Maria Bamford Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Maria Bamford is an American published actress, author, and stand-up comedian.

Born on September 3, 1970, Maria has appeared in nearly too many creative avenues to count. She has been in everything from Louie to Arrested Development to WordGirl, Big Mouth, Human Resource, Stuart Little 2, Charlotte’s Web 2, American Dad!, Ugly Americans, Adventure Time, BoJack Horseman, Lady Dynamite, and many more. In 2014, she received the American Comedy Award for Best Club Comic.

Maria grew up in Duluth, Minnesota. Her father was a Navy doctor. She says that when she was younger, her anxiety, depression, and unwanted thoughts syndrome would often trouble her. Once she graduated high school, she went to Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. She transferred to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland at the beginning of her junior year, becoming the first female member of the improv comedy group The Improverts. She then transferred back after a year to the University of Minnesota, getting a Bachelor’s degree in English.

Maria then started stand-up comedy at 19 years old in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She would later go on to star in movies and television shows as well as do voice work for cartoons, appearing in such shows as CatDog, Adventure Time, and WordGirl. She was also featured in The Comedians of Comedy and did short skits as part of The Maria Bamford Show on the Super Deluxe website.

Her album Unwanted Thoughts Syndrome came out in April 2009 and was produced by Comedy Central Records. Maria would also appear in Target commercials from 2009-2010. She also released a free stand-up special during the Christmas 2009 season as a gift to fans.

Maria would be hospitalized three times over 18 months for nervous breakdowns while working in L.A. and would release her special The Special Special Special to be downloaded through Chill.com in 2012. A year later, she was the creator and star of Ask My Mom, a web series. In 2013, she was a part of season four of Arrested Development, where the series creator took note of her as a comical ‘genius’.

Maria would then appear on Louie, was the star of her co-created and written show The Program, and appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2016. That same year, Netflix announced it would be releasing an original series based on Maria’s life starring her and called Lady Dynamite. Maria was featured as a commencement speaker for the College of Liberal Arts of the University of Minnesota in 2017. In 2018, she was on Worst Cooks in America, being cut in the fourth episode.

Maria was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder as well as obsessive-compulsive disorder. She was married to Scott Marvel Cassidy, and she and the artist were married in a private ceremony in 2015. She has a residence in Los Angeles and a home in Altadena, California, and is known for her love of pugs.

Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere is a 2023 memoir written by Maria Bamford. Released by Gallery Books, this is an insightful book from the stand-up comedian that has been called ‘laugh-out-loud funny’ (Jennette McCurdy) and became an instant New York Times best seller.

This memoir takes on such topics as mental health, show business, and the comfort provided by rigid belief systems. Maria is a comedian’s comedian, and has for a long time looked for a place where she can belong.

She struggled with an eating disorder as a kid of the eighties and puts that into the memoir, which also goes into her navigating not only a career working in the arts but also her psychiatric institutionalization and medical debt. Maria has tried to be part of the world and to want to be a part of it as well.

With what Publishers Weekly calls Maria’s ‘trademark blend of disarming intimacy and dark whimsy’, this memoir brings the reader on a journey to participate in something. Maria recounts every anonymous group she has joined in the books (Debtors Anonymous, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous), goes into her hypomanic episodes, and even one to three step recipes for fudge.

This book is full of Bamford’s trademark brilliance, humor, and what Library Journal calls her instinct for survival. Whether you feel like an outsider, feel alone, or just want to hear what Bamford has to say, this is a unique and interesting memoir that will have you turning the pages until you get to the end.

Hogbook and Lazer Eyes is a graphic novel by Maria Bamford and Scott Marvel Cassidy. Those who are familiar with Lady Dynamite on Netflix will already be aware of the romance that Maria has with the Los Angeles painter Scott, and her pugs Blueberry and Bert.

The story is being told again in this graphic novella written by the couple and drawn by Cassidy. The story is also narrated by their rescue dogs. It tells the story of how the two met by signing up on OkCupid under their usernames Hogbook and Lazer Eyes.

The two met, went on a first date, followed by more, and they fell for each other and got married in 2015. This story is told through the lens of Blueberry and Bert, as well as the bonded pair Betty and Arnold. Cassidy’s fine art ability is on full display and with combination of the full color illustrations paired with Bamford’s comedic wit makes for a graphic storytelling experience that is nothing short of fun. Check it out for yourself to go on the journey of this fun novella by getting a copy of Hogbook and Lazer Eyes today!