Little Village
Maria Bamford is a bit of a lightning bug. Not that she’s small in any way. She has flown through decades of the dark, between her own struggles with mental illness, the rigors of Hollywood and whatever perils modern life throws her way. How she flies is hilarious, but how she lands is divine.
As a writer, actor and stand-up comedian, Bamford has shared her effervescent takes on the world via Netflix specials, books on the New York Times bestseller list and tours that have taken her from sea to shining sea. Director Judd Apatow has called her “the funniest woman in the world.” The two of them premiered Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story at Sundance earlier this year. (“I never really thought of myself as depressed as much as paralyzed by hope,” Bamford quipped in a 2007 Comedy Central special.) The doc is still making the rounds in the festival circuit before it is released to the rest of us.
In the meantime, the lightning bug will descend upon Hoyt Sherman Place on Aug. 21, and the Englert Theatre on Aug. 22 (presented by the Englert and Little Village). We sat down with Bamford over Zoom to talk pug life, “suit jobs” and specialized cat towers.
Little Village: How are you? How are the pugs?
Uh, do you wanna see one? [Holds up pug to camera.]
Yes! Oh-ho man!
Yaaap. That’s Muffin. She’s half chihuahua and she’s 6, so I can really lift her up. The other man that’s in the room, Mister Max, he’s about 16. He’s a little old for show business, he doesn’t want to be on camera anymore. He’s very handsome and he got a baseball scholarship to Vassar. That was very unusual.
Really playing, I’ll bet. He’s not the bat dog or anything.
It turned out he had a love of poetry. Which has so much in common with sports. You don’t think about it until you really think about it.
You grew up in Duluth. Do you have any rituals when you’re back in the Midwest?
There’s certain things in my hometown. You know, where they make a cranberry turkey sandwich that’s so good. Or Dunn Brothers coffee, but not at the one that’s at the Duluth Entertainment Center. It’s those things that are ephemeral. You don’t know how long it’s going to last, but it’s something that’s beautiful.
That’s how I am about Taylor’s Maid-Rite. It’s better than regular Maid-Rite.
It’s fun when it does make a difference who owns it, even if it’s a chain.
I only have sad franchise stories otherwise. Like, nobody is out there keeping the tradition alive of stealing the sandwich stamps from the Morningside Subway in Sioux City.
That would be really interesting. If there are any hotshot Applebee’s out there, where it’s like, ho-lee shit, nobody knows about this, but they are actually adding fresh ingredients, farm to table, they’re finally dicing things over at this one Golden Corral in Ann Arbor.
Have you been back to Des Moines to see your mom’s side of the family?
Everyone’s in a graveyard there. There’s a giant house where I think one of my great-grandparents had mental illness and was in the attic. That’s how they used to deal with mental illness in those days, “Put them in the attic.” Like, if you read about this time in history, you just go, “Oh, that’s how I’d be!” [Laughs]
Are you still working as a suicide hotline operator?
I’m not doing it anymore because it was very heavy. It was hard to do that while on the road. It’s too much. It was very empowering to know that you can get a Peer Health Certificate in different states and get these jobs based on your experience. Let’s say you’ve had schizophrenia — you can get these jobs that are, say, 25, 30 bucks an hour for things like the suicide hotline. So if you’ve had those experiences, it’s very valuable as you can talk from a place of knowing what it’s like. It’s priceless.
You’ve done work for community centers, too. You filmed your last special at Public Displays of Altadena, which burned down in the Eaton Canyon Fires.
Everyone’s experiencing climate change. I’m sure Iowa has been a part of that as well.
Oh, we had a crazy heat dome thing last month.
Everyone’s being affected by it. And what you’re finding, in some areas like Altadena, is that it’s almost impossible to be able to afford being insured for it. So when PDA burned down, they were in trouble. This is of those times when outpouring of support mattered the most.
Given the intimacy of PDA, it seems like you’re now part of the tribe.
Yeah, that’s the great thing about being from the Midwest: pitching in. Somebody’s gotta bring a potato salad. I know you’re not good at it, but somebody’s gotta do it. These are spots where people can actually come together.
There’s one in Iowa City called Public Space One. I have a friend who launched his tofu business, Old Capitol Food Company, out of their basement.
I’m really grateful for spaces like that.
You once filed a restraining order against the president. Did it work? When does this all stop?
Well, it comes down to storming the Bastille. What is gonna be the one thing that makes everybody drop their Diet Cokes and say, “This is so unacceptable that we’re gonna rise up and stop the machine”? Because that’s the American religion, work and capitalism. I think we can look to Minneapolis for that, on a larger level. They had really excellent nonviolent unity in stopping everything that they were doing.
You’ve spoken about how weird Christianity can be. There are now 10 Christian radio stations in Des Moines; it’s the fastest-growing media genre in Iowa since the state went politically red. What would you do if you had to be on one of those stations to promote your work?
[In a haunting Midwest auntie voice:] I would play my favorite multilevel marketing company owner Amy Sleeverson, from high school. The name is a mix of Swedish and Finnish and Norwegian. She has a company that started out in my garage. It’s called Lot’s Daughters, based on the biblical story of Lot! It’s a bit of a deep cut, [intense whisper] do you know it?
The biblical story of Lot?
Lot was told by God to leave Sodom and Gomorrah with his wife and his two young gals. And God said, “Don’t look back at Sodom and Gomorrah,” the city of sin. What ended up happening, you won’t even believe what ended up happening, Lee, you won’t even believe it. The two girls got their dad drunk and they raped him, to increase the tribes of Israel! Which is a lot like marketing! Um, I have a Christian sex toy that’s been going off the shelves and you can keep it in the living room, and no one will knoooow, ’cause it’s a cat tower. My husband makes ’em by the dozen, he’s so fast. And we test every one of them out.
Oh God.
It’s so important. I’m also starting to make soaps. And I’m also marking tragedy charms! A lot of kids are into charm bracelets. And gosh, they love to remember all of the good times, and I think, “What about all the bad things that happened?” And I make my charms out of bronze, so they’ll last through Armageddon.
[Laughing] Why is bronze the metal that’s gonna make it through Armageddon?
It is! That’s the one that will last. No matter what! It won’t burn, it won’t deteriorate. It won’t melt! Get your wedding ring in bronze, gals.
What do you think of the state of comedy today, in terms of the growth of social media comedy?
I think it’s wonderful, the accessibility. There’s no gatekeepers to keep people from meeting audiences. It gets us out of an established system. Capitalism leans into the white heteronormative nature of most clubs. Which is dumb, to not invite different communities into the clubs. It’s just dumb. There’s a podcast called Schiz & Giggles, and the host does it with a friend who actually has schizophrenia. And it’s like, yeah, man! I don’t wanna hear any more comics shit-talking about someone talking to themselves in the street. Have you been there? Have you talked to yourself!? Well, then shut the fuck up.
The Russo Brothers kicked off the show Arrested Development. Your character in the show, DaBrie Bardeaux, played Sue Storm from the Fantastic Four. The upcoming Avengers movies deal with the multiverse. Does this mean that you and Tobias Fünke as The Thing might appear in the new Avengers movies?
I mean, these are the dreams of my ancestors. I don’t know who they are, because I don’t look at their 23andMe. No, I’m sorry, I know nothing about the world in which I was playing that character [Laughs]. I’m a bit of a jackass. You get the job and then go, “I’m just wearing a blue suit, right?”
Just another blue suit job.
I’ve done suit jobs before. Star Trek traveling show. I was a Bajoran for the Deep Space Nine franchise. Toured the country in a tight brown uniform.
Really?!
It was almost 30 years ago, but I can improv speak with people as if I’m from another planet.
So if Paramount had kept Starfleet Academy, would you have reprised your role as a Bajoran?
If requested, I’ll do anything. I’ll clean houses. I’m not gonna do it well, but I will get most of the surfaces wiped down.
This article was originally published in Little Village’s August 2026 issue.
Upcoming events:
Maria Bamford, Friday, Aug. 21, 7:30 p.m., Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines
The Englert Theatre and Little Village present: Maria Bamford, Saturday, Aug. 22, 7:30 p.m., Englert Theatre, Iowa City
This article was originally published in Little Village’s August 2026 issue.
