Renowned standup comedian and actor Maria Bamford will appear at The Orpheum Theatre this summer, on Sunday, June 26 at 7pm. Stephen Colbert called her his “favorite comedian on earth” and Judd Apatow said she is “the funniest woman in the world.” Maria is the first female comic to have two half-hour “Comedy Central Presents” specials. And now, two well-received specials on Netflix called “The Special Special Special” and “Old Baby.”
Awarded Best Club Comic at the American Comedy Awards and Breakout Comedy Star at the Montreal Comedy Festival, her critically acclaimed work includes her web series “The Maria Bamford Show” (featured at MOMA NY), “Ask My Mom” (recommended by The New Yorker), and her Netflix series “Lady Dynamite” (2 seasons). Maria’s writing has been featured in The New York Times, LA Weekly and The Onion. She has 5 hours of stand-up available on iTunes that includes her latest recording “20%.” 20 percent is the amount of effort Maria puts into Everything She Does, if not five.
Maria has contributed comedic voice overs for such animations as Netflix’s “Big Mouth” and “BoJack Horseman,” Cartoon Network’s “Adventure Time,” PBS’s Emmy-winning series “Word Girl,” Nickelodeon’s “Kung Fu Panda” and “Legend of Korra,” and the international hit “Talking Tom and Friends.” She can do about 11 voices, not including her own, but just a little higher and faster.
For her mental health advocacy, she’s been presented with The OCD Foundation’s Illumination Award and featured at the Psychotherapy Networker Symposium, The Chautauqua Institution and the Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy and Ethics Symposium.
A 2014 New York Times profile of Bamford noted her comedic style by saying: Much of Bamford’s work examines the relationship between “people” — generally well-intentioned friends and family — and those who grapple with depression or anxiety or any other challenge to the psyche. Her act is a series of monologues and mini-skits performed rapid fire and often without regard for transition. Deploying a range of deadpan voices, she mimics the faux-enlightened who hover around the afflicted, offering toothless platitudes, bootstrapping pep talks or concern warped by self-interest. The humor of any given moment relies not so much on punch lines as it does on the impeccably timed swerves of her tone, the interplay between Bamford’s persona and those of all the people who don’t get her.
Tickets to see Maria Bamford live at The Orpheum Theatre are $25 and will be available online beginning Monday, April 18, and in-person at The Orpheum Box Office the following Tuesday. The Box Office hours are 10am-2pm, Tuesday thru Friday; tickets can always be purchased online 24/7 at www.galesburgorpheum.org/tickets.
***Report Courtesy of The Orpheum Theatre***
