Award winning comedian Mary O’Connell makes her Edinburgh Fringe debut ‘Money Princess’, directed by Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee and Gaulier- trained clown Elf Lyons.
She is this year’s winner of the OF TV (Only Fans) Comedy Creative Fund - the world’s biggest prize fund in comedy. After competing in the comedy challenge show she was picked as the winner by judges Jamali Maddix, Mae Martin and London Hughes.
Mary O'Connell is conflicted: she hates capitalism but she loves to shop. She has always had money anxiety and, rather annoyingly, winning the world’s biggest prize fund in comedy hasn’t helped that. Mary breaks down her tricky relationship with money: why she feels like she can’t be a risk taker, her love for Sainsburys and her obsession with scams and financial crime in one entertaining, silly, heartfelt show.
Mary O’Connell is a comedian, writer performer and North London socialite. After having been awarded the Creator Residency at Steve Coogan’s Baby Cow Productions, where she developed some of her creative projects, Mary was then offered a role to work there full time as a development producer. She is a massive TV nerd and has a Masters in Film Studies.
Her TV stand up credits include Comedy Central Live Series 1& 2, Stand Up for Live Comedy (BBC3) and OF TV Comedy Creative Fund. Sketch wise she can be seen on Hack Attack – Funny Parts (YouTube shorts), Comedy Confessions – Get Pulped (YouTube shorts) and Laugh Lessons (BBC3). She also writes for The Emily Atack Show (ITV2) and The Now Show (R4).
Mary O’Connell’s ‘Money Princess’ is at the Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker 3 at 6pm from 2nd – 27th August (not 15TH). For tickets go to www.edfringe.com
Read more Edinburgh interviews here.
What is the last thing you do before you go onstage (apart from check your flies and/or check your knickers aren't sticking out of your skirt and check for spinach between your teeth)
I do this mouth exercise when I run my tongue around my mouth clockwise and anti-clockwise. It helps me to not stumble over my words. Then I try to figure out how to do the timer on my watch but I never actually figured it out because the only time I pay attention to it is right before I go on stage.
What irritates you?
Needing to sneeze to the point that I’ve announced that I need to sneeze but then the sneeze itself retreats like a coward and now I’m stuck looking like a sneeze-less attention whore.
What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done?
Performed stand up after people have performed poetry.
What is the most stupid thing you have ever done?
Cancelled a work in progress show in order to do reality TV. But it’s also one of the best things I’ve ever done.
What has surprised you the most during your career in comedy?
It really took the pandemic to show how much comedy had an impact on my social life, because during the ol’ panna cotta I was missing a huge part of my social life. The fact that I made so many friends through doing comedy was quite surprising in the early days because it’s painted as such a competitive industry. I was expecting people to be mean to me in this rat race, but we’re all sort of in it together. Maybe they’re just mean behind my back. That’s how I’d do it.
Picture: Matt Crockett
Interview continues here
