Publisher's note: On February 11, 2011, Comedian Maria Bamford came to the Turnage Theater for one show. For many reasons, we have not had the time to finish the story of her visit. This weekend, I made the time by completing an article that is mostly a pictorial. Here below is that article with assistance from our editor, Brandia Deatherage.

    Some members of the crowd at the Turnage Theater, where about 250 of 450 seats were filled, were roiled by her irreverent humor, and others just laughed their fool heads off. I personally understood it both ways, but, having paid good money for the show, I took the road most traveled, and elected to see Maria Bamford's bizarre sense humor for what it really is - just plain funny, but in an odd way.

    Maria is reminiscent of a young Steve Martin, from back in his stand-up days, but uncomfortably skewed in an almost familiar psychotic sense. Like Steve, there rarely is a punch line. Maria's inclination is to draw the audience deeper, and reluctantly for some, into her comedic web, until we see her strange approach to dispensing what she projects as funny.

    Whether it is her mammoth range of strangely unique voices that escape her oral cavity, or her wildly funny looks that transform her face, Maria aches to communicate all that boils deep within her, and for some folks, I understand, it was quite a bit to take in.

    The Turnage Theater is located in Beaufort County, deep in the Southern heartland, and not everyone should be expected to embrace Maria's eclectic approach to exposing the multifaceted depth of her psyche, and the deep, dark funny that lies within. I learned after the show that there were those who were offended by her occasional exploding F-bomb, and her sacrilegious tone that initiated her show, to which she exclaimed in her sweetened high-pitched, child-like voice, "At least you can leave here tonight feeling superior to someone, like me, who just doesn't get it."

    Maria's diminished faith notwithstanding, her act took some getting used to, and demands that the reluctant audience be drawn into her fragile psyche in order to explore the exposed multifaceted dimension of her sense of what funny is. That profound sense of comedy is exhibited in these images, below, of Maria as she travels through the dark recesses where her comedy lives.
    Maria's wide assemblage of voices ranged from that of a small wondrous child to those of an adult pushed to the point of prepossession: Above and below.    images by Stan Deatherage

    Ms. Bamford, when not traveling with her stand-up act, does a variety of voices for a plethora of television and movie characters. These voices, and variations of such, stay with Maria and surface in her act at quite regular intervals: Above and below.    images by Stan Deatherage

    Before my evening with Maria Bamford, I really had not discovered who she was as a comedic artist; however, I had noticed the strange series of Target commercials, which I found most interesting and mildly hilarious, featuring Maria made-up like a middle-aged woman, working herself into shopping shape, while always wearing high heels. My wife, who also enjoyed the commercials, related to me that Maria was the Target Lady.

    When I met with Maria after the show, I asked Maria about the series of commercials that exploded on the TV scene for about a week and then disappeared as abruptly as they appeared.

    Maria glibly replied, "I enjoyed doing the commercials, they were fun. I don't know why they stopped running the commercials. Maybe they grew tired of me."

    These pictures reminded me of the Target Lady: Above and below.     images by Stan Deatherage

    As I sat in my chair the day after the Bamford Show, cleaning up the images I saved, my wife remarked, as I was overcome with profuse laughter, "You're not going to publish those pictures are you? Maria looks terrible and she would hate it if she knew you put those on your site."

    To which I replied, "Maria knows what she looks like on stage. This is her act, and she has to have some idea as to how she appears on stage."

    These images, above and below, are Maria's impersonation of her two Pug dogs.    images by Stan Deatherage

    Maria began her stand-up act in Minneapolis at age 19. Both of her parents and her sister are doctors, and here are the pictures as she discussed, in intricate and quite personal detail, their constant scrutiny of her career path: Above and below.     images by Stan Deatherage

    Maria still just working through her issues - publicly: Above.     images by Stan Deatherage
    Let's call this series of pictures: Maria meets the Natives. Here she asks questions, answers questions, and lets everyone through that trap door where her itty-bitty monsters reside.    images by Stan Deatherage

    Maria's doctor-mother is concerned about her health and suggests that she drink more water: Above. Maria obliges: Below.    images by Stan Deatherage

    This next series of images is titled: Maria explains it all - in vivid hues and many voices.    images by Stan Deatherage

    If you have seen Maria's show, or watched some of her stand-up, you may notice that this is the point in the show when Maria speaks in her highest, fastest, almost agitated, voice to explain her situation to someone, and the situation will soon digress into some near-psychotic Mexican-standoff: Above.     Images by Stan Deatherage

    In the Diptic above the conversation continues: Above.     images by Stan Deatherage
    In this diptic, Maria finishes her show and then we meet her backstage: Above. Maria, who is very polite in person, gives a quick and friendly smile for her fans, who are among the readership of Beaufort County Now.     images by Stan Deatherage

    In my short interview with Maria, I guessed that she was from Minnesota (she never mentioned it in her show) from her accent. After I asked her about the Target commercials, coincidentally headquartered in her home state, I asked her about Bret Favre and she asked me about gun control: Fair trade-off.

    Brandia asked a few questions before her Mr. DeMille-like closeup with Comedian Bamford.

    Brandia: "How was it working with John C. Reilly on the 'Tim and Eric Show?'"

    Maria: "He was just a nice man. I don't know him super well."

    Brandia: "What are some productions you have lent your voice to?"

    Maria: " 'Word Girl,' 'Adventure Time,' 'Kung Fu Panda,' "Legend of Cora.' "

    Brandia: "How do you feel that you were received at the Turnage?"

    Maria: "I suppose it's an individual thing. You'd have to ask every single person."



     Yep, the first video represents a standard interview with Maria: Above.    The second video was in Maria's act: Below.





     In case you missed the series of Target commercials, here are a couple that really caught my interest: Above and below.



    This article provided courtesy of our sister site: Beaufort County Now