JFL Toronto Review: Maria Bamford
Filed under: Reviews, Festivals
This is the hardest thing I've ever had to write. I took these tickets with reckless abandon and now here I sit, like a fool caught in a Faustian bargain.
How do you describe a Maria Bamford show? How do you even explain Maria Bamford? For reference, Judd Apatow is currently working on a documentary about her, because even he can't explain it. I will tell you: it was the show of the festival with the most working comedians sitting in the audience
To me, Maria Bamford is a genius who – despite all her success – still remains underrated. We overuse the word genius these days, so let me be more clear. A genius is someone who takes the medium they're working in and makes you rethink the structure of that medium itself. It's almost a reinvention. She is doing so many things at once that it's kind of hard to describe her in a style or genre.
She's observational, she's autobiographical, and she's all about social ethicality without being political. She's a mental health advocate who does wacky, one-person act-outs with a cavalcade of silly voices. You cannot put Bamford in a box because she is no one thing. She is almost mimicking the entire box itself. I wouldn't say she's "anti comedy", but it is deconstructed...?
So it's kind of hard to review what she did, because you can see how much trouble I'm having even quantifying the experience. Unfortunately, this is my job. You don't have to think this hard about it. You will just enjoy her. She's very silly, but also kinda dark... but in a loving humanist way? Maria will make you feel safe, and simultaneously she is not necessarily a first date comedian. She comes with a recommendation and a warning: Maria Bamford will make you feel seen... but also known.
If I could sum her up with two historical quotes (that are also kitchen fridge magnets), they'd be: "Kindness is strength and joy an act of rebellion" and "Sit and have tea with your demons".
Dark comedians – or even one whose whole persona is based on positivity – often point out a dark thing and then dismiss or release the thought with a punchline. This is not what Maria is doing.
A Maria Bamford joke (to me) is looking at the dark thing, and every punchline makes us double down and zoom in on it without simultaneously closing our hearts to it. It's about the complicated ethics of trying to be a good person – whether that's giving to charity, recycling, helping the homeless, supporting labour workers, the state of the health care system, or the corporate commercialism of mental health.
We may not have a clear answer, or a solution, and you will probably still screw up, but never stop trying. Stare into the void, but don't forget to have fun doing it! As bad as things are, don't forget to connect with people, show gratitude, and be compassionate.
In comedy, self-importance is death – that's not what I'm trying to convey. However, in such uncertain times, I think being able to sit in the uncomfortable as a skill is incredibly valuable.
I may be biased. Nobody makes me feel as seen as Maria Bamford does. As a person who – like her – suffers from bipolar disorder and also has worked programs, she says things I don't hear from any other comics working today; things that I wish the uninitiated understood. The most important among them being, "the thing not confronted can never be conquered" (to quote another fridge magnet).
A laugh at a Miria Bamford show can be a very vulnerable thing. You may have to look into the void for a little bit, but if you do, you will also feel seen, known, valued, and less alone. Did I mention the silly voices???
Tags: Maria Bamford, JFL Toronto, Just for Laughs, stand-up comedy, mental health
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