Maria Bamford

All Music Guide:

Think of her as the hilarious woman with a million voices or the surreal comedian with a million anxieties, standup comedian and voice-over artist Maria Bamford was born on a naval base in Port Hueneme, California but was raised in Duluth, Minnesota. She started performing standup in Minneapolis at the age of 19 and would work temp jobs during the day. One temp job for the Nickelodeon cable television network evolved into a full-time gig performing voices on the popular cartoon CatDog. A big break came in 1999 when she performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and then in 2004 she joined Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, and Brian Posehn on the nationwide tour the Comedians of Comedy. A documentary film of the tour followed a year later along with Bamford's debut album, The Burning Bridges Tour. In 2007, she introduced her web series The Maria Bamford Show, which featured numerous characters, but all played by Bamford, and released her sophomore album How to Win. Unwanted Thoughts Syndrome followed in 2009, the same year that the Target chain of stores featured Bamford in their Christmas television campaign playing a bargain-crazed shopper who just must be first in line. A video download of her The Special Special Special -- a show performed with her mom and dad as the only members of the audience -- was released in 2012, while the 2013 album Ask Me About My New God! featured the same material, although this time performed in front of a full crowd.

Wikipedia:

Maria Bamford (born September 3, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian and voice actress. She is best known for her portrayal of her dysfunctional family and self-deprecating comedy involving jokes about depression and anxiety. Her comedy style is surreal, and incorporates voice impressions of various character types.

Early life[edit]

Bamford was born at the naval base in Port Hueneme, California, where her father Joel was serving as a Navy doctor. She grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, where she attended Chester Park Elementary and The Marshall School. She went on to attend Bates College, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Minnesota, where she earned a degree in Creative Writing. She started doing stand-up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at age nineteen, at Stevie Ray's Comedy Cabaret. Bamford then joined Edinburgh's improvised comedy show The Improverts. Maria has one sister, Sarah Bamford Seidelmann.

Career[edit]

Bamford has been in a number of movies and television shows, including voice appearances in cartoons. Most notably, she was the voice of Shriek in CatDog, a huge selection of secondary characters in Cartoon Network's Adventure Time and Mrs. Botsford,Violet,and Leslie on the long running PBS educational series WordGirl. The best-known aspect of her act is her various impersonations (including her mother and her agent). Her stand-up comedy often takes the form of vignettes rather than the standard setup/punchline format.

Bamford was featured in the documentary series The Comedians of Comedy on Comedy Central and Showtime, and appeared in short skits titled "The Maria Bamford Show" broadcast on the now defunct website Super Deluxe. She also appears on the comedy compilation CD Comedy Death-Ray.

Her last album, produced by Comedy Central Records and called Unwanted Thoughts Syndrome, was released in April 2009 and includes a DVD containing "The Maria Bamford Show" episodes.

During the Christmas 2009-2010 shopping seasons, Bamford was featured in a series of Target commercials, portraying an overachieving shopper determined to be first in line.

For Christmas 2009, she released a free stand-up special online as a gift to her fans.

In 2012 she released The Special Special Special for download through Chill.com. The special was recorded with only Bamford's parents as an audience.

In 2013, Maria created and stars in a web series called 'Ask My Mom.' Maria plays both herself and her mom, who answers questions sent in by fans.

She provides the voice of Pema in Nickelodeon cartoon The Legend of Korra. In 2013, she appeared in season four of Arrested Development as Debrie Bardeaux, Tobias Funke's love interest.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).

Personal life[edit]

Bamford has stated publicly that she has been diagnosed as having bipolar disorder.

Bamford played violin.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).

TV show appearances[edit]

TV show voice acting[edit]

Movie appearances[edit]

Web series[edit]

Radio and podcast appearances[edit]

Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).