Maria Bamford interview excerpt

By Kyle Ryan April 20, 200

Maria Bamford is one of those comedians whose “real” personality seems mysterious. In her act, she shifts through personas and voices—her parents, bitchy former classmates, airheads, co-workers, monsters, Alicia Keys—so seamlessly and with such pitch-perfect imitation that it’s easy to think Bamford is 100 percent vessel, 0 percent real person. Of course, those numbers are way off—it’s 50-50, at least. In real life, Bamford comes across as far happier and more “together” than her obsessive onstage alter ego.

That’s hard-won, as she describes on her new CD, Unwanted Thoughts Syndrome. The title references a real disorder that plagued Bamford for most of her life. She’s mined the pathos in her material to great effect, but she isn’t joking when she describes how paralyzing the problem was. In the liner notes of the CD, Bamford writes, “I was unable to sleep at night for fear of being a rapist or a murderer or a genocider, and would have constant anxious thoughts of doing those things—to friends, family, babies, kitties, etc.—and it was especially powerful the more taboo or inappropriate the situation.” Like, say, shitting on the altar while yelling “I am a Promise Keeper!” in a church. She describes it in great detail on “Free Clinic,” one of the new album’s highlights that’s also a staggering look at the very real problems that dominated Bamford’s life for so long. Just before Unwanted Thoughts Syndromewas released, The A.V. Club spoke to Bamford about bad thoughts, recording albums, and the Nigerian man who posed as her on Facebook.

From The Onion AV Club

http://www.avclub.com/

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I do not have this syndrome. REPEAT: I do NOT have this syndrome.

But now I'm afaid I will get it.

I am a fan of Maria's. She is a gifted comedian.

http://tinyurl.com/dcaawg

Check her out in The Comedians of Comedy. She makes me laugh, but what do I do now? I'm afraid of having Unwanted Thoughts.

Life was better before I knew this exsisted.

My Unwanted Thought is I might have UTS.

Yikes.