Lynch’s comedy album “Dance Like You Don’t Need the Money” was chosen by SiriusXM satellite radio as the top comedy album of 2017.

Lynch says she’s looking forward to her upcoming show in Portland but says she’s prepared for a system shock.

“I’ll be in Florida to celebrate New Year’s, so I guess I should prepare for a temperature change before coming to Maine,” Lynch said to me during an interview last month.

Known for her smartly written comedy and deadpan delivery, Lynch recently performed in Scotland at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where her show was deemed one of the very best.

Lynch says she’s always coming up with new material for her shows but that she tends not to focus on contemporary topical subjects.

“If it’s topical, I’ll usually save it for Twitter,” Lynch said. “I try to keep my material relevant so that it will last.”

Half Spanish from her mother’s side and half American from her father’s, Lynch says she grew up speaking both English and Spanish and is sometimes asked to perform in front of predominately Spanish-speaking audiences. (Spoiler alert: Her upcoming show in Portland will be delivered in English.)

I asked Lynch if the mechanics of delivering comedy in a language other than English forces her to alter jokes in any way.

“Telling jokes in Spanish is completely different,” she said. “The structure of a joke is different, the order of the verbs and nouns is different, and it’s kind of like starting over. I may not be as subtle or as sarcastic as I am in English. It’s challenging; I feel a bit like I’m starting over or doing an open-mic night again when I’m doing a show in Spanish.”

As I interviewed Lynch, her family had just arrived from Spain to spend the holidays with her.

“They’re all currently in my apartment and I’m excited to have them here,” she said. “We’ll hang out together for Christmas, then it’s off to Florida, just before I come to Maine.”  

One of the benefits of being a comic living in New York City is regularly having the opportunity to see so many other comics practice their craft. Lynch loves to see other great comics perform and I asked her to cite one that has made her laugh the most.

“I have my standard ‘love them for life’ comics that I see all the time at the Comedy Cellar, but lately, I just love Jessica Kirson. She is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. She’s a good friend of mine and there is nobody else out there like her. Her facial expressions are amazing, and her comedy is just one of a kind. Bill Burr produced her special (“Talking to Myself”) that came out this month on Comedy Central.”

Thrilled with the success and accolades heaped upon her debut comedy album, Lynch says she is looking forward to releasing her next one, hopefully by summertime next year.

“There’s going to be a lot more religion and personal stuff and it will probably get darker than the first one, but I’m very excited about it,” she said.

For some regular laughs, keep up with Lynch via her socials @CarmenComedian on Instagram and Twitter, and her website www.CarmenLynch.com. She has only visited Maine once before for a wedding. Let’s give her a warm Maine welcome when she performs at Empire. Tickets are available at https://venue.portlandempire.com/.