Sunday Humor: Comedian Maria Bamford

New York Times Magazine has published a portrait of Maria Bamford including a video interview and clips from her comedy shows and television appearances. “Things Bamford likes to talk about candidly include the fact that she has disabling bouts of anxiety and depression, that she has contended with a form of O.C.D. called ‘unwanted thoughts syndrome’ and that during her childhood, those unwanted thoughts came in the form of constant worries she might kill her own family or sexually molest animals,” reports the Times. When discussing such topics on stage, Bamford “likens herself in temperament to a daffodil or an orchid, capable of wilting if the conditions aren’t perfect.”

The Times notes that Bamford “often appears to rethink her sentences midway, leaving many of them unfinished” and wonders if in part that tendency “may be attributable to Depakote, the mood stabilizer she takes daily.”

The Weird, Scary and Ingenious Brain of Maria Bamford (New York Times Magazine, July 17, 2014)