on the show and to my delight, it has sold out more months than it hasn’t. I’m honored to co-produce this with my dear friends and collaborators Ashlee Pryor-Pitluk and Alex Walker. In 2019, my friend Anita Nichole and I asked LA comedians Bri Pruitt and Sara June if we could start an Austin sister show to their witchy comedy show High Priestess and they said yes! The show offers tarot readings and a diverse and entertaining stand-up show and we have turned it into a full moon house party, adding a local vendors market and a musical act after the comedy. After taking a 2-year pandemic-imposed hiatus, we brought the show back in May of this year and it has amassed a loyal following, especially among queer Austinites. As a proud pansexual and genderfluid person, it warms my heart have been as embraced by the queer community here in Austin as I have. In 2021, I also began co-hosting the Cackle Shack open mic at Lustre Pearl East with my dear comedy buddy Brandi Davis, who accompanied me to my first open mic in 2016 after we started taking improv classes together.
In addition to the shows that I host and produce, I have been fortunate enough to perform at venues all around town, especially at my favorite clubs Capital City Comedy Club and The Velveeta Room. Stand-up has allowed me to open for some of my favorite comedians such as Todd Barry, Joe Mande, Mary Lynn Rajskub, and Maggie Maye and meet some very kind legends such as Martha Kelly, Mac Blake, and Avery Moore. I even had the opportunity to recently record a set for Comedy Central Stand-Up Featuring which I believe will be released online in the fall or winter of this year. I had my first headlining weekend at a comedy club recently at The Velveeta Room which felt surreal and exciting. This year, I also had the good fortune to make it to the finals of Cap City Comedy Club’s Funniest Person in Austin which has been a dream of mine since I started comedy. I’m thrilled about the success that I’ve had in stand-up and I’m also eager to act more in the future- I’ve had the privilege of being in several short films including in Andrew Neylon’s Dirty Laundry, which just made its film festival premiere at SF Queer Film Fest. I am also the live shows producer for ColdTowne Theater and I love to write poetry and have been able to be published in a handful of literary journals. I look forward to continuing to be creative in whichever way inspires me in the future!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
There has been plenty of struggle along the way. My parents have been very supportive of me (after I told my mom I was dropping out of college to pursue comedy, she googled and printed out a. list of nearby open mics and offered to drive me to them) but as a locksmith and a social worker respectively, their support has been primarily emotional. The struggle to survive by working full-time service jobs while still finding the willpower, energy, and motivation to pursue my creative dreams has been exhausting. It’s caused me to live paycheck to paycheck while I made endless financial sacrifices so I could tell jokes as much as humanly possible. Without a college degree, my day job options have been service focused and I’ve found myself working every job under the sun- from nanny to dishwasher to busboy to host to a server to barista to stripper to haberdasher to producer to barista again- and in that order too. It’s been hard on my body and spirit sometimes to have such physical jobs that require so much customer interaction but my goal of soon becoming a full-time comedian feels more in reach every day so I’ll make some more lattes for now. As far as struggles outside of that, I have encountered some misogyny from being introduced onstage with comments about my genitals to being told, “I’ve never seen you perform but I booked you because apparently, I need a girl on the show,” but it became a lot easier to bare once I made a solid group of comedian friends who made me realize there is no shortage of women and queer comics here and they have made me feel at home. Knowing my community has my back motivates me to work harder than the few bigoted comedians that I occasionally run into and cultivate inclusive atmospheres that I craved so desperately when I was starting out.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I pride myself on doing a lot of things- I act, I produce, I write, I have directed an episode of a web series, I make zines, I perform improv and sketch comedy, but first and foremost, I am a stand-up comedian. I love connecting with audiences by playing an amped of version of myself- one who is more confident, vulnerable, and raunchy. In my stand-up, I tend to consistently touch on the topics that I think about the most- gender, sexuality/dating, substance use/abuse and toying with sobriety, mental health struggles, and unpacking my Christian upbringing and all of the repercussions of that, and my experience working at strip clubs. I like to exorcise my shame on stage. Everything I have felt embarrassed by or have made to feel small and dirty about by others, I like to tell jokes about it to take back my power. After being raised religious, some of the biggest sources of my shame have been sexual experiences, my lifelong affliction with depression, my constant dance with poverty, and the fact that I used to be a stripper- by talking about those topics on stage that I used to want to keep hidden at all costs, I feel like I am honoring those parts of my life that have been uncomfortable but fundamental to my development. I want to be the most authentic and honest version of myself on and off stage and by sharing what I feel scared to tell people about and making light of it makes me feel like stronger and more in control of my life. And I hope I make some of the audience feel comforted by knowing that they are not alone in their own struggles. I’m proud to make people laugh by talking about some of the worst things that have happened to me.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
When I started comedy, I thought a lot of people were rude because they didn’t introduce themselves to me right away. I quickly learned that people at open mics constantly come and go like traffic AND a lot of comedians are shy and anxious, so it’s unlikely that established comedians are going to roll out the red carpet for every new face that pops up but if you show up consistently and are forward and friendly, most people will reflect your energy! My advice for finding mentors and connections is to just try to make friends. The bar for professionalism in comedy is a bit different than in other industries so I feel like I’ve made the bulk of my business connections by just goofing around with people. I try to approach every comedian whether they’re famous or a new open micer with a similar energy and that energy is: “Oh cool, we both love the same thing! You deserve to be here and so do I. Let’s see what else we have in common!” I don’t know if that’s good advice for a comedian or a camp counselor but it’s what I’m going keep doing.
Pricing:
- $18 online/$23 at the door (tickets for Slide in the DMs every 1st Saturday of the month at 10pm at Fallout Theater)
- $20 online/$25 at the door (tickets for High Priestess ATX every full moon)
- $12 online/$15 at the door to see my new stand-up show at The Ballroom at Spiderhouse on Tuesday, October 25th at 8pm
- $free (Buzzkill at The Buzz Mill on Town Creek Drive every Wednesday at 9pm)
- $free (Cackle Shack open mic at Lustre Pearl East every Monday at 8:30pm)
Contact Info:
- Website: linktr.ee/angelinamartin
- Instagram: @angelinajmartin
- Facebook: @AngelinaMartinComedy
- Twitter: @angelinajmartin
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaXnc04bxDbzW5zl-Rckbyw
- Other: linktr.ee/angelinamartin
Image Credits
Javier Gonzalez Leslie Lewis Lisa Hause Ashley Sharma Andrew Neylon
