Mag Blog Radio Expressions Volume 1 Issue 4 | Page 5

Cover Story - Monroe Martin
Walk us through your journey to this point. How did you get into comedy? Did you
dream about being a comedian when you were in foster care?
Comedy wasn’t always my passion. When I was younger, I really didn’t believe that it was
even an option for me. One day that all changed. When I was in the 11th grade, my foster
mother and I would watch this show on BET called, “Coming to The Stage.” There was a
comedian on the show my foster mom and I thought was absolutely the best comic around.
For the entire fall we watched this comic week after week. One summer morning a friend
and I were sitting on his porch just watching life pass us by. As we were sitting there, a trash
truck comes down the street and that very same comedian I thought was the best comic in
the world was hanging on to that truck. At that moment I realized comedians were regular
people and I knew that I could be that guy. When I turned 21 I started doing comedy.
You moved around to 14 different homes while you were in care. What age did you
enter foster care and why did you move around so much?
I entered foster care at the age of seven. I was in foster care for as long as I was because
the state was waiting for my parents to rehabilitate themselves. Which really never
happened. I moved around because of a number of things: a lazy social worker,
misplacement, and [I moved so I could] be closer to my sisters.
Clearly, there’s a goldmine of material in foster care…but some people may feel as if
you’re trivializing the trauma that foster kids go through. Have you ever received
pushback from anyone for tackling those issues?
Yes, there’s a bunch of stuff to pull from foster care, but I try to speak on every aspect of my
life. There hasn’t been any pushback from my material but if there is, that