Maria Bamford: Weakness Is the Brand

Maria Bamford. A unique voice in standup comedy. At the very least, she can be noted for bringing an entire personality into her act. She is admittedly impressive with her voices. The extent of who she can imitate convinceably and characters she can create based solely on the malleability of her vocal range and facial expressions makes her the perfect voice actress. And maybe some children's theatre, so her all- encompassing facial and body mannerisms are not missed? Problem is, her expressions and voices quickly become irksome and whiny, like that friend who is convenience they are the funniest person around and relentlessly practices their proud canon of imitations around you, invading your peace. Furthermore, her material is not funny nor interesting enough for hour long specials. Maybe for a couple laugh out loud moments, but their stamina cannot be counted on.

The most unfortunate thing- particularly related to this special, as I have not yet seen, not even know whether any others exist- is that the last few minutes in which she sings the "It's Saturation Point!" parody song with her husband Scott Marvel Cassidy is the single crowning achievement of the entire show. He may not have the material, nor be as polished in his performance, but one can spot a certain aptitude for comedy. The cute couple performing a song together? Easily 8-9/10 stars. The solo Maria parts? Wavering between 4-5/10 stars. She shares quite a bit about the shows they put on amongst their own people and pets and in the comfort of their own home. Someone alert me when they tape these episodes for The Maria & Scott Show. I have little doubt these will be scintillating. Meanwhile, I would recommend sticking to shorter clips with Maria Bamford.

I've been watching a lot of stand-up comedies lately, some I really liked, some I didn't like at all, and some I don't care about. Weakness Is The Brand from Maria Bramford falls in that last category. It's the first show I watched for her and most probably the last one as well. I'm not going to say she isn't funny, she probably is to a lot of other people, but it was just not my kind of humor. She states that if we can do it better we should start writing a show ourselves. I'm not going to that, it's not my job, it's hers. To me her jokes aren't that good, she's too spastic on stage, nothing wrong with that if you're funny but that wasn't the case so it gets annoying. Anyway, everyone is entitled to his opinion, if you like her good for you, if you don't just don't watch it again, that's what I will do. Just one other thing, another reviewer compared her to Jim Gaffigan, you got to be kidding there... that's another level of humor.

Maria Bamford gives a rolling show start to finish! There's no denying this sparkling talent and her ability to capture an audience and the TV viewer. Plus the closing song with her husband was so cute! Catch this show!!

You know what she's like, you know you're going to get a high level of comedy. Like Jim Gaffigan or Patton Oswalt. Stop wasting your time reading and watch this.

Maria Bamford hits all the right notes. If you like her this will be ambrosia for you. Really a wonderful examination of transparency and mental hijinks. So satisfying!