There is a long list of honorary Torontonians, but sitting near the top would likely be comedy legend Andrea Martin, who has lived and worked in the city for decades. Martin is in town to receive the Icon Award at the Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Canada event in Toronto, and we checked in with her to talk about her career, her time at SCTV and her love of the city.
Toronto claims you as one of its own. Is there a place in the city that instantly takes you back to your early days here?
Sadly, they might be gone. I remember what Yorkville was like in the ’70s. People playing guitars on the street corners. It was kind of off the beaten track. I don’t remember that it was an enclave of wealth. I just remember it was kind of bohemian. I remember Honest Ed’s and getting a set of steak knives for $3. But more than anything, when I think of Toronto, I think of being on my bicycle. I’d go along the bike path from High Park all the way to Cherry Beach and stop along the way and be in those beautiful parks along Lake Ontario. Our beautiful green city became a city of metal, and it makes me sad.
You’re being honoured with the Icon Award at the Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Canada event in Toronto. “Icon” is a big word. How does that sit with you when you think back on your career so far?
You know, I’m going to look “icon” up. I don’t even know what it means. OK, let’s see here … “An icon is a typically small pictorial symbol, image representation used to signify an object, action or concept.” That’s not what we want, is it? No, that can’t be right. It continues: “What makes a person an icon could include being well-known, respected for their work, having a large following and being able to transcend traditional boundaries.” Being well-known? Look, I don’t think I’m well-known. If you put me up against Meryl Streep or George Clooney or Zelenskyy or Putin, I don’t think I’m well-known. I think I’m known in some circles of comedy, so that’s lovely. Being able to transcend traditional boundaries? Well, I don’t know what that means. That sounds exciting, though!
I think that could speak to you moving between genres and forms — television, stage, theatre, film.
I think that’s true. I mean, I have been able to have some success in film and television and theatre. You’re absolutely right about that. Okay, I can own that one!
Fast facts
Name: Andrea Martin
Born: Portland, Maine
First film role: Played Girl Next Door in Ivan Reitman’s debut feature Foxy Lady
Toronto ties: Moved to Toronto in 1970
Godspell: In the 1972 production of Godspell alongside Gilda Radner, Martin Short and Eugene Levy
You’ve played so many memorable women over the years. Is there one character that has stayed with you most?
That’s a tough one. I’m just trying to think about when people come up to me and what they usually reference. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a big one. [Living] in New York City, people reference theatre that they’ve seen, particularly a musical I did called Pippin. I was 65 when I did that and I was on a trapeze. I think people were very celebratory around that because it seemed like a big challenge, which it was, but also the happiest time in my life.
But I guess it depends on the circles that I’m in and what is the most recent in people’s minds. Like, I was with my granddaughter in L.A. recently, and a lot of children in her fourth grade class had seen the Jonas Brothers’ Christmas special and asked if I played the taxi driver. Ages shift. People of my age might remember me from SCTV, but people of my granddaughter’s age, who is 10, if they remember me at all, think of me as the taxi driver from the Christmas special [laughs].
Lately, it feels to me like you pop up in everything on television — Evil, Overcompensating, The Gilded Age, Only Murders in the Building. What draws you to a role?
There are different things, really. With Evil, which is hands down one of my favourite experiences in show business, I wanted to work with [creators] Robert and Michelle King, because I had done The Good Fight [with them]. Frankly, it didn’t make any difference what the role was because I loved them. But then it turned out to be this great role, one of the great opportunities of my life. I’m so sad that show was cancelled. I don’t usually put that kind of feeling to it, I’m just grateful for the work, but I was very sad because I loved the part, and I hadn’t been given an opportunity to play parts like that. I loved being on the sound stages doing that part. It was very quiet. I didn’t have to be robust in the comedy. I don’t think the part was written to be particularly funny, but over the time I did it, there was a lovely combination. One of the greatest things about it? I wore the same skirt and shoes every day. I never wore makeup, I never had to have my hair done. I just showed up. It was such a non-ego part. I really just had to focus on her and what faith meant to her, what God meant to her, how she was going to transcend her life as a mortal being. It was the greatest.
Which medium brings you most to life?
Those seven or eight years of SCTV were so focused on sketch comedy, which gave me the most freedom and the most opportunities to be varied in the comedy characters that I did. But in theatre, I’ve been allowed to be funny in many, many shows. I would say film the least, and then television and theatre are tied.
For so many people, SCTV is the touchpoint. When you think back on it now, what feelings does it bring up for you?
I think less about the work, frankly, because it lives on YouTube and other mediums. I feel that’s alive without me having to work hard to remind people of what I did or even remind myself.
What really stands out to me is the enduring friendships and the losses that we had with SCTV in the last few years. That’s been really tough. I hold on to those memories more than specific characters and sketches that I did.
Is there a time or place involving your work that you look back on a lot?
Auditioning for Godspell, and the Firehall Theatre on Adelaide [the original home of Second City]. That’s a great, great memory.
