Maria Bamford
Bamford was born at the naval base in Port Hueneme, California, where her father Joel was serving as a Navy doctor. She grew up there and in Duluth, Minnesota, where she attended Chester Park Elementary and The Marshall School. She went on to attend Bates College, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Minnesota, where she earned a degree in Creative Writing. She started doing stand-up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at age 19, at Stevie Ray's Comedy Cabaret. Bamford then joined Edinburgh's improvised comedy show The Improverts.
Bamford has been in a number of movies and television shows, including voice appearances in cartoons. The best-known aspect of her act are her various impersonations (including her mother and her agent. Her comedy often takes the form of vignettes rather than the comedy stand-up standard setup/punchline format.
Bamford was featured in the documentary series The Comedians of Comedy on Comedy Central and Showtime, and appeared in short skits titled "The Maria Bamford Show" broadcast on the now defunct website Super Deluxe. She also appears on the comedy compilation CD Comedy Death-Ray.
Her last album, produced by Comedy Central Records and called Unwanted Thoughts Syndrome, was released in April 2009 and includes a DVD containing "The Maria Bamford Show" episodes.
During the Christmas 2009 shopping season, Bamford was featured in a series of Target commercials, portraying both an overachieving shopper determined to be first in line at 5 a.m. and her average-mom sister who will get there when she can. That same Christmas, she released a free stand up special online as a gift to her fans.
Bamford and her pugs, Bert and Blossom, reside in Eagle Rock, California.
