Mary McKinley

MARY MCKINLEY is a TV writer/performer whose work has been featured most recently on the Seattle-based sketch comedy project, The 206, and on Biz Kid$, an Emmy winning young adult show on PBS. For the last thirteen years she has written standup & sketch comedy with her partner, John Keister, as well as several TV pilots. A lifelong Seattle resident, Mary graduated with a BFA from Seattle University.

 

Q&A:

 

I'm currently reading?

When We Were Romans by Matthew Kneale.
 

The last great movie I saw was:

Nebraska by Alexander Payne, screenplay by Bob Nelson. His writing is deadpan and hilarious.

 

The TV show that I can’t live without is:
Project Runway; Tim Gunn is a professional presence and a Great Soul! (Also Cosmos.)

 

My desert-island book would be:

The complete works of PJ Wodehouse.

 

The music I’m really into these days is:

Alt J, (nerd rockers from Leeds) Also Radio Citizen’s song ‘The Hop’. And I like listening to Die Antwoord. They are ‘freeky’!

 

My favorite food is:

Chocolate, just not paired with horribleness like chili or lavender... Yikes.

 

An author I’d love to have lunch with is:

Michael Palin, of Monty Python. He has written a series of travel shows which are brilliant. Then for dessert we’d have baklava – with Malala, whom I admire intensely!

 

An actor/actress I would love to meet is:

Whoever is the most hilarious!

 

My favorite quote is:

‘She’s overwrought and self-assured and knows a lot of dirty words.’ (Kurt Cobain) I know it's a misquote but a friend told me years before the internet what he was saying and I like it better.

I want this on my tombstone... (but I don’t want a grave). Also: "The price of beauty is its memory", though I don’t know who said it.

 

My dream destination is:

The Tomb of the Eagles, Orkney, Scotland --by way of ALL the stone circles of the UK. Also, more conventionally, I’ve never seen the blue sea of the Mediterranean. I mean to.

 

My writing routine includes:

Getting up really early, like 5 am… when I see ‘the movie’ most clearly. I use to write till 10 am, then sew/upholster all day. Now I don’t have to sew or upholster!

 

My causes are:

Spruce Street Social Center for Teens, PFLAG, Global Girlfriend: Microloans for empowering 3rd W. Women, Covenant House for Runaways; Outreach/Suicide Prevention for Bullied/At-risk Teens, The Other Malalas: Education for Girls, PETA, Greater Good Animal Shelters,

Nothing But Nets, (stopping the spread of Malaria), and Mercy Corps, which helps 3rd w. families rise from poverty.