Lara Rae | |
|---|---|
| Born | Al Rae 1963 (age 61–62) Glasgow, Scotland |
| Occupation | Comedian, television and radio writer |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Period | 1980s-present |
| Notable works | Little Mosque on the Prairie , The Debaters |
Lara Rae (born 1963 in Glasgow, Scotland), formerly known as Al Rae, is a Canadian comedian, best known as the longtime artistic director of the Winnipeg Comedy Festival [1] and as a frequent guest on the CBC Radio One comedy series The Debaters .
She has also been a writer for radio and television, including on Blackfly , [2] Big Sound , [2] Little Mosque on the Prairie , [2] What a Week , Definitely Not the Opera [3] and Monsoon House . [4] She has been a three-time Canadian Comedy Award nominee and a Gemini Award nominee for her work on Little Mosque. [5]
Rae started as half of the Toronto-based comedy duo Al & George with George Westerholm. [6] After the duo broke up in 1993, Rae moved to Winnipeg and began working as a solo standup comedian. [7] She wrote the play How Do You Know When You're Done?, a fictionalized account of their creative tensions and breakup which premiered at the Tim Sims Playhouse in 1999, [8] and was a founder of the Winnipeg Comedy Festival in 2002. [7]
In 2013, while still known as Al and presenting as male, Rae came out as gay at age 49. [2] She came out as transgender in October 2015. [9] At the time of her announcement, she was working as an assistant director on a stage production of Christopher Marlowe's play Edward II in Winnipeg. [1] In November, she made her first on-stage appearance as a comedian since beginning her gender transition, as part of the Empow(HER)ment comedy show in Winnipeg. [7]
She is an instructor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Winnipeg. [10]