Whether you know her from her work on the Canadian comedy institution SCTV, her roles on films such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Wag The Dog and Hedwig And The Angry Inch, her multiple Tony Award winning roles on Broadway, or most recently for her role as the matriarch on the Canadian-American Global/NBC co-production Working The Engels, Andrea Martin is truly a beloved Canadian icon. But as she confesses in her just-released autobiography ‘Lady Parts,’ out through Harper Avenue, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, she was actually born in Portland, Maine. "I need to come clean and set the record straight," Martin opens, "I am not Canadian. I’m American... The fact is, I visited Toronto in 1970, fell in love with the city on the first day, and stayed. From that moment on, I was an honorary Canadian." (Lady Parts, pg.1, 2).

I’m sorry to have to contradict you Ms. Martin, but it must be stated that you are as Canadian as an apology and there is nothing "honorary" about your status as one of us. Being born upon our soil has never been a requirement to join our fold. All we ask is that you bring with you whatever uniqueness and talents you possess and share them with the rest of us, and for more than forty years you have benevolently done just that. For us fortunate Albertans, Martin will do so once again as she comes to Edmonton to close out the Jewish Family Services wonderful Legends of Broadway fundraiser series at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium on Sunday October 5th, 2014 with her wildly acclaimed one-woman show Final Days! Everything Must Go!

In anticipation of her return to Alberta, Martin spoke to GayCalgary Magazine from her home in New York city about her memories of living in Edmonton while working on SCTV, her brilliantly written autobiography, and her partiality for gay men.

GC:  I know you’ve appeared on many stages on Broadway and in Los Angeles.  When you were writing for the show SCTV you appeared on many stages here in Edmonton, so would you ever do an Edmonton Fringe show?

AM:  It appeals to me. I guess I really haven’t been asked to do one.  I don’t know about the Edmonton one but I know that Toronto and every major city has one.  I’m very familiar with the Edinburgh Fringe [festival].

GC:  Edmonton’s is the next biggest festival after Edinburgh’s.  There are quite a lot of really great works that get premiered and workshopped here.

AM:  Well someone better damn well ask me then! (laughs)

GC: In your autobiography, "LADY PARTS," you mention how watching Chita Rivera on stage made you dream of being an actor on Broadway.  You’re coming to Edmonton to close out the Legends of Broadway fundraiser series for Jewish Family Services, which actually opened with Chita Rivera.  I was just wondering if you still look at her remarkable career and feel aspirational at all?

AM:  God yes.  I just saw her on stage here in [The Mystery of] Edwin Drood a few months ago and we were at Joe Allen’s [Restaurant] together and she’d come to see Young Frankenstein and finally I met her after all those years of watching her and I was so shy and then finally after about an hour I said oh my gosh, you informed my whole life!  She is so modest. I don’t think she thinks of herself as a star at all. I think she thinks of herself as a chorus person.  I know she’s a star, but that kind of mentality, that gypsy mentality, is really in your blood. It’s cellular, and that’s why she’s able to do what she does at her age.  Many, many years of discipline and real, pure love and devotion for the business. I love her. I think she’s one of a kind.  There’s not many people like her.

GC:  She was absolutely amazing in Edmonton – she was on stage for hours singing and dancing and entertaining and doing things I couldn’t do at my age.

AM: That’s the thing with dancers- they train at an early age and the kind of discipline it takes to maintain that career stays with them. It’s really a dancer’s mentality. That’s how she started out. I wished I could have seen her show.  I saw a version of it here in New York at a Supper Club and it was so intimate; it was very touching. It’s touching when you think that she’s in her 80s and it’s her spirit that moves you.  She has a passion for what she does and she’s still able to do it. There aren’t many people at that age that can still do that. It’s very touching.

GC:  And that still do it with so much love.

AM:  And with such generosity! She just loves entertaining.

GC:  In your book you open with a story about Steve Martin’s dinner party suggestion that you title the book "Perky Tits" on account of your famous and once often- displayed bust.  Later in the book when describing a memory of watching your mother getting dressed for a Christmas Party you both admire her pleasing, topless form.  So I was wondering what other than your fantastic breasts did you inherit from your mother?

AM:  (laughing) Oh! What a great question! Nobody’s ever asked [me] that question. What did I inherit from my mother?  I would say my energy.  Her energy was limitless. Even though she died at a very young age it was like having a little humming bird in the kitchen, always flitting about. I think that I have that too. I’ve also inherited my disregard for phone calls. People call me and I’ll say OK I have to hang up now, I can’t talk. My mom always used to do that. [She’d say] OK honey, I can’t talk now, because she wanted to get back to her dusting.

GC:  You credit the classic Canadian Comedy Series SCTV for really giving you your career.  [In your book] you said "those seven years that changed my life, that formed my career, that made it impossible to ever take direction from anyone on any subsequent TV show I did after SCTV went off the air in 1984" (Lady Parts, pg. 306).  But then you also say that "conjuring up the memories feels like a violation" (pg. 307) and that you’re reluctant to revisit them.  So how do you regard the show when so many people want to discuss it with you and tell you how much they enjoyed it and loved it? How do you go about reminiscing about it?

AM:  I think when people want to talk about SCTV they do most of the talking. I don’t really have to give very much because they are reminiscing and reliving the characters. [I’m] just actually being an audience member when people want to reminisce.  They are not asking for stories about the characters; they want to go back in time really and relive the moments that made them laugh initially.  That’s my experience. But when you write a book you don’t have the benefit of somebody else rehashing the stories.  And I felt like I had a responsibility to the cast not to speak for them, because they could write their own books, but to paint a picture of what it felt like for me to work with them. I hope I did that.

GC:  Do you sometimes accidently find yourself remembering certain moments or characters that you played on the show in unexpected times?

AM:  It was so many years ago- it was 40 years ago, and I see all the actors. It’s not like I haven’t seen them for 40 years. So we’re in each other’s lives all the time. And now we’ve created new memories, or we’re in the moment. We had that bond of course because we were a family when we did SCTV. But our lives expanded: marriage, children.  So I guess what lasts is the very close bond and the trust and the devotion that you have for each other. But I don’t know if actual scenes stand out.

GC:  I would have thought that you couldn’t look at leopard print without thinking of Edith [Prickley].

AM:  (laughing) Oh that is for sure! That is so funny that you would say that because I was just- I have an on-camera interview tomorrow, and I ran into a store in New York, Kate Spade. And there was a cheetah print skirt and I thought I can’t wear that because it looks like Edith Prickley! You’re absolutely right! When costume designers want to put me in something flashy when I’m playing a flashy character, they immediately go for the leopard print. And I say I can’t do that, there’s a character that I played... and of course they’re 30 and don’t have a clue who Edith Prickley was!

GC:  Edith Prickley, probably your most famous character; very, very flamboyant. And in the book you described how she came to be through an improv sketch at a PTA meeting, and you even give the script-

AM:  Aww, you read so much! You’re so great!

GC:  It was such a great read. I absolutely loved it! Everyone has to go out and get it now. Read it, love it, re-read it, share it with a friend, give it to someone for Christmas! Because it really was laughter all the way through and it was like voyeuristically reliving your life as you were reliving it. You’re such a great story teller, whether it’s through acting or through this book which was incredibly honest and incredibly moving at times.

AM:  Thank you so much. It means a lot to me you would say that.  I could just cry because you took the time to read it. I really appreciate that.  I imagine you’ll have a lot of success because you really care, and that means a lot.

GC:  Well you make it very easy when it’s such an easy read.  But I was wondering, even though Edith was, as you describe her, a spur of the moment character that came as a reaction to Catherine [O’Hara] saying the name Edith Prickley, is there a part of that character that was based on anyone that you knew or had encountered in real life?

AM: Well I think that character is a part of me. That kind of confidence, fearlessness, bravado. I think it’s underneath a layer of fear in me (laughs). I think it’s always wanting to come out. And I can actually access it.  It really was an easy character. Once I got the name and the outfit, her approach to life and her sensibility is really close to mine actually. I’m not as flamboyant of course, and you never see Edith Prickley being sad or reflective, she is on the forward moving train. But I understand that kind of vitality. I think it’s just underneath a layer of fat [in me] (laughs).

GC:  Would you say that out of all the characters you’ve ever played that she’s the closest to you?

AM:  You know I think there’s a little bit of me in everybody I’ve played. But I’d say that she’s the easiest to do because she’s the most fun to do. She is so rambunctious and so in your face, and people just love her. She’s so full of life, so that spurs me on. It’s a fun character to be able to improvise.

GC:  When you see all the ridiculousness that is Toronto Mayor Rob Ford right now, don’t you kind of wish that John Candy were still around to get his hands on that character?

AM:  (laughing) Oh my God! Isn’t that the truth. I’ve never even thought about that. What a hay day we would have! That’s so right, you’re so right about that! That’s a sad loss that we’re not able to see John make Rob Ford into a bigger buffoon than he is. Believe me, we could have done that on SCTV. And I would like to play one of his many girlfriends too. Oh my God that is funny!

GC:  He really is fertile ground for comedy– that’s for sure.  What are your thoughts on the petition currently circulating in Edmonton to immortalize the SCTV cast in statue form here in the city, and if they were to make a statue, which of your characters would you want to depict your likeness?

AM:  Well I think they probably should do Edith Prickley. I think that would be fun, a little pill box hat and etch in some leopard print. I think when people remember me, if they do remember me, they think of her.  But the character that I originated in Edmonton and the scene opened up on a little house on a street in Edmonton was Mrs. Falbo. She would pull out of a driveway of a house in Edmonton. So I think of that character really coming from Edmonton, but I don’t know if many people know her.  I have amazing recollections of being in Edmonton.  It was such an informative time in our lives. My one child was very young and I remember leaving [for the studio] in pitch black but we’d come home at midnight and it would still be light out. We were in the studio eighteen hours of the day at ITV. So I have wonderful memories of Edmonton; I really look forward to coming back.

GC:  Well we look forward to having you back.

AM:  There were a lot of beautiful malls there in Edmonton. Are there still a lot of malls?

GC: Edmonton is the land of shopping malls. You know you’re an Edmontonian when people ask where you live and you say what mall you’re nearest to instead of what neighborhood you’re in.

AM: I gotta put that in my show. That’s funny.

GC: Are there any film or television actors or roles, other than Chita, that we might be surprised to learn that you were very influenced by?

AM: You won’t be surprised by Lucille Ball or Carol Brunette.  I loved Edith Bunker on, um...

GC: All In The Family.

AM: Yeah! What a wonderful actress. Madeline Kahn, I loved her from Paper Moon. She was a beautiful comedienne and actress.  The person who I idolized was Federico Fellini’s wife Giulietta Masina; in La Strada and Juliet of the Spirits. I loved her because she was a beautiful actress but she was also a clown. She taught me that you didn’t have to be Charlie Chaplin; you could actually be a woman and break someone’s heart but also make them laugh, like she does. But there aren’t many women like that. Melissa McCarthy is kind of like that I think.

GC:  You have worked with Nathan Lane, John Cameron Mitchell, Scott Thompson. Are there any gay men from stage and screen that you haven’t worked with yet?

AM:  Neil Patrick Harris! He’s a lovely gay man. He was just doing Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway, and I did the movie. I went back stage to see him and for a man who is never at a loss for words ever, he was kind of speechless.  He said I didn’t know you were out there in the audience! You were in the original film! And I’d never seen that side of him because he’s a very confident guy.  That was a real eye opener that somebody even that confident and enormously successful can also be shy.  Who else would I love to work with - Jim Parsons would be fabulous to work with!  He’s a beautiful actor. I’d love to work with him; he does a lot of stage [work] too.  Nathan Lane is a very close friend of mine and Victor Garber is a close friend of mine. I only have gay male friends. I should just go and get a penis attached (laughs).

GC:  Any last messages for the readership of GayCalgary Magazine?

AM:  I hope that you all come [to the show] because Edith Prickley your den mother is wanting to entertain you all. So come on out! Come out of hibernation! (laughs)

GC:  Thank you so much for your time.

The recent passing of comedy greats Robin Williams and Joan Rivers has shown us that we must indulge and celebrate our comedy heroes for as long as we are fortunate enough to be graced with their presence and performances. So do come out of hibernation and bring your copy of Lady Parts, available now through Audrey’s books and The University of Alberta and Calgary’s Bookstores, and share in the laughter of Final Days! Everything Must Go! and support the Jewish Family Services and the remarkable work they do.