A “legend in her own lunchbox”, Boambee’s Mary K has been invited to perform in Toronto, Canada next month.

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“Though we share a common language, Canadians have a different sense of humour and I want to milk that,” Mary K told NOTA.

Retiring from nursing after 37 years, Mary deems her new career a logical progression.

“I see it as a different service, just with a wicked smile,” Mary told NOTA.

“There has been a lot of trauma in my work and it has accumulated, so I purged by writing a book called ‘Slow Walk to the Phone’ and now I am allowing myself to laugh about life on stage which is weirdly comforting.”

Mary K says yes to many requests to do stand-up comedy, admitting she has no big dreams but to giggle and guffaw with the crowd, some who are into their nineties.

“Being allowed to be an idiot is superb,” she told NOTA.

“I record the shows and play it back, laughing hysterically at our collective glee.”

Mary said she loves the fact that no-one knows her as she scurries back into the darkness.

Her ambition, she said, is to have no ambition.

“My last gig was at the end of a silent retreat, which is a difficult thing to explain on my CV, though I could create a niche,” she told NOTA.

“People say I’m brave, but I see brave as taking your kids to the shopping mall, and forgetting your purse.”

To develop her comedic arsenal, Mary has attended two weekend comedy workshops run by Melbourne’s Tim Ferguson from the Doug Anthony Allstars and Mandy Nolan from Mullumbimby.

“Mandy told me not to compare myself to anyone and to not try to be funny as it will just happen,” said Mary K.

“It took me fifteen years after the first workshop to decide to give it another go, as I was too chicken then, but now, I’m doing this for myself and so I am giving it a burl,” she said.