Why ‘Lady Dynamite’ Star Maria Bamford Is – Hands Down – Every Comedian’s Favorite Comic

In mid January, Maria Bamford was the very first comic granted a stand up slot on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. When she sat down with the show’s host — who is considered one of the brightest in the biz — he said bluntly, “I hope I don’t embarrass you when I say you are my favorite comedian on planet Earth.”

Bamford took it humbly, but that might be because she’s kind of used to it. She is without a doubt the most universally beloved comic amongst comics I can think of. She can get the likes of Judd Apatow, Louis CK, Patton Oswalt, and Marc Maron to sing her praises. She’s an experienced improviser, stand up comic, impressionist, actress, writer, and voice over artist. Oh, and on a personal note, when I used to do comedy, I’d overhear big comics rhapsodize about her sets off stage. She is the epitome of the phrase “the comic’s comic.” But why?

First of all, she’s good. She’s really, really, really good.

When you break down what she does in any one of her stand up sets, you’ll see a complete mastery of multiple comedy styles. Most comics stick to a particular style of comedy — think confessional comedy, satire, impressionism, absurdism, roast humor, or carefully crafted one-liners — but Bamford seamlessly blends them all.

Bamford is known for her ability to slip in and out of voices in her stand up. She often structures her sets around a series of different scenes or vignettes, but even within those she exhibits a wry ability to craft a verbal joke. Often these scenes are also packed with a devastatingly personal reveal or a scathing attack on our society’s twisted norms.

But Bamford isn’t just a great stand up. The comic has also worked on TV and in film with some of the best — and weirdest — comedians out there. She’s worked on Arrested Development, Louie, and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Good Job! She does voice work for hit cartoons like Adventure Time and The Legend of Korra. She was also a trailblazer in the worlds of podcasting and web videos.

However, the biggest reason why so many of her peers are in awe of her? The fact that she was one of the first to unblinkingly attack mental illness on the comedy stage. Bamford’s struggles with mental illness have been long documented in fluff pieces about the comic and in her own work. Her comedy is an elegant exercise in trying to harness the wildness of her own brain. She nonchalantly talks about her depression without a tinge of pity or the implication that we should be shocked. Her mental illness is as much apart of her worldview as being a tiny, blonde, white woman with the speaking voice like a Little Tykes xylophone. This courage (or perhaps, merely this commitment) made her an unwitting trailblazer in the art form. It also positioned her as a comic who uses her art to express these inner tumults and to help ease the suffering of others going through it.

This is why it’s so exciting to see how Bamford’s new Netflix Original series Lady Dynamite will land. The series — which is a mixture of traditional sitcom, showbusiness satire, and personal confession — will undoubtedly be a favorite amongst comedy nerds, but will it connect with the mainstream Netflix user? I hope so. Bamford is a tour de force in comedy. She’s just been missing the one big platform to communicate her worldview on a mass scale. Netflix is a natural home for her. The streaming service lets showrunners have free reign over their projects. Lady Dynamite looks to be a fantastic culmination of all Bamford’s prior work — and it’s the new pet project of Arrested Development mastermind Mitch Hurwitz.

Lady Dynamite could be the show that makes Maria Bamford everyone’s favorite comic and not just comedians’ favorite.

[Watch Lady Dynamite on Netflix May 20th]