Interview with Angie Le Mar, Do You Know Where Your Daughter Is?
By Chloe Thomas
Published October 26, 2009

Angie Le Mar is a glamour puss with jokes. It’s that winning combination of beauty, charisma and a knife-cutting wit that have made her one of the most successful British performers of the last two decades. As well as hosting her own show on Choice FM, Le Mar has written plays, had a number of television appearances such as her memorable turn in BBC’s The Real McCoy; and written history as the first British performer to command the stage at Harlem’s powerhouse Apollo. Whichever side of the Atlantic she is on, the Le Mar brand motors on and this winter, she brings her latest creation to the Albany, her play “Do you know where your daughter is” which explores the complex lives of young adults getting to grips with the wobbly world. Chloe Thomas turns up the chat with Angie Le Mar.

What inspired you to write do you know where your daughter is?
I was doing the Jenny Francis show on Choice FM and Jenny does late calls with young girls calling in and sharing their problems. One evening this young girl called in and said she was having problems with her relationship. At first I thought it was going to be the whole cheating story but when she told me she finished having sex with her partner he went out of the room and came in with three other guys. She couldn’t figure out whether it was rape and I said, just because there was no violence, does not mean it wasn’t rape. So I said to her can you speak to your mum about this? She was like “I can’t talk to my mum, my mum thinks I am a tramp my mum doesn’t like me”. So I said talk to your mum ‘cause I don’t know of any woman that wouldn’t want to console you on this. As a mother myself of a daughter, I would hate to think my daughter couldn’t tell me she had been raped ‘cause that goes far beyond breakdown in a relationship. I just thought to myself… My God… Do people know where their daughters are, do they know what they’re up to? So I just went away and wrote, because I wanted to find a way of getting that voice out. Do parents really know where they’re daughters are?

What would you say were the challenges facing young black kids today?
I think one of the biggest problems is that we keep talking about “young black kids” or “young black boys” and separating everybody. I think if we could call it “gun crime” rather than “black gun crime” then I think we’d all be a bit more alert to gun crime as a whole concept- it’s a bad thing but not because it’s linked to young black boys or girls. Where you separate things into black and white then society tends not to deal with it because it’s somebody else’s problem. So I don’t think we should talk about the problems or challenges facing young black kids I think we should talk about the problems facing kids today which is the breakdown of family relationships and the whole structure of how we raise our children.

Can you describe your own Journey into the entertainment industry?
Well I started at the Hackney Empire when I was ten. It was at Creek Street at the time. And it was my drama teacher that noticed I had something about me and that I loved to perform. Then as I went through school I did drama and I hated school because I was severely dyslexic and I was always getting kicked out of class. My mum used to look at my school reports and say there’s a little devil in all these classes but in drama there’s a little angel. So I went to drama clubs after school, then I went to Barbara Speake Stage School. My strength was always comedy and that’s why I started writing my own stuff because as an actor you always think someone is going to write you the perfect part and then it never happens. So I wrote “Funny Black Women on the Edge” which was me saying, look black women are more than social workers we can do funny, we can do sexy, we can do angry we can do it all. The show was a huge success and all the time I kept thinking someone was going to come up to me and say you’re not a real writer, real writers go to this school or that school but the audience kept on coming in and the reviews were strong. And that’s when my stand up career took off because whenever they wanted a funny black woman they thought “let’s get Angie”.

You are also the first British performer to work at the Apollo in Harlem, how did that come about?
Well I was working at the time with the BBC and I went over to America for a period of time and I was knocking on doors and auditioning all over the place. Chuck Sutton was the managing director of the Apollo at the time. So I went along and said “I’d like to see Chuck Sutton please”. So they went and got him but they brought security down ‘cause they couldn’t understand what this little black woman was doing with this English voice and he goes “can I help you” and I said “well its always been my dream to play the Apollo and said “okay you’re gonna be my special guest tomorrow” and I came out and went “sh**t, sh**t,sh**t what have I done? There are three spaces in the Apollo and I thought they’d give me one of the smaller spaces but they gave me the largest space with three thousand seats. It was a fantastic experience.

Why is it harder for female comics?
I think because people assume we’re just going to talk about certain types of subjects. Family, kids, periods whatever. And sometimes yes we are, because that is who we are, that’s what we have, what we go through. I think audiences are conditioned to be patronising towards female stand ups. Jo Brand would rubbish that by sending herself up and almost beating men at their own game. But if you come on stage and you’re attractive and you’re wearing make up it’s harder because the audience want you to be on par with the men and it’s harder to be taken seriously if you present that face. So I think female comics struggle because they think they have to present themselves a certain way. But really to be a stand up comic the only thing you need to be is funny.

What advice would you give to young aspiring black comics?
Well the funny thing is I’ve got a stand up in my house and that’s my son Travis Jay. He came to me one day and said “mum I want to do stand up”. And the only thing that came into my head was why? But he went out and did a few gigs, I didn’t guide him as such, the only advice I gave him was write it down ‘cause I used to live with a pen and a Dictaphone, when you have a good idea you think you’re you'll remember it tomorrow but you won’t. You have to write it down so that you cover all the angles because it’s really about making money and making a living and that’s hard work. So I would say to young comics be glad to get a gig and I say that to my son ‘cause he’s gigging most nights now. But the most important thing is to read the audience and respond to what they do. When I was doing the University circuit I just thought “These kids are mad, so I gotta be mad too”. And that’s how you work the muscle bone of comedy. But above all write and don’t think you have to be limited, go off key, do drama and of course be an actor. Once you’ve got your reputation you can live forever, there’s nothing more you need.



So what’s next for Angie Le Mar?
Next thing is my one woman show which I am writing at the moment. It’s also my biggest fear which is why it’s taken so long; it comes from a very honest place. It should be ready by next year. Then I’ll be taking it to America.