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Acclaimed alternative comedian Maria Bamford comes to the Blue Room Comedy Club at 420 W. College St. in Springfield for four shows this weekend. Stephen Colbert called her his “favorite comedian on earth," but even Maria admits her humor is not for everyone.
Bamford combines voice impressions featuring an ever-changing cast of characters and a mishmash of deadpan and high energy to create a surreal, deeply personal comedy style.
When I talked to her on the phone last week, she was in Denver.
One of the characters Maria portrays in her stand-up routines is her mother, who died of cancer a few years ago. On YouTube, she did a set on James Corden’s Late Late Show on CBS-TV several months ago in which she said her mother could “squeeze joy out of an AT&T customer-service call.”
“My mom loved show business, so she would have been delighted that I was on James Corden. And from her deathbed, she was saying, ‘Honey, do Meredith [Viera’s show]!’ Like, she wanted me to do different shows, you know? And I was like, ‘Mom, you're dying. I'm not leaving your side.’ And she was very, very much excited by show business," Bamford said.
Mental illness as source material
Maria Bamford has gained much notoriety by talking very openly—and fearlessly—about her struggles with mental illness in her performances. She's also been invited to speak in non-comedy settings at various symposiums and conferences. While not everyone in her life has understood her struggles, her mother “got it,” she says.
“My mom was on the bipolar spectrum, on some level. She was on mood stabilizers for about 30 years. I think," Bamford said.
"I think it wasn't really talked about in our family, but I know she was on those medications and then she decided on her own accord to go off them at some point in her seventies and had a full manic episode.
She said it's hard for people to understand if they haven't experienced it. Sometimes, people say unhelpful things.
One of Maria’s main points of discussion is the state of mental health care in this country.
“With mental health, I don't know if there isn't any money in it or something, but there isn't the pink-ribbon beauty that's going on [with] breast cancer," Bamford said. "In mental health wards, it’s like—I swear to God, every single mental health emergency psych unit I've been in has had a big screen TV playing something horrifying on it. And you can't find the remote."
She says it's funny—in retrospect.
Maria Bamford will talk about her own life and much more besides in two performances each night—tonight and tomorrow—at Blue Room Comedy Club in downtown Springfield. There's an early 7:00 p.m. and late 9:30 p.m. show both nights. Tickets range from $35-$40, and these shows are for ages 18 and up; valid ID will be required. For information call Blue Room at (417) 228-8403 or visit www.blueroomcomedyclub.com.
