INTERVIEW Comedian Maeve Higgins

Q&A with Maeve Higgins


Maeve Higgins is performing in Westport this Saturday as part of the three-day Rolling Sun Book Festival. Ciara Galvin caught up with the comedian before she makes the trip to Mayo.


CG If you weren’t a comedian what would you have been?
MH I don’t know. I have sort of a nurse/teacher face, but no capacity for empathy. I am like a robot in the body of a plain, friendly looking Irish woman. I like running, but am quite slow and probably too old to make a living from it by being a professional athlete or some kind of delivery woman who does her deliveries by running around with parcels.

CG What’s the funniest thing a heckler has ever said to you?
MH I don’t get heckled much, probably because I’m not an aggressive type of stand-up. I do get riled up when people fall asleep in the audience. I have a sing-song accent and tend to talk about personal things, so the odd time people do drop off. What I do in that case is I make everyone sneak out of the venue, then I lock the door and flood the room. Some say it’s an over-reaction but the ego is a delicate thing.

CG If you had to compare yourself to a biscuit what would it be, and why?
MH I’d be some kind of grim, gluten-free creation. I go to the gym and take care of myself these days, and biscuits pretty much work against all of that. As a treat I like peanut butter on a rice cake, even thinking about that actually makes me giddy. Amazing what you get used to, isn’t it?

CG Who do you enjoy creeping on on Twitter, and why?
MH I follow Alicia Keys and her husband Swizz Beatz and get this - Swizz Beatz follows me back. Holla! He’s a producer AND he designs runners, yet he still reads all about what I’m planning to have as a snack. I mainly like following people who post pictures of their babies dressed as hotdogs or their cats dressed as professors. I also like following ex-members of girl groups.

CG What’s your guilty pleasure?
MH Gay men, if I had my way everyone would be a gay man. If I go to a party and there are no gay men there, I just know it won’t be a great party. Yes, yes it’s not fair to generalise and straight men are grand too, but gay men seem to me to be the cleverest, funniest, best people around right now.

CG What’s your favourite venue to perform?
MH I like the Firkin Crane in Cork because it is, hand on heart, right in between a sweet factory and a butter museum. It’s also primarily a dance theatre so everyone who performs there gets free massages. Now that’s what I’m talking about. If any weirdo reading this thinks I will accept a massage after my Westport gig, they’re wrong. The lady in Cork is a pro. By that I mean a professional masseuse.

CG What are you reading at the moment?
MH I am going between Silver Threads of Hope, a really good anthology of short stories edited by Sinéad Gleeson (the Kevin Barry one is hilarious) and Heartburn by Nora Ephron. Ephron is one of my favourite writers ever, so funny and insightful and honest, I bloody love her.

CG What annoys you?
MH The sound of my sister’s dog licking herself makes me want to jump out the window, or get her tongue amputated. Neither of those solutions are viable though, so I put up with it like a trooper.

CG What has been the biggest influence on your career?
MH My family influence my sense of humour and my writing a lot - particularly my sisters. They make me laugh all the time and they also make me furious. I think everything I do is in some way an effort to tell them I love them or to make them love me. Insecurity, where would we be without it? 


CG What’s your favourite thing about Mayo?
MH The seafood, of course!

FACTFILE
Name: Maeve Higgins
From: Cobh, Co Cork
Age: 31
Occupation: Comedian
TV work: Naked Camera, Maeve Higgins’ Fancy Vittles

Maeve Higgins will perform at 9pm in the Wyatt Hotel, Westport, on Saturday, November 10. Admission is €12. For more information on the Rolling Sun Book Festival, visit the Rolling-Sun-Festival page on Facebook or phone 098 28088.