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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy
Cover image credit: Thumbnail: YouTube · Comedy Dynamics

Local Act

Maria Bamford

Apple TV · 2023 · 58 min

A highly intimate, experimental hour in a 35-seat micro-theater.

Watch on Apple TV(opens in a new tab)

Maria Bamford kicks off her set by confessing her desperate desire to be accepted by the audience. It is an opening that immediately grounds the hour in the specific brand of self-aware vulnerability she has built her career on. She zeroes in on the allure of problematic organizations, framing institutions like Twelve-Step programs, churches, the Harvard Lampoon, and psychiatric facilities as clubs she would join simply for the sake of belonging.

Filmed in late 2023 at Public Displays of Altadena, a 35-seat micro-theater in the foothills of Los Angeles County, the special is a stripped-down affair. Released shortly after the publication of her memoir, ‘Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult’, the hour feels like a natural extension of her written work. Her physical and vocal chameleonism is on display as she slips into various characters, including a therapist dispensing clinical wisdom through sponsored podcast ads and her late parents embarking on a psychedelic trip with a shaman named Paul. Rather than a grand theatrical production, the staging is loose. Bamford wraps up the show by inviting local Los Angeles comedians and her husband from the crowd onto the stage for a closing montage of quick jokes, reinforcing the community-driven vibe of the venue.

The set list

4 bits

  1. Being inducted as an honorary member of The Harvard Lampoon.

    Balances the absurdity, hazing, and pretension of privileged college students questioning her in a dark basement against her craving to do an open mic at a Chinese restaurant.

  2. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    Richard Scarry's Busytown. closer

    Imagines the systemic policing agenda keeping Scarry's tiny mouse cop on the streets.

  3. A medical mistake leading to the removal of her cervix.

    Frames hospital procedures and stays in comparison with comedy club practices.

  4. Inviting audience comics to perform one-minute sets on her special.

    Declares that everyone in Los Angeles deserves a comedy special and hosts a closing showcase over an outdoor pizza party.

How it plays

Tone
Charming, tender, absurd, silly, vulnerable, and darkly comic.
On stage
Intimately personal, delightfully bizarre, vulnerable, self-deprecating, and self-aware, utilizing rapid character voices and mimicry.
Pace
Fast-paced with no breath, coming at the audience a mile a minute with rapid physical performance, facial gestures, and whole-body collapses.
About
cults and problematic organizations, 12-step programs, families as cults, the job and business of comedy, parents' deaths and psychedelics, medical mistakes and procedures

What the critics said

Praised as a tender, beautifully idiosyncratic, and authentic artist's statement about comedy, showcasing her brilliant mimicry, fast pacing, and unmatched originality.

In the room: An intimate, tiny micro-theater crowd of 35 seats creating a communal, supportive atmosphere where attendees were invited to participate.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: comedydynamics.com, allmovie.com, medialib.net, disneyplus.com, vulture.com, letterboxd.com, femzen.co, isnt-that-special.castos.com, en.wikipedia.org, themoviedb.org.

Backstory

Filmed in a 35-seat strip-mall micro-theater within walking distance of her home, following the death of both of her parents and the release of her memoir Sure, I'll Join Your Cult.

Details

Released
Taped
Public Displays of Altadena
Runtime
58 min
Where
Apple TV
Director
Bri LeRose
Topics
Before
CROWD-PLEASER! (2023)

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