No drink, no drugs, just laughs

Everything about Francesca Martinez’s comedy is rooted in the reality of who she is. Her comic timing doesn’t just rely on the naturally slow rhythms of her speech, it derives from them. Her on-stage persona is an extension of her disabled self. And her material comes directly from her life and experience in ways which few comedians since Billy Connolly would ever dream of showing. But it wasn’t always like that.

“I felt ashamed of myself and my disability,” she says. “I really had the attitude that if I didn’t mention it, people wouldn’t see it, which was totally stupid.”
There’s irony, then, in the fact that salvation from her self-doubt came from an unlikely source. Hearing former England football manager Glenn Hoddle say that maybe we, as disabled people, had all done something wrong in a previous life set her thinking about just what that could have been. Her first routine was born. 

On the surface, though, she’d always appeared out and proud about being disabled. She came to public attention playing a character with her own impairment – how could she be  anything else? – in the BBC’s legendary children’s show Grange Hill. And she loved it.

“I had an idyllic time there. I spent my youth wanting to act on television, so the job was a dream come true and I was very happy there, unlike in my real school life. So it did very much make me confident.”

But, like many kids leaving the relative safety of the classroom – all be it a fictional one – that confidence was quickly undermined as reality and people’s expectations kicked in. 

“I was never put up for roles unless it had in big letters THIS CHARACTER HAS CEREBRAL PALSY! I could never just go up for a female role because people wouldn’t even consider casting me. They’d express interest, then my agent would say: ’Francesca has mild CP,’ and they’d be like,
‘Oh, right, we’ll get back to you.’” 

At this point, enter her father, screenwriter Alex Martinez, waving a film script which he’d written especially for her. He’d placed Francesca as the central character, who happened to be a stand-up comedian.

“When a production company took a real interest in doing it, I thought I’d better do some research.”

But here was a whole new scene, and it was very scary. 

“I’d never been nervous, but there was something about stand-up, something so raw and honest and vulnerable, that really scared me,” she says.
After Hoddle was sacked as England manager for his comments, she continued to rely on real people and their reactions to her for her funniest material. And this has proved to be a gold-mine.

“Anyone with a physical difference has loads of stories to tell. My main one is that people think I’m drunk. I used to go out clubbing and boys would chat me up and they’d go, ‘God. You’ve had a lot, haven’t you?’ And I’d say, ‘I don’t drink.’ And they’d say, ‘What you on then?’ and I’d say, ‘I’m not on anything.’ What fascinates me is the power of people’s pre-conceptions. They have a very specific idea of what disability is. And it’s kind of like, if you don’t fit that stereotype you must be pissed.”

I wondered about her own comedy heroes. Unsurprisingly, she goes for someone whose style is whacky, observational and decidedly not
right-on.

“I’d have to say Bill Hicks. He wanted to make people laugh, but above all he wanted to make them question their assumptions. There are a few topics on which I don’t agree with him, like drugs; he seems very enamoured of drugs, I’m not at all. So I’m not saying I agree with with all his views, but as a comedian who goes out there and tries to express himself honestly and challenge the status quo, I find that inspiring.”

Somewhere at the other end of the comedy rainbow, Jim Davidson also happens to be on tour. He freely admits that, unlike Martinez, he relies heavily on alcohol – maybe it’s some sort of crutch for him. He also recently courted controversy, again, by saying that people with learning difficulties – “mentally handicapped people” as he insists on putting it – “howl like animals”. As something of a natural libertarian, Francesca is not as forthrightly dismissive as you might expect. But she does go back to the school yard for her criticism.

“I’ve always said that nothing should be off limits, but it’s what they are saying. If they’re challenging the audience, then go for it. But if its playground humour, that’s cruel and frankly lazy. If you’re a comedian and you’re paid money to do shows, come up with something interesting, please!”

So given the directness of her own disabled comedy voice, there must be people in the audience sometimes who just don’t get it.

“One of my very early reviews said, ‘She’s very good...blah blah blah...but some of the jokes could have come out of the mouth of Bernard Manning.’ And I thought, you really didn’t get it! Bernard Manning had a completely different agenda. It’s right-on reviewers usually who say, ‘it’s very funny, but is it PC to laugh at it?’

She believes that, as disabled people, we have more of a sense of humour because there’s plenty for
us to laugh about.

Francesca’s In Deep tour dates
12 January 2008
The Gala Theatre, Durham
0191 332 4041
www.galadurham.co.uk
18 January 2008
The Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne 01202 885566
www.tivoliwimborne.co.uk
6-9, 13-16, 20 -23 February
Hackney Empire London
020 8985 2424
www.hackneyempire.co.uk
1 March 2008
The Millfield Theatre, Enfield
020 8807 6680
www.millfieldtheatre.co.uk
6 March 2008
The Epsom Playhouse
01372 742555
www.epsomplayhouse.co.uk
9 March 2008
Komedia, Brighton
01273 647100
www.komedia.co.uk/brighton
12 April 2008
The Cambridge Junction
01223 511511