How agreeable are you?

When it comes to making art, I’m not agreeable. I’m very adamant about going by instinct. I’ve learned a lot from being a painter and a comedian for years and I think it must feel right and authentic. So you have to go with that and you need to stand firm and show people what’s inside your brain and what you believe in. But as a person in everyday things, I tend to go with the flow.

When you’re doing a club set, you have audiences that are there not just for you. You want people to come and have a good time with you all together, you’re trying to bring everyone in. But at the same time, you need to do what you’ve come to do. You can’t pander to everyone.

If you commit more, they’ll commit to you. Whereas painting is more standalone and you don’t know who’s going to appeal to someone in that quiet moment they’re looking at the work. Whereas in comedy, they’re getting kind of a 360 vision of you. So I think people connect to people more than something that’s hanging on a wall. It’s very different. But I think in both cases I would be very much like: “I’m here to do what I do.”

Tell us about your middle name and what you think of it?

I have two middle names, Louise and Elizabeth. And when I was a kid, I thought my name was Marty Louise Elizabeth. My Confirmation name was Valerie, and I picked that just because of the TV show Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I wanted to pick Sabrina but they were like: “You can’t pick a witch name.” It was too pagan for them. So I picked Valerie because that was her best friend’s name on the show.

Where is your favourite place in Ireland?

I have a soft spot for the Limerick School of Art and Design. I learned a lot there about creative thinking and myself as a person. The school was such a massive part of the show I did at the Fringe. I met so many other creatives there that I’m still friends with. They’re friends for life and my best pals.

[ Breakthrough Irish comedian takes prize at Edinburgh Comedy AwardsOpens in new window ]

One of my favourite shows at the Fringe this year was when they all flew over. Half the audience was made up of them. The place was absolutely rocking. It was so much fun.

But in terms of the landscape of Ireland I love anywhere by the sea. It’s so wild at home and there’s nothing like the Atlantic. It’s just the smell of it and the energy of it. And the Cliffs of Moher, my God, they’re something else. Whenever I see them it makes me feel like I’m so small but also massive at the same time.

Describe yourself in three words.

I’m warm, which is an Irish trait. That’s helped me a lot over in the UK, especially being a comedian. I think that helps you source other warm people because warmth responds to warmth. Secondly, I’m quite independent. I think I have to be in what I do. And I’m playful. I’m definitely very playful. I think it’s a good balance with being independent because it’s nice to feel like you’re on stage and your eight-year-old self is up there with you but she’s your equal and you’re both up there. So I’d say warm, independent and playful.

When did you last get angry?

I don’t generally get angry, to be honest. But I recently got introduced on stage by a male MC as “adorable”. I just thought that was crazy. But that was probably the last time. I kind of let things slide unless I think it’s a situation where I should say something. I’m quite chill. If I’m in a rush I’ll get angry but just internally angry at myself.

What is your strongest childhood memory?

I think when I was a little kid and I’d be playing with my cousins in the summertime in the grass. You could just smell the grass and you’re running around playing 40-40 or something and you all get sniffly noses because you’re absolutely tearing around the place and then going inside to watch a big movie. That night you’d be begging your parents to have a sleepover and then getting to stay up late and watch movies you maybe shouldn’t be watching, like Liar Liar, and we’d all be laughing together.

Where do you come in your family’s birth order and has it defined you?

I’m the youngest of two so my sister is four years older than me. And she is very different. She’s an accountant. So I think our brains are different. She’s quite logical and I’m quite creative. Our parents just allowed us to follow the thread of what we were interested in because they had one of each, logical and creative. I think that’s how it defined me. I couldn’t do what my sister does and vice versa. So it’s just natural encouragement from our parents because of how different we are. I guess being the youngest maybe lets you do things that are a bit mad, like stand-up.

When do you think you were happiest?

Probably my first time properly performing in Ireland. I did the Paddy Power Comedy Festival in this big tent and I hadn’t performed much in Ireland at all at that point. So I was quite nervous about it because Irish people are the funniest people in the world. I knew I kind of had to really show them what I was made of.

But also I was like: “What are people going to think?” But I got to be exactly who I am and just really bring it. And it was unreal. It was a crowd of like 300 people. The room was humming. It was this kind of surge of electric energy. I loved it. We’re talking about trying to sort an Irish tour now.

Which actor would you like to play you in a biopic about your life?

I think the biopic would have to be an animation. It has to be a cartoon. Maybe like Cartoon Network visuals, like Cow and Chicken and then I could do the voice. But if I had to pick someone else it would be a hybrid of different people. If there was a way of putting them into a machine and making it one person then it would be CMAT and Jack Black.