I’ve known the name “Maria Bamford” for years. I know her face well, and would definitely be able to pick her out in a crowd. I have very close friends that are fans. If somebody asked me if I liked her, the answer would probably be yes. However, I have never actually seen or heard her do stand up before. Not on TV, not on record.I actually didn’t know anything about her stand up style before I headed out to this show. Why did I decide to go to this? I’m not really sure. It just felt like I needed to be there.
Nori Reed was actually a last minute replacement for Josie Long, who I was pretty excited about seeing, but I know how these things can go. Reed, however, was an incredibly pleasant surprise. Her joke-telling style is calm and unassuming. She pretty much just lets punchlines fly out, and if you aren’t paying careful enough attention, you may miss them. (There was a trans-fat pun that I almost missed that was AMAZING.) Since she is a local, she was able to tell some wonderfully specific jokes, especially her great set-closer casting PG&E as the dom in the relationship with its Bay Area customers.
Maria Bamford came out in a giant burst of energy. The stage at The Castro is pretty massive, and she managed to be present in all ends of the stage from the get-go. She puts her entire body into a joke. It seemed that playing to the cheap seats came very easy for her. Within five minutes of her set, it felt like Bamford was ready to take her set to arenas.
The material was also spot on. She opened her set with a very witty bit about internet trolls- how to deal with them, what makes them tick, etc. As a female comic that’s very open about her mental health struggles, I can imagine that she’s got good experience with troll-squashing. She also managed to do a fairly long and elaborate bit about using political issues as sexual foreplay that was so funny I cried. Especially when she managed to make a YIMBY entendre that I never would have considered.
She did bring up her mental health struggles a little, and she does it in a way that’s very warm and helps the audience connect with her. Even lovelier was a bit where she spoke about her husband and the ways they interact with each other, especially when fighting. Her stories help me make a little better sense of my life. It’s like she managed to find a way to create empathy with 1400 other people!
Maria Bamford definitely exceeded expectations with her opening night set at Sketchfest. I’m glad I finally had the opportunity to see what all the fuss was about, as that fuss is certainly merited.
