Maria Bamford is a very good comedian who has managed the surprisingly difficult feat of translating what makes her funny onto the page. Sure I’ll Join Your Cult is so undeniably her. It’s part memoir, part listing of the various self-helf groups and similar in which she has found herself.
It’s also punctuated by fake recipes and, by all seemingness, real company accounts from the previous year. You kinda love to see it? Whilst also worrying about whether that’s intrusive to be interested in.
There’s a lot about her relationship with her partner which is fascinating, in how for so much of the book it is clear how they gel, but then there’s just moments where it feels… awfully problematic, and in a way, I don’t know whether that’s ok to think. It’s their relationship, I don’t think either of them are in particular danger or anything like that, but, I dunno. We all have our red flags.
By the time you get to the third rehab stint, you begin to understand how exactly she’s coped with this and how it comes out on stage. It’s trite to draw a link between comedy and mental health, the sad clown, etc. And I don’t buy it, to be honest with you, but take out the causal element and it is interesting to consider how your own particular deal vis a vis mental health does play into your comedy, and you play with that consciously.
She is very funny though.