Walking The Dog with Emily Dean - Marjolein Robertson (Part One)

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

This week Emily and Ray take a Regent’s Park stroll with award-winning comedian Marjolein Robertson.Marjolein has become one of the most distinctive voices in British comedy, blending sharp humour with rich storytelling inspired by her Shetland upbringing and Dutch heritage. She chats to Emily about growing up on a small farm in Shetland, working as a town planner, moving to Amsterdam, and the unexpected path that eventually led her into stand-up.They also talk about her ADHD diagnosis and how it helped her better understand her life and creativity. Along the way, Emily and Ray discover a truly unforgettable laugh, one that almost rivals the local geese.Tickets and dates for her new show Lein (the final part of a trilogy derived from her own name) are available at https://marjoleinrobertson.com.It’s a warm, funny and quietly magical conversation with a unique comic voice that Emily and Ray absolutely adored.Follow Emily:Instagram X Walking The Dog is produced by Will NicholsMusic: Rich JarmanArtwork: Alice LudlamPhotography: Karla Gowlett Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Isn't that lovely that you've managed to see to reframe him urinating into such a poetic light? Come on. This week on Walking the Dog, Ray and I took a Regence Park stroll with award-winning comedian Mary Elaine Robertson. Over the past few years, Mary Elaine has become one of the most distinctive voices in British comedy, partly because she's hilarious, but also because she blends that humour with this real gift for storytelling, which is all kind of inspired by her Shetland upbringing and Dutch heritage, and it's led to her performing a string of sold-out shows across the UK. And we had the loveliest chat about everything,

from her childhood growing up on a small farm in Shetland, to her stint as a town planner, and her decision to relocate to Amsterdam, which ultimately led to her making a shift into comedy. We also chatted about her ADHD diagnosis and how it's kind of really helped her make sense. of her life. Ray and I absolutely loved Mary Elaine. She's got this kind of slightly magical quality to her and hands down the best laugh I've ever heard in my life. She definitely gave the Regents Park

Geese a run for their money. If you want to go and see this fabulous woman live, her new show Lean, spelt Ellie I N, which is the final part of a trilogy of shows derived from her own name, is on tour now and she's well worth seeing. So do go book your tickets at Mary Elaine, Robert com. Really hope you enjoy our walk. I'll stop talking now and hand over to this brilliant human being herself. Here's Mary Lane and Ray Ray. Do you need me to hold that for a second or are you okay? Oh you're such a helpful podcast. Do you want me too or is it okay? I've got my hot chocolate and I'm carrying Ray. It's just I don't know if it'll be like hot in your hands. So when I was holding Ray earlier on I got this hot drink. I was like, don't pour the hot drink on the dog. Oh yeah. He wouldn't like that.

Right, should we cross over? So this bit, Ray is definitely allowed in, because this section, because they're Royal Parks, they can be a bit choosy about which bits they'll let dogs into. It's a really dumb question. When you say Royal Parks, is that like a specific, they actually owned by the Crown or something? It's not a dumb question because I don't actually know the answer to that.

I've never worked out why they're poor Royal Parks. I don't know if they're just a bit high since bouquet and snobby, Float's bucket They're probably not I think it's maybe because it is to do with Yeah look Royal Parks

It must be to do with the Crown Estate Oh it's a charity it says Hello There you go Royal Parks is a charity Well does that mean King Charles Is a charity I suppose he is we pay for him

Yeah We're all giving our donations on a yearly basis. So we're in Regent's Park, we should say, I'm so excited to have this women on the podcast. I find you hilariously funny, but I'm also very fascinated by you. Thank you. And I also think you have one of the most extraordinary laughs I've ever heard, and I mean that in a good way. Sometimes it's bad, though, because I've been at comedy clubs when I'm watching the show before I go on stage, and I laugh lots. And then, you know,

the audience looks around at me, like they're annoyed by my laugh, and then I have to go on stage and be like, oh, that person really hates me. Does it mean that when you're going to see your friends, other comedians, they know, if they don't hear your laugh and they know you're in tonight, that's a bad night for them? That's a good point. I never thought about that, because I have had people have been like, oh, I heard you were in, because I heard my laugh. But I once, I don't even know if Steve McPherson, but he's recording his first ever special,

and I went to go watch it because I thought that's a nice supportive thing to do. also enjoy a show. I'll go watch a show, be a pal, be the recording. And I sat next one on the cameras, and he was like, because of your laugh, we couldn't use the audience capture sound from that camera because it's just me like, the whole way through the show. It's really interesting, because we're going to talk about your heritage

because I'm fascinated by Shetland. I'm not going to call it the Shetland, I was going to pretend like I'm from Shetland and say Shetland. Thank you. But what's interesting is that it feels more, almost more Norwegian than Scottish in some ways. And I used to have, when I heard your laugh the very first time, we had these family friends in Glasgow. And there was a very specific family laugh like that. And it reminded me, I thought, oh my God, it sounds like the Mullins.

This is like them. I thought, is this a Scottish thing? Well, I don't know. I think my laugh comes through my mum, who's Dutch. Yeah, maybe it is. She's got this like, ha ha ha, ha, like there's a really loud laugh. And I don't know if it's, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know if a laugh is something that you learn from other people around you.

Because we always watch films and stand up as a family and we'd all like properly barely laugh at the tally. Yeah. So I think maybe I've like learned it. I also, weirdly enough, my cousin, who's one of my best friends, her ma'am, is one of those people who just like talks and chuckles at the same time. Like, oh, ho, yes, yes, yes. what I find it. And I just find that always is like the most endearing and puts me at comfort.

And she'd be like, bye. And like laugh as she walks away. And I was like, I love that. But I don't know if it's like growing up around her has made me more like, I feel like laughing is a really nice thing to do because laughing, they believe, is older than speaking. Really? And one of the theories is that it's a attention breaker.

And it gets people on the same page because laughter's infectious. Yeah. So there's something quite nice. and ancient and and... And it's interesting because you're utterly unselfconscious and present in that moment when you laugh, aren't you?

Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm so happy you're here today and I think you've already taking quite a shine to Raymond, have you? He's so cute. He's the cutest slash most regal little dog when he's sitting on the chair on the cafe

and he had like a flowing gown. Hi-hi, hi. He's ever so sweet. Should we let him down for a bit? We expected to have to pay something Does he want Gordon or does he want to be held? Let's have a look. Come on, Raymond.

Do you want to go down? Come along, please. Come on, Ray. He does this a lot. Can you see he knows his own mind? Yeah, he's gone off to sniff. Oh, when he cocks his leg. Hello.

Again, I often have to point this out. That was Raymond, not the producer that Maronheim was talking about. Let me just put his little lead on. He sometimes needs encouragement. So you very kindly turned up to walk Raymond with me today. Do you have a dog yourself? I grew up with dogs. I don't have one new, but the dream is to have a dog again because I miss having them.

But we always grew up with border collies because I lived on a craft with sheep. Yeah. I love border collies. Do you? Well, I just love, close your ears, Raymond. I love their intelligence. Oh, he's still strutting away. they're so clever. We used to have a chart on the wall for how many words

whenever a dog knew. A dog Callie, she knew so many, I think she knew like 28 words at one point. Really? She was so good and she knew phrases. So like when you went to go get peats to burn in the fire, because that's the fuel we used to burn as the peat. We'd say, put me to pit nuke and she just knew that meant to go and sit in the peat pile, wait for us to come with the bucket and gather some. Let's see what happens when you say that to row. Raymond, puppy to pit nuke. puppy to have hit nuke.

He actually shook his head. Yeah, he did. He was like, no, it's dirty. I'm not sure. He said it again. But yeah, so we had boarded collies. So we had Tara when I was born. Then we had a dog called Callie.

Bless her, she had like a funny bit, but like sometimes working dogs, this is the one thing about working dogs. Sometimes they're not such good pets. Really? Well, like sometimes they're more like working and less, like the more you cuddle them, I feel like the less good they are in the field,

but maybe I'm just wrong. But like Cali... You've got a treat him mean to keep him king. Yeah, she was like... And bless her, when I was really, really young, because you got when I was young, I tried to do a wheelbarrow race with her, you know, when you hold up the back legs and then you run.

Like, obviously you don't do that with a dog, but as a small... Of course, yeah. And she turned in, she bit me, and I've scarred my lips. Can you see, like, two lines? Yes, I can see me. That must have been frightening for your parents. Um, well, as soon as she bit me,

she like immediately went doing on all fours. Like she knew she did a wrong thing. It wasn't an attack. It was like a reaction to me picking up her back legs. Right. She never bit again, but it was just like, yeah. It was like, it's a lesson for me because... Sorry, Marilyn, just work out where we're going.

How to work with animals. Yeah. Yeah. Like she's still an animal. So that was when you were growing up in Shetland. Which is you obviously talk about a lot in your comedy. Yeah. And it sounds like such a properly magical place.

You know, because people have this idea of when they think Ireland, Scotland, they think of Sky or something, don't they? Yeah. And it feels like Shetland is like a whole other place entirely, very wild. And I think of it more sort of Heathcliff, you know, Shetland. I think, yeah, you hit the nail on the head when you were like, it seems more not, oh, another dog. This is a corgi. We love a corgi.

Look at this. What's this corgi called? Hello. This corgi is Fluffy Jen. Fluffy Jen? The name is Fluffy Jen. Fluffy Jen. Oh, I love you too, Raymond. I love you too. What's the name, though?

His name is Fluffy. Oh, his name is Fluffy. You're called Fluffy. Ray. This is Raymond. Raymond. Fluffy? Hello Fluffy. Very royal, aren't that? That's what the royal, the queen's dogs.

Hello, my sweet, aren't you? Oh, he's very sweet, isn't he? It's gorgeous. Oh, look at them standing together. New friends. Look at that new friends. Nice to meet you. Oh. Go on, what were you saying about Shetland?

You're right, it is very Nordic, I think, because we used to be Nordic until 1469. Sorry, do you want to say that again? Because I rattled my button so bad. Okay? And we used to be Nordic till 1469. So we are part of Norway, and at that point Norway was under the Danish crown

and there was a marriage between James III of Scotland and Princess Margaret. And to, in lieu of a dowry, because Scandinavia had no money at that time, which is hard to imagine, They gave the islands of Otney. They gave Otney as a dowry, but Scotland said it wasn't enough,

so they threw in Shetland as well last minute. And we were given over temporarily as a dowry in place of the money, and then we never went back. We were never, I think they tried to back. They say they tried to get us back several times. Some say 14. I think that's a questionable number.

I'm not sure, personally, if that's right or not. So a lot of the inhabitants, would they still have Norwegian ancestry? Yeah, they actually did like Viking DNA tests in Shetland and it's really funny because some are like really Nordic, some are really Scottish. I think sometimes people forget that before we were even Nordic, we were Pictish, we were whatever had travelled up

through the mainland of Scotland into Orney and Shetland. So we've actually kind of yo-yoed backwards and forwards between the two. But what it's resulted in is like Shetland's like a melting pot of like Nordic, Scottish, but also something that's just unique to Shetland itself. Right. Or that Orkney and Shetland share together. Like there's words that you only find in these islands and, yeah.

And it's a pretty, I mean, remote. It's not remote if you're living there. No, nice, nice endence. Remote is relative. It is, though, isn't it? It seems an odd thing to say because you think, well, remote depending on where you are. But it feels to us, you know, living in London, I suppose,

is used to living in these very built-up areas where everywhere, you know, is very easily accessible. it feels like that way to me and I wonder there feels like something kind of romantic about that in some ways which I know is a bit of a cliche but well how does that affect you do you think as a person growing up somewhere like that? I think when you're a bear and you don't know any different but I would go to the Netherlands every year

because my mom's Dutch and stay there and we stayed in the small town of Netherlands and it literally felt like the city but it is funny I remember I think because when I finished you and I climbed this big hill and I looked around and you can see the sea at every corner and you're like, whoa, we really are just this island, aren't we? There's the North Atlantic there and there's an North Sea and we're just like nestled in between the two. And your parents, you were saying, was it a farm that you grew up on?

A small sheep farm, so a lot of Shetland is a lot of people there will have a bit of land which will croft and usually this land isn't even, it can and can be, but traditionally it wouldn't even be owned by the individual. So there's lairds and lairds will on a great way of the land and the land is divided into crofts. And some of these croft divisions can be as ancient as how they were divided during Nordic times where I believe the saying was that the land was divided from the topmost stone of the hill to the lowest most stone in the ebb and the width was to how fertile the land was. So everyone had a strip of land in which they should be able to provide for themselves and their family. And in the far...

I've ever had a guest on who's so well-informed and knowledgeable about the area they come. It's fascinating. It's fascinating. It's so interesting and you know what it makes me realize how little most of us know about our heritage and where we come from and the people we come from. And it's kind of amazing. I think I just have a huge interest in the history. I studied archaeology but also I think with Shetland is for the interesting because our old language know. has been almost entirely lost because it wasn't ever written.

It was a spoken language. We didn't write back then. So then when there is bits of history or knowledge we have, I really endeavour to keep it in my memory because that's how we have it in the first place for a large part of it. And is your accent, which is so beautiful the way you speak, and very magical and kind of almost lyrical, is that sort of similar to how most people would speak on Shetland

or is that partly to do with your Dutch heritage as well from your mum's side? I make jokes on stage that my voices mix, but I do that to do jokes about it. I think there's definitely influences in the tone into my pronunciation that come from my mum. But this is a Shetland voice predominantly. But it's funny because I was doing a podcast before this one. And in that one I was definitely, because I wasn't speaking about Shetland in such detail, I was speaking in a less strong accent.

I'm going to listen to that, I bet you're going to know what, like, yeah. Because when I'm doing here, I canap, and Knapp is to speak to be understood. So if I canap, altering my voice, is that code switching? Yeah, I like Knapp. Yeah, Knapp. I'm just going to say Knapp. Yeah. But I do that.

So I think certainly when I go to America, I grew up in Australia. And so I can sort of slip back into it occasionally. You know when you're a kid it's very formative, it just lodges in there somehow, and it never kind of leaves. And I'm very aware that whenever I go to America, cab drivers and hotel, they always say, are you Australian?

And it's only that point I realise I'm speaking in an Australian accent subconsciously because I think they'll understand it better. Wow. Because possibly it's closer to American and they're more... I don't know, it's really weird, but I thought, God, I didn't know I was doing that.

So I wonder if it's that subconsciously, maybe you're doing that as well. So consciously mirroring, yeah. So if I'm around friends who are English, I'll speak less Shetland, less broad Shetland. If I'm with Shetland, I'll speak more broad Shetland. If I'm with Shetinders, I perhaps went to school with, where when you're talked to read and write, you kind of just talk in this kind of way anyway, I'll weirdly Knapp. I love Knapp. I'm going to stop saying it. And Kinep means to sort of just shift into when in Rome, essentially. Yeah, so we tend to... Let's go this way because there's noisy men there.

Oh, okay. I always say men. I never know if it is, but men are noisier. Sorry, Will, that's my producer, but it is the fact of life. Usually. So you talked about school, and I'm interested to know what your school years were like and what you were like as a person. Okay. That's tickled.

It has, because you forget this when you look back at your school years and you think of reports of things teachers said, and you're like, how was I not diagnosed earlier? I want to go back to your school years then and this is in Shetland. Was it presumably quite a small school? Yeah, it's quite funny because it jumps every year or like every different school were quite big

because my first school, to begin with, my year had four people in it. By the time I went to high school there was 200 people in my year. So as I... But in the four sets up, there's no place to hide. No, and you're in a little bit of. classroom with other berns from other years as well like you might have p one two and

three like five year old to seven year old all in the one room together um but it's it's it was really nice i loved it but i was always told that i was a chatterbox and i'd have to be moved to not sit beside certain people because i was too chatty and i talked the whole time well there's only a choice of three at one point get to the back of the class oh dear you are at the back of the class that it's just like it's just like ADHD Right. But in that same way when girls who are chatterboxes in their school reports, when they're older, most likely just have ADHD.

Right. My art teacher said that he would have to make, because our art teacher would, because we're all small country schools, the art teacher and PE teacher would travel around the schools. And he said that when he'd come to our school, and I had the same art teacher from the age of 5 till 16 because of the smaller schools, he said he had to allocate in his lesson plan five minutes from my news because I would just talk at him before he could do anything with the rest of the class and it's so fascinating isn't it because I've had a

friend of mine in Pierre Navelli who's a stand-up yeah and he's lovely isn't he and he is a good mate of mine and he's been diagnosed with autism and I think that's why I get on so well with him not the only reason but you know yeah then your divergencies connect as you know and And he was saying to me that, you know, people will often say, oh, everybody's got it in this business. Everyone says they've got IDHC and autism. And he does this brilliant bit on it saying essentially,

yes, isn't it strange that all the people who've elected to join train club have autism? Isn't it weird that all the people at the Star Trek Convention have autism? And he's absolutely right because, of course, what he's saying is that, no, that's why. That's why you're attracted to this job. It's highly likely there's going to be a much higher chance of you being neurodivergent. If you want to go into a career like this, which relies on high adrenaline surges, is unpredictable, precarious, financial, all these things. So it's almost like people are seeing it from the wrong way, I think.

They're saying why there's so many people instead of seeing, no, that makes sense that... There's a really good way to look at it. Yeah, there's a large proportion of people who probably will be neurodivergent, because let's be honest, it's kind of not a normal thing to want to do. No, I know because people ask me, because I stop taking my medication. I don't talk about this, because in Stasia I still talk about taking my medication because I've got a joke and I need to update my jokes. But I've got a joke about me taking medication, but I actually don't take it anymore.

And it's because I realised I'm in a really, really fortunate position that with doing stand-up. Yeah. I can do the day the way I need to do the day, because I don't have to go into an office from a certain time of day to a certain time of day. and like you say as well the high pressure bits when you perform because that's like you must be at the gig to perform at this time I'm not late for gigs

because it's a scary must be there for things well those are the deadlines every day I was late to the office every day but those are the deadlines you respond to it has to be pain of death you know that's that's the only way that will get me responding to things do you know that's do you know why this is

oh okay so I I'm so scared that I'm going to say this wrong. But, like, because you know how, like, we're, one of the things of ADHD is we're lacking in dopamine. So whether we don't make it or whether we're low in it so it doesn't pass from synapse to synapse and just gets lost in the gloop of the brain. Okay, I can't remember the science. But we're lacking in dopamine, but they've been recently discovering we're lacking in something else as well. And it's kind of the hormone, I think it's a hormone, or at least the chemical that says, you must do this now.

So when some people think, oh, I've got an essay to write, it's due in two weeks. I'll start it now. We think I've got an estuette's doing two weeks but the chemical doesn't kick in to start it. We don't have the, it's like it's almost like somebody described it as like you're in a car, you know you need to drive to a location but until the last minute until there's an added pressure of failure and you can't turn the key to start going. Yeah. We basically always need the cops behind us at high speed yeah to get anything that aren't to even get in the car. I like your cop analogy means you don't pull over for them.

You drive away. Hello. Then I'll find out I never bothered for renew my licence or insurance. So your school, it sounds so fascinating to me. And just growing up, as you say, you know, certainly the four people in the class is kind of everything I'd hoped for. But then you went to a slightly bigger school and you were saying that, you know, this this sense that perhaps, and they wouldn't have diagnosed it at the time, because people

weren't as evolved with regards to this kind of stuff as they are now. Yeah. But it's interesting that that was showing up at school already, just a slight sense of otherness, I suppose. And was it always clear that you were funny? Was that something, for example, that your parents were aware of? Were you always seen as unique in that respect? I had a real obsession with memorizing jokes

and repeating down to people and having joke books and memorise the jokes repeating them to people. But I never thought about being a comedian and I loved watching comedy, especially like Billy Connolly when it was on the telly, even though he swore we were allowed to watch it because Cesar's just like has this place

in everybody's heart, especially in Scotland. It's like the only swear you think I was like to watch, really. But I never thought about being a comedian and I remember one of my pals when we were in secondary school and at secondary school we had originally 14 people in our year, so that for me was a huge jump-up.

But I remember one of our pals... God displace it, so we're running with people. Too many to remember the names of. The teachers actually said we were the smallest year they'd had in so long we'd be no bother. But then they hardly supervised us and we became, and I quote, one of the worst behaviors they'd ever seen. Because there's 14 of us that we ran riot. Wow.

But one of my pals at school in that year, Grant was saying he loves stand-up and he wants to be a stand-up. And he used to practice stand-up on us at the break times. And I used to be like, that's incredible. He's so brave. Wow and I never even considered that I would do it but I did really enjoy acting so I did all like the school plays and I did Shetland youth theatre plays and I'd spend my summers going to youth theatre every day of the week it's funny because fog got off and like how did you get into comedy when you lived in Shetland but

like Shetland is a very humorous place I think in is a small community and everyone knows everyone and there's not really you don't have the layers of society of like class system is such in such a small community and if anyone gets big for their boots they get made fun of immediately you know like in making a ribbing is taking someone down a peg but also you make fun of someone if you admire them in the community like we have festivals in the winter Viking festivals and people are more aware of our Viking festivals through the processions and the burning of the galley and that's often shared on the news like a thousand people carrying torches and burning a large replica Viking galley but that's only part of the

celebrations because the other huge part of that festival is that everyone in the procession is a member of a group and those groups visit different venues attached to the festival and perform sketches based on what's happened over the last year in the community and the newts so from a young age we're always going to events and you're always watching people reenacting someone's car rolling off a pier into the water or somebody seen rollerblading in the middle of nowhere on a smaller road like weird I can't think of examples right now but anything anything that happens in the community it's likely to end up being a sketch that everyone

last that together including the person themselves and were you an extrovert child who had a kind of big performing instinct or were you shy extravert were you yeah big extrovert but I think and again I wonder if one of those things that I don't I don't be one of those people says everything is ADHD but just when you get that diagnosis and you start to make more sense of things I was really good at just going into any situation at first watching it and then acting in a way that I thought they wanted me to behave in that way so masking essentially yeah big time yeah yeah but I was and when I felt comfortable I'd yeah definitely be an extrovert right so you were an extrovert but you were able

in order to fit in and not appear different you were always very conscious of blending into whatever chair you happen to be sitting in, socially, you know. I think, I think I do, I do think that was a relief of the diagnosis, because I used to think, am I an insincere person? That if they're quieter people, I'll go quieter, that the lighter people, all match that volume. And then for years, I was like, am I just, am I fake? That's also empathy, I think.

I think that's someone who's empathetic, because I think, you know when you're with quieter people bursting in noisily is not empathetic you know I think that's also is a sign of being someone who reads rooms quite well

and I think a lot of comics would define themselves in that way it's your job after all isn't it it's funny that after you say that a goose just starts losing its mind that's an extrovert geese yeah rude I mean it's not all geese

That's a... Well, maybe it's just a really extrovert, like Jim Carrey of the goose world. I couldn't believe how close we walked past those people. Oh, that's a good-looking dog. Look at that boy. Is that a golden retriever? That's my dream dog.

Is that what you want to go? Yeah. Yeah. When I have a couch that I don't care about. I see you as a retriever girl. They're pretty magical, aren't they? Yeah. Look how elegant these birds are.

I almost in lockdown, I wanted to adopt a dog because I was in one place and with this job you're never in one place. And I looked at this like husky cross collie, husky, collie cross, I think it was, the rescue dog. But I had to be like, I can't adopt this dog. Because I was like, because when lockdown lifts, that is not a dog you can park into a car and tour with. And you can go to borrow my doggy, which is good. Yeah, you should look into that. Yeah.

Well, you can, you know, you have one for the night or a couple of days or something. So... Does that... Does that dog poop? Look at them. I love these geese. They come out. Walking drunkenly, aren't they?

I tell you what the geese walk like. Oh, it's his foot soar. He looks a bit like a drunk person pretending to be sober. But maybe he... Maybe that's why he was making that noise. He hurt himself. I wish we should call the Park Ranger just in case. There's a big drama in their world anyway.

Yeah. So it's because, do you know about Imbulk and Candlemas? No. Oh yeah, so Imbulk is the celebration between midwinter and the beginning of spring. So the idea is that the Earth has been dreaming and it's time for the Earth to wake up. Oh, okay. And it's coming back to fertility. And in Inbulk it's the Irish goddess Bridget, who's a trifecta goddess of, I think it's smithing poetry and maybe fertility.

ideas that Bridgett's is coming back and the earth I believe is going to wake up. In Shetland we don't traditionally celebrate in bulk we celebrate Candlemas which is the second of February today where we can predict the weather for the coming weeks and months because if candle mass the day be bright and fair half the winters to come in mayor if candle must be dark and dull half the winter has gone at you so I can't tell but it looks dull so we might be able to me We might be in front of early spring. Well, listen, Ray, we're learning so much.

We might have to go for a little visit to Shetland. Oh, you should. I think Ray would like it. So I want to, I'm interested in how you ended up in Amsterdam. Oh, yeah. Because I feel that sort of almost helped kickstart your comedy career. And you went to, was it Edinburgh you studied archaeology? Yeah.

Really well read. You haven't done your snoopin? I do know. I do my work. And were you thinking at that point, I'm going to do this degree, but I'd ultimately like to end up as a stand-up, or were you just thinking I want to,

I'm interested in archaeology and maybe I'll become like Indiana Jones? Well, yeah, because originally I thought I'd go and do acting. And my sister went to the RASAMD, now the Conservatoire of Scotland, and acting and directing. And I play fiddle as well, so they have music and drama.

And I remember speaking to them about going ahead for an audition there. And I was like, I'm going to do that. And my teenage rebellion was me deciding not to become an actor, but to go into a full-time professional and archaeology instead. And my mom was so disappointed.

She said, I thought you were going to act. What does your mom do? She was a nurse in Amsterdam. But when she moved to Shand, she was a full-time mom. Yeah. And then she's done like jobs here in their like in shops. And was your dad in that picture?

Did you go up with your dad as well? Yeah, he was an architect, but he retired. He had early retirement and then became a local counsellor and just crafted as well, put on the craft. So your mum was kind of hoping you'd end up performing. Yeah, she wanted me to go into the arts. My family's actually been really, really supportive of arts careers. My oldest sister, they're really excited acting,

and they really wanted my brother to go to art school. So if you've got one brother and one sister? Yeah, yeah. And my brother, he didn't go to art school, but he moved away for a few years and came back, and now he does a lot art as well. He does professional artwork, so it's great. So you ended up, you ended up moving over to Amsterdam.

Oh, yeah. Essentially because you would date, am I getting this right, you were a town planner. How'd you know all this? I know things. Who are you talking to? I know things. And then?

Sorry, that noise is awful. Sorry, cleared my nose. You end up dating this guy. Was he into jazz or was a jazz? How'd you know this? Or was a jazz musician or something? He should have a big red book. This is your life.

And you ended up? Yes. Was he the reason you went there? Well, yeah, so he was going to go and do jazz in Amsterdam. And he's like, do you want to come? And I was, what I was, what I was. work as a time planner and I had my kind of my life set before me because I studied archaeology was working in time planning with like a like nod to conservation and and looking after listed

buildings and then my job was offering to put me through a postgraduate degree in planning my postgrad in planning and they're going to pay for it I could study it on office time right and I was looking at buying a place to live in and my folks would help me out with the deposit and then I'd pay them back as I had a nice paid job monthly, almost like rent. And then I thought, wait a minute, this is my, this is, this is my 20s being set before me. And I thought, I need to try something else because, and I don't think you need to leave Shetland. I think you can have your whole life in Shetland be fulfilled and happy. But just for myself, I was like I went to it in

archaeology I never tried anything else I kind of fell into this job because it's my summer job I know there's something in me where I want to go and try some stuff and I never ever ever want to wake up and shelt in one day and resent it because I didn't try yeah so I packed it all in and just moved to Amsterdam

and at the time had a terrible year and the first flat we lived in My partner at the time was like, it's a bit weird setup, but you'll see when you get here. And we were like in this large double bedroom, but the landlord slept on a couch by our bedroom door. Are you joking?

And I was like, I guess this is what city life is like. That's a lute bike. Oh my God. That is the weirdest thing I've ever heard. And our landlord would just be like, hi, 24-7. Then he bought the new GT. I'd have to help him complete his GTA missions because he was too high to play his own game.

And I went out and got a job in a restaurant. I went around with my CV to all these places. And this restaurant took me in for an interview. But in the interview, the guy owned the restaurant kept pouring me beers, and the two of us got really drunk, which was a red flag to my partner at the time. He was like, I don't know.

But I just needed a job. There's a lot of quite dodgy people supposedly in positions of some sort of will responsibility that you really do I mean that's terrible yeah and the restaurant it turned out was like also so it turned out that the landlord was illegally subletting us his room whilst on benefits so whilst we're visiting I mean I'd never have guessed there was anything on to ward about this chat honestly I did not I I just was that this is a this is a selfless man letting us have his bed and

And, oh, it's not something good there. He's having a little smell. There's a story there. Yeah, what's the story right? Have you got the... Elene? Thank you. Oh, add in your chapter.

I love that Marilyn said that. He's so sweet. I'm going to just repeat that in case anyone didn't catch that, because I didn't at the time. Marilyn just said something brilliant, which was when she saw Ray Wing on a piece of grass, Mary Lynn's interpretation was adding your chapter to the story there

because another dog was going to come up and be like oh isn't that lovely that you've managed to see to reframe him urinating into such a poetic light I really hope you love part one of this week's Walking the Dog if you want to hear the second part of our chat it'll be out on Thursday so whatever you do don't miss it and remember to subscribe so you can join us on our walks every week