When it comes to identifying flags at sea, comedian Marjolein Robertson is an expert; but flags in dating? Not so much.
“I did nautical studies at school, so I really like boats,” reveals Shetland-born Marjolein ahead of her appearance in Dundee next month as part of the Big Fab Comedy Show.
“Genuinely, if you get me started on boats, I won’t stop. And I can identify flags at sea.
“A red flag stands for a strong riptide, so if you see a red flag means ‘don’t go in the water’,” she says. “And ‘don’t date him’.”
But despite the wisdom in her joke, Marjolein admits she’s struggled to identify red flags in her own love life – a topic she delved into in her latest Fringe show, Marj.
“I’m just completely oblivious to red flags,” she knaps (the Shetlander word for speaking out of dialect) candidly. “I’ll be like: ‘He’s different’. And he’s not.
“But me and my friends are doing this new thing called the Circle of Truth, which is whenever you like a guy – or a woman, cause I’m pansexual, but women have never posed as many issues – you share the things you’re not sure about.
“Because whenever I like someone new, I build them up to my friends, so that they get excited and want me to be with the person. But now it’s like: ‘OK, this is cool and this is good, but what about this thing – is that a red flag?'”
For now, on the advice of her heart and her therapist, Marjolein is resisting the pressure to be tied down to one person.
Instead, she’s putting her energy into her comedy, after getting into the business “back to front”.
‘I can’t believe I’m thankful to the Tories for anything’
“I started doing Fringes before fives (five minute sets) because of living on Shetland,” Marjolein explains.
“I’d save my money all year to come and do the (Edinburgh) Fringe, that was my holiday. And I would just live off YouTube clips of comics, because I couldn’t go to comedy clubs.
“Then when a comedian came to Shetland, I’d just try to absorb as much as possible.”
And it wasn’t until she spent a year living in Amsterdam and “everything went to dirt” that she turned to stand-up for solace.
“I was in Amsterdam doing improv, which was great, but everything else went to dirt,” she recalls.
“I got fired from my job because I wanted a least minimum wage, I was unemployed for ages, got kicked out of the flat because we were apparently illegally living there, which was news to us! Got robbed. Thing after thing happened, until I was left with nothing.”
Finally her friends from her improv course got her on stage doing stand up, and after being in the right place at the right time with the right joke – New York, 2015, David Cameron and a pig – she hasn’t looked back.
“I just had to decide whether I wanted to properly go for it or not,” she recalls, quipping: “I can’t believe I’m thankful to the Tories for anything!”
No one says ‘men aren’t funny’
Inspired by acts such as Daniel Sloss – “he’s got one of the best rhythms in comedy” – as well as Scottish comedian Fern Brady, surreal funnyman Paul Foot and former Daily Show writer Michelle Wolf, Marjolein’s own work tends to be about “true things that have happened to me”, with a silly or surreal twist.
Of her writing process, she says: “I like the concept of writing a big show which ties into itself, so I’ll take a theme and just explore all avenues of it. Then I take my mindmap and turn it into a clock, of how it goes from one bit to the next bit, and what would be the best order.
“It looks terrifying, like that meme of Charlie Day at the wall of red string.”
As a woman in comedy, Marjolein is no stranger to creepy hecklers, and she’s spoken out in the past about challenging misogynistic behaviour and attitudes towards stand-ups.
“I do think there still is a general attitude where, if someone doesn’t find you funny, it solidifies the idea that ‘women aren’t funny’,” she observes.
“Whereas with male comics, I’ve never heard someone say ‘men aren’t funny’ because they didn’t like the joke.”
But for her, the joy of touring far outweighs any unpleasant interactions.
“I’m really excited about the Big Fab Comedy Show,” she smiles.
“It’s nice to get around to some of the parts of Scotland that you don’t get to go to so often, because there’s such an appetite for live gigs and comedy around the country – and being from Shetland, I was always so grateful when comics made the trip up!
“I’d feel like a hypocrite just playing between Edinburgh and Glasgow!”
Marjolein Robertson will play as part of the Big Fab Comedy Show alongside Sarah Keyworth, Jay Lafferty, Joshua Bethania and Kiri Pritchard-McLean at Dundee’s Whitehall Theatre on November 9.
