From Austin’s comedy clubs to Adult Swim: Meet Martha Kelly, the master of the late arrival
Picture it: You’re in your forties, working for an online proofreading company, living with your parents, and contemplating a pet-sitting gig because Hollywood’s not exactly blowing up your phone. Now fast-forward to age 57. Suddenly, you’re an Emmy nominee, you’ve stared down Zendaya on Euphoria, and you’re the voice of everyone’s new favorite DEA agent on Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects — which, for the record, just scored a second season. Martha Kelly’s glow-up took decades, but oh man, it was worth the wait.
The early gig: Stand-up and second chances
Martha Kelly didn’t kick down the doors of stardom at twenty-two. Actually, she started dipping her toe into stand-up around age 25, hitting up LA’s Laugh Factory while all her friends battled nerves and the giggles at open mics. She didn’t stick the landing right away, though. Nerves gnawed at her. Between set anxiety and an inner critic set to high volume, she bounced in and out of comedy until she hit 30. That’s when things started to stick.
Sure, LA is fine, but Austin, Texas? It unlocked something. Martha moved there at the turn of the millennium. Within months, she toppled the competition and snagged Cap City Comedy Club’s “Funniest Person in Austin” title. Not bad for a newbie, right? Local comics raved about her dry, fearless delivery. Even the tough critics at the Austin Chronicle marveled at this “transplant” who swooped in like some sardonic superhero.
So, the timeline so far: there’s the LA false starts, then an Austin triumph in 2000, then the big move — Comedy Central’s Laugh Riots national competition. Guess what? She won that too, in 2002. And then, as if to make comics everywhere green with envy, she landed on Just for Laughs’ New Faces roster the same year. Not too shabby for someone who nearly bolted after a flop or two.
Winning Austin, scraping by, and hanging on
Of course, the stand-up fairy tale doesn’t always pay the rent. After a parade of hard-won gigs and some dark chapters — think depression, sobriety setbacks, therapy, and living with her parents — Martha kept fighting. She actually credited the Austin comedy scene with keeping her afloat. Stage time and weirdos, she swore, can rescue a soul but won’t always find you an agent.
As she recounted to the press (with zero self-pity but plenty of bluntness), her backup plan was grim. She took online proofreading gigs, and the idea of starting a pet-sitting business actually sounded like a step up. Nobody was calling with a sitcom deal. She was closer to “reluctantly thriving in retail” than “getting her own show.” But then, sometimes, luck drives a clown car.
The Galifianakis effect: When Baskets called
You never know which gig (or friend) changes your life. For Martha, it was a voicemail from her old buddy Zach Galifianakis, the bearded comic chaos agent she’d met in LA open mics back in the 1990s. He just called, basically, out of nowhere. Would she like to try acting? She reflexively replied, “You know I can’t act, right?” But Zach didn’t care. “Just say the lines like you would talk in real life,” he said.
So, Baskets was born. It landed on FX in January 2016 with Martha as Martha Brooks, the bone-dry, achingly sincere insurance adjuster and friend to Chip Baskets (Galifianakis, of course). Louie Anderson’s heartbreaking turn as Christine Baskets got the flashy Emmy, but Martha’s role as the scene-stealing foil left critics star-struck. Think deadpan, but with a piercing clarity you can’t shake.
Baskets ran four seasons, and along the way, industry types started noticing Martha’s style. It’s understated, but she commands a scene just by blinking at the right moment. Suddenly, people started calling.
So you’ve seen her face: The “that’s her!” effect
The next few years delivered a string of high-profile cameos. Maybe you spotted her as the Washington Monument tour guide in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)? Or as the court-appointed evaluator in Marriage Story (2019), coolly observing Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson flail through divorce? No? How about recurring guest turns on Hacks, Grace and Frankie, or What We Do in the Shadows?
Let’s pause: This whole second act didn’t land until she was well into her late forties. Martha didn’t just sneak in the door; she walked through while most Tinseltown types bought sports cars and hair transplants. She just kept showing up, blinking, and postponing her pet-sitting empire.
Euphoria: The calm, terrifying center
Then, because fate has taste, the HBO hit Euphoria decided to recast the entire “drug kingpin” trope. Enter Martha Kelly as Laurie, the most quietly chilling drug dealer on TV. No gun-waving, no shouting. Instead, she offered Rue (Zendaya) juice boxes, icy patience, and threats delivered so gently you wanted to cry.
Season 2 of Euphoria (2022) turned Laurie into one of the show’s most unforgettable characters. Martha’s “mild-mannered sociopath” vibe — her term — scared everyone. There’s one bathtub scene where viewers held their breath, and, behind the scenes, she actually worked with showrunner Sam Levinson to make sure things didn’t go over the top. She told the press she found some aspects uncomfortable, and Levinson agreed to dial back the sexualized elements. The vibe was, “Here’s a woman who appears safe, but actually? She might be the scariest person in the room.”
The Emmy nomination came next. Martha, still gobsmacked, called the experience “holding on to the back bumper” of the Euphoria party bus. She earned a nod for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2022. She didn’t win (the Squid Game got that one), but her phone has not stopped ringing since.
Carol & the End of the World and the cartoon takeover
Now, shift gears for a second: The next bend in Martha’s road involved animation — a style shift, maybe, but a testament to her chameleon magic. In December 2023, Netflix dropped Carol & the End of the World. Martha starred as Carol, a voice role that swapped Euphoria’s terror for existential malaise and dry wit. Critics loved it. Rotten Tomatoes singled her out for “dour wit,” and Metacritic kept the praise coming. Suddenly, Martha ruled another corner of the small screen, but this time, she did it with just her voice.
Common Side Effects: Welcome to the wildest party at 57
Which brings us to the headline act for fans like us: Common Side Effects. Adult Swim’s 2025 “comedic thriller” brings Martha Kelly front and center yet again, this time as DEA Agent Harrington — one-half of the show’s most chill best-friend duo, alongside Joseph Lee Anderson’s Agent Copano.
Let’s break down the essentials:
- The show premiered February 2, 2025, just in time for the polar vortex of your streaming schedule.
- Executive producers? Mike Judge, Greg Daniels, and the usual Bandera Entertainment heavy-hitters.
- Ten episodes, Max streaming next-day, weekly chaos guaranteed.
- Good news: in late March 2025, Adult Swim renewed it for Season 2.
Now, the premise here is equal parts bonkers and darkly relevant: A pharmaceutical tech discovers “Blue Angel”—a miracle mushroom with real healing power. Naturally, that means Big Pharma, the DEA, and a circus of other weirdos want in. The animation style pops, and the dialogue’s razor-sharp. But, let’s be honest: the Copano-Harrington dynamic belongs to Martha. As Agent Harrington, she delivers dry one-liners, sly banter, and Law & Order energy filtered through a “seen it all” prism.
According to The Verge, the writers frame the U.S. healthcare system as the show’s real villain. Decider recommends, “Stream it,” and Uproxx calls the Copano-Harrington duo a standout. Even the international crowd got in on the buzz, with Germany’s Adult Swim airing episodes just a day after the U.S.
A pattern: Comedy, menace, and deadpan brilliance
There’s something hypnotic about Martha’s delivery. Whether she’s the anchor in a surreal clown sitcom (Baskets), the low-key sociopath in a high school fever dream (Euphoria), the sad soul in an animated apocalypse (Carol), or the DEA’s driest enforcer (Common Side Effects), she always finds the heartbeat of a scene. Critics and fans alike praise the way she flips “neutral” into “hilarious” or “scary,” depending on what the story needs.
She doesn’t go for flashy. She goes for real. Maybe that’s why every project suddenly feels like a different kind of thrill ride. And she’s always playing the long game, not the overnight sensation Instagram story.
Milestones that matter: Not your typical Hollywood timeline
Let’s recap her timeline because, honestly, you just don’t see this arc every day:
- Tried stand-up in LA in her mid-twenties, recommitted at 30.
- Won “Funniest Person in Austin” in 2000, after moving to Texas.
- Landed Comedy Central’s Laugh Riots win and conquered Just for Laughs in 2002.
- Scraped by with day jobs and a steady diet of open mics, staying grounded and sober.
- First-ever acting role, Baskets, landed at age 47, thanks to Galifianakis.
- Spider-Man, Marriage Story, Grace and Frankie, and Hacks followed in her late forties and early fifties.
- Emmy nomination for Euphoria at 54.
- Led Netflix’s Carol & the End of the World in 2023, at 55.
- Kicked off Common Side Effects with Adult Swim at age 57.
- Season 2 renewal right as everyone realized “Wait, she’s everywhere now!”
These aren’t cherry-picked achievements; they’re the receipts. She truly became the “overnight success” it took decades to build.
The world according to Martha: Unfiltered, unpretentious, unforgettable
Why does Martha Kelly’s story keep sticking with people? Part of it is the raw honesty. She openly talked about anxiety, imposter syndrome, and therapy long before it was cool. She doesn’t glamorize the grind or pretend the late nights were fun. Sobriety is a constant battle, and she credits Austin’s warmth and weirdness for saving her more than once.
And, let’s be real, she’s hilarious about all of it. When she received that out-of-nowhere Emmy nod, she didn’t post a sparkly trophy emoji. She rolled her eyes in delight and cracked wise about “holding on to the back bumper.”
Not quite the end: Martha’s seat at the cool kids’ table
So where does Martha Kelly go from here? If the last five years are any clue, she’s not done surprising us. Now, with Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects about to launch a second season, there’s a good chance more shows and films will catch up to her magic.
One thing’s clear: Sometimes, the best stories start late. Sometimes, the comic hiding at the edges of the open mic — and later, the HBO afterparty — ends up right at the center of TV’s next great thrill ride. Martha Kelly didn’t break through the ceiling. She slipstreamed under the radar, got the last laugh, and made the quietest voice in the room absolutely unmissable.
Keep your eyes peeled. There’s always a little more Martha just around the corner, and TV’s definitely better because of it.
