Plan B

Product Description 2010 release from the stand-up comedy queen. There's no telling what her Plan A might have entailed (perhaps a one-woman rendition of Grey Gardens?), but Bamford's Plan B turns out to be a virtuoso, one-woman performance of a self-imposed stint in Northwoods exile. Filmed live at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis, the extra-packed DVD has an intimate and theatrical flavor that may feel unexpected to some of Bamford's followers, but skillfully weaves together the most well-wrought portions of her repertoire. More focused than her usual stand-up routine, in Plan B Bamford takes on the story of her own Hollywood life, viewed from the much safer and possibly much weirder climes of Duluth, MN. Playing all of the characters, from her parents to her high school nemesis-cum-Target checkout girl, Bamford lovingly skewers her origins, reminding us that, while there may be no place like home, there's really no place like home. Review Plan B is an excellent show... --theseriouscomedysite(dot)com, March 8, 2010 About the Actor Bamford was born at the naval base in Port Hueneme, California (where her father Joel was serving as a Navy doctor), growing up there and in Duluth, Minnesota. She attended Chester Park Elementary and The Marshall School in Duluth and went on to attend Bates College, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Minnesota, where she earned a degree in Creative Writing. Bamford started doing stand-up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the age of 19 at Stevie Ray's Comedy Cabaret and later joined Edinburgh's improvised comedy show The Improverts. She has been in a number of movies and television shows, including several voice appearances in cartoons. One of the best-known aspects of Bamford's act is the many different voices she uses. Her various impersonations (including her mother and her agent) contrast sharply with her normal speaking voice, which is often high and child-like. Her comedy often takes the form of vignettes rather than the standard setup/punchline format. Maria was featured in the documentary series The Comedians of Comedy on Comedy Central and Showtime, and appeared in short skits collectively titled "The Maria Bamford Show" which were broadcast on the now defunct website Super Deluxe.