Lara Rae (born 1963 in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

), formerly known as Al Rae, is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

comedian, best known as the longtime artistic director of the

Winnipeg Comedy Festival The Winnipeg Comedy Festival (WCF) is an annual national comedy festival, held in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The week-long festival takes place at several venues throughout the city, featuring Stand-up comedy, stand-up, Sketch comedy, sketch, and improvis ...

"Gender politics: Autobiographical show a step on Rae's journey". ''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Free Press'' (or FP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press''; previously known as the ''Winnipeg Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, natio ...

'', October 1, 2015. and as a frequent guest on the

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent o ...

comedy series ''

The Debaters ''The Debaters'' is a Canadian radio comedy show currently hosted by Steve Patterson. It airs on CBC Radio One, Saturdays at 3:00PM (PDT) and Wednesdays at 11:30AM, Eastern Time. During each episode, two debates take place between two sets of ...

''. She has also been a writer for radio and television, including on ''

Blackfly Blackfly, black-fly, or black fly may refer to: *Black fly, a fly of the family Simuliidae * ''Blackfly'' (TV series), a 2001 Canadian comedy series * ''Blackfly'' (film), a 1991 animated short based on the Wade Hemsworth song *Black bean aphid ('' ...

'',"Funny man Al Rae on coming out at 49"
''

Daily Xtra ''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former p ...

'', August 19, 2014. ''

Big Sound ''Big Sound'' was a Canadian television comedy series created, written, produced, and set in Vancouver, which debuted on the Global Television Network in 2000. Directed by Canadian director David Steinberg, it was a satire poking fun at the ego- ...

'', ''

Little Mosque on the Prairie ''Little Mosque on the Prairie'' is a Canadian television sitcom created by Zarqa Nawaz and produced by WestWind Pictures, originally broadcast from 2007 to 2012 on CBC. Filmed in Toronto, Ontario, and Indian Head, Saskatchewan, the series was ...

'', '' What a Week'', ''

Definitely Not the Opera ''Definitely Not the Opera'' (or simply ''DNTO'') was a magazine-style radio program focusing on aspects of pop culture and storytelling, that aired on CBC Radio One on Saturday afternoons from 1994 until 2016. The show's running time varied ove ...

'' and '' Monsoon House''. She has been a three-time

Canadian Comedy Award The Canadian Comedy Awards (CCA) is an annual ceremony that awards the Beaver for achievements in Canadian comedy in live performance, radio, film, television, and Internet media. The awards were founded and produced by Tim Progosh in 2000. Th ...

nominee and a

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in t ...

nominee for her work on ''Little Mosque''. Rae started as half of the

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

-based comedy duo Al & George with

George Westerholm George Westerholm is a Canadian musician, singer, comedian and writer. He has won three Canadian Comedy Awards for his work as a writer on ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes'' and ''The Toronto Show''. Comedy In the 1980s and early 1990s, Westerholm was ...

. After the duo broke up in 1993, Rae moved to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

and began working as a solo standup comedian."A laughing matter". ''

'', November 26, 2015. 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 The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theaters in Toronto and New York. Since its debut in 1959, it has bec ...

in 1999, and was a founder of the Winnipeg Comedy Festival in 2002. In 2013, while still known as Al and presenting as male, Rae came out as

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

at age 49. She came out as

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

in October 2015. At the time of her announcement, she was working as an assistant director on a stage production of

Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe ( ; Baptism, baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the English Renaissance theatre, Eli ...

's play ''

Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also known as Edward of Caernarfon or Caernarvon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the throne follo ...

'' in Winnipeg. 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. She is an instructor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at the

University of Winnipeg The University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg, UW, or U of W) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It offers undergraduate programs in art, business, economics, education, science and applied health as well as graduate progra ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rae, Lara 1963 births 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Canadian stand-up comedians Canadian women comedians Canadian women dramatists and playwrights Canadian comedy writers Canadian television writers Canadian radio writers Canadian women radio writers Canadian LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Scottish emigrants to Canada Transgender comedians Transgender women entertainers Transgender women writers Canadian transgender writers Writers from Glasgow Writers from Winnipeg Living people 20th-century Canadian women writers Canadian women television writers 20th-century Canadian comedians 21st-century Canadian comedians Comedians from Winnipeg Canadian LGBTQ comedians Transgender dramatists and playwrights Transgender screenwriters 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people Comedians from Glasgow Screenwriters from Manitoba Canadian transgender women Scottish transgender women Manitoba Book Awards winners