Ryan McMahon [windspeaker confidential]

Windspeaker: What one quality do you most value in a friend?
Ryan McMahon: Honesty. And money. Or. An honest friend with money. I like impromptu food binges and a broke friend can’t hit a burger joint with you on a whim unless you pay for that broke friend.

W: What is it that really makes you mad?
R.M.:  This could be a very long list—at the top of the list though is entitlement and ignorance. I run into these two things a lot as I travel around doing shows.

W: When are you at your happiest?
R.M.:  I’m at my happiest when I’m surrounded by my family. Or when I’m on the lake or in the bush. I was raised in the bush. I need the bush. The bush is where I feel at home. Bush. Ya know? The bush.

W: What one word best describes you when you are at your worst?
R.M.:  When I’m hungry, I get grumpy. I’m Bear Clan. I need to eat.

W: What one person do you most admire and why?
R.M.:  I admire Indigenous Artists. Anyone telling their truth and empowering themselves are my heroes.

W: What is the most difficult thing you’ve ever had to do?
R.M.:  Fatherhood. Hands down the hardest but most rewarding thing that’s ever happened to me.

W: What is your greatest accomplishment?
R.M.:  Being a father.

W: What one goal remains out of reach?
R.M.:  I don’t have goals. I find myself working in/with what inspires me. I’m not a goal-oriented person. Instead, I have expectations of myself. I expect myself to keep pushing forward as an artist. I expect myself to write every day. I expect myself to be a better version of myself every day.

W: If you couldn’t do what you’re doing today, what would you be doing?
R.M.:  Working with young people. The youth in this country are incredible and they bring a lot of joy into my life. I work with youth now, when and where I can, and I can easily see myself putting the comedy pen down and working with young people full time.

W: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
R.M.:  When you live the good life, life is good. You can call it the Red Road, or being sober, or living a decolonized process. Call it what you may, but the idea is when you’re “all in” in regards to your life and you’re giving your best daily, good things will come. I like that a lot.

W: Did you take it?
R.M.:   Absolutely.

W: How do you hope to be remembered?
R.M.:  As a good father and a good partner. I don’t buy into the ego stuff too much. If people enjoyed themselves while I was onstage, if they learned something or gained some perspective, or if they vehemently disagreed with my point of view in a joke, then I’ve done my job.

Ryan McMahon is the second Native graduate of the Second City Conservatory. He auditioned on a whim and ended up with a full scholarship, bringing him inside the Second City family and getting his best shot at the National Touring Company and the Main stage. He was awarded the Toronto Theatre Alliance Cross Cultural Scholarship to study at Second City. There were 2,600 applicants for the scholarship and he was awarded one of the six spots. McMahon said of this time in his life “While I was at Second City I immersed myself in seven days a week, 24 hours a day comedy nerdom. I studied it. I watched it. I wrote it. I improvised. I wrote sketches. I wrote poetry. I wrote theatre. I wrote monologues. I wrote and wrote and wrote. For 18 months I worked as hard as I could to learn as much as I could. I fell in love with comedy.”

McMahon refers to himself as the “product of residential school.”
He is the son of a mother and father whose parents were attendees at the schools and says that the alcohol and drug abuse of his parents is a direct result of that upbringing. He said there were many great things about his childhood in Northwestern Ontario, and credits his parents “with doing the best that they could with the cards they were dealt.”  McMahon said his early days were filled with many a night he wishes he could forget. McMahon also said “I wasn’t raised with my culture and the language and ceremony and understanding of what being Anishinaabe was. I knew we were ‘Indian’. I just didn’t’ know what that meant.”

While building his career in Toronto he came to realize that he too had addiction issues. He said of his time in Toronto, “My biggest lesson – accepting myself. My low point was waking up, drunk on the streets of Toronto and not remembering how I got there. I was a mess. I had been a mess for a long time. I was slowly killing myself with booze. I reached out for help. Elders took me in. They nurtured me. I sought counselling. I cried. A lot. All through the pain I experienced though, I saw light. I was learning. Growing. I was accepting myself. Accepting myself for who I was and what I hoped to become. I had to learn to accept my past, my childhood, my family struggles and my own personal struggles.”

McMahon has recently completed a CBC one-hour comedy special, entitled “Ryan McMahon, UnReserved.” It was taped in front of a live audience in Calgary in June 2012. As well as the CBC special, McMahon had his Just for Laughs debut in July 2012. He is presently on the road performing his UnReserved act.

“It began as a modest undertaking, 10 cities, 10 shows during the month of October. Word got out that the tour was happening and the demand was incredible. People in places that didn’t make the tour wanted the show to roll into their city. This was an incredibly humbling and exciting time for me. Quickly, the tour grew to 26 cities, 30 shows and I have six weeks to pull it off.”  Check his Web site for tour dates and locations at www.ryanmcmahonunreserved.com