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When comedians do their first-late night set, they tend to play it safe.
They stick with material that is designed to be introductory.
The definitive example isFreddie Prinzes first appearance onThe Tonight Showin 1973, which turned him into a superstar overnight.
I come from two backgrounds, the set starts.
Hungarian and Puerto Rican.
When comedians do push things, other comics take notice.
Roy Wood Jr.praisedAmanda Seales for really talking about race onLate Night With Seth Meyersin 2017.
Literally, people clench as if to reflexively protect themselves.
You know what might be considered the wrong time?
You know whoreallywouldnt want to hear about death?
People on probably their first vacation in two years the pandemic havingkilled nearly 1 millionof their fellow Americans.
People who thought a trip to sunny Los Angeles would be chill.
People who thought sitting in the audience ofThe Late Late Showwould be innocuous.
Just a little obsequiousness before waiting in line for famous, bad hot dogs.
And then, on March 10, James Corden introduced the delightful Maria Bamford.
Bamfords mom, Marilyn,died in late 2020from lung cancer.
It is like the [insert really complicated athletic or video-game achievement] of stand-up comedy.
The entire set is incredible.
A set, again, that is onThe Late Late Showwith goddamned James Corden.
You guys, some people love life, she starts, already getting laughs at the counterintuitive absurdity.
Smiling, she continues, Ive always been on the fence about the whole thing.
Still building, still fairly deadpan.
… That I do not see coming!
She laughs maniacally as she gets a big laugh from the tourists.
What she does here is find a way to introduce death as not that big of a deal.Death?
Actually, it sounds kinda nice.She talks about it like it is a spontaneous vacation from life.
This softens the topic, so, as she continues, the audience doesnt feel the need to tighten.
My mom loved life, starts the next joke.Loved.
Remember, this audience probably doesnt know Bamford and almost definitely doesnt know her mom has died.
This is how she tells them: subtly, gently.
Its a phrase you probably hear in 90 percent of eulogies, and this set is a eulogy.
She respects the audiences intelligence enough not to blurt out MY MOM DIED!
and knows that would just get her performed sympathy.
My mom loved life brings the audience in, creating a genuine feeling of closeness with Maria.
For the next four minutes, it is just one person telling you what they loved about their mom.
And you get it.
I laughed until I cried and cried until I laughed.
But Maria Bamford is not most stand-ups.
And yet I almost completely missed it.
(Thankfully, Bamfords friend and sometimes opener, Jackie Kashian,tweeted the clip on March 16.)
It was presented without fanfare.
Just another late-night set.
Maria Bamford Stand-up, the videos title reads.
