Maria Bamford.
 The delightful Maria Bamford is a genuinely funny woman, currently doing a festival long run at the Nova Cinema, and is enjoying her first time here at the Fringe.
"I am having a great time really, the festival atmosphere is awesome, enjoying seeing a lot of the shows which is inspiring as an artist," she intones, already bringing in another character into her voice as she says 'artist'.
'It has been good, I have had a couple of good reviews so it is picking up a lot more now." A native North American, Bamford hails from Minnesota, and now resides in LA. She assures me there is nothing like this festival culture in the US adding she finds Adelaide a very inspiring city. "In the US there isn't really anything like this, it isn't part of the culture.
"My only other festival experience in Melbourne. I have done the past two seasons there and it went incredibly well.
"It is stand up comedy, so they're all quite personal experiences of my own. I like to do a lot of different voices and characters; my own voice is quite high and irritating and child-like (to some, to others delightful) so I am more of an entertainer that a political comedian," she allows. "Though I have some political bits of course, leaning a little to the left, but not completely over in the left," explains Bamford carefully of her work. "And family, and I worked as a secretary for six years so I talk about that a bit."
It sounds so prosaic when she talks about it, but the woman has hilarious and absurd insight into daily situations, like how to call in sick, or her position on dressing up pets. She has a great piece on waiting for the brain makeover show, where an expert comes in to sort out your head...
"I feel like I am a fairly shy person, so felt like in groups I had a hard time speaking my voice, or in improv groups, so stand up was fantastic because you could just get up and do whatever you want, and you don't have to gather rehearsal together. And if it goes well you get all the glory, and if it doesn't go well you don't have to have that terrible notes session afterward! I'm always having a notes session in my brain, I don't to have an extra one!"
Maria Bamford is incredibly sweet and a guaranteed laugh this Fringe.
Narelle Walker
 | Maria Bamford performs at the Nova Cinema until Sun 19 March |
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