You may remember Maria Bamford from her manic portrayal of a Christmas shopper in a series of Target ads a couple of years back. Turns out that quirk in her personality may have not been so different than her real life.
Her brilliant new online series “Lady Dynamite” (Netflix, streaming), which manages to take TV comedy another jolt forward, shows a version of her life that included her efforts in the comedy world as well as her struggles with mental health issues back in Duluth.
This brings a kind of surreality to her perception of things (characters may turn into lambs suddenly). But also a kind of honesty to what is also one of the nuttiest comedies around, one that is also quite aware of other similar comedies. Patton Oswald, one of many familiar faces who appear, drops character to urge her not to include standup into her show, because it’s been done so much. Bits of set design and directors frequently pull back the curtain further and further.
But mostly it’s a crazy comedy that straddles the line of what Louis C.K. and Zack Galifianakis have been doing on FX and the more far out things on Adult Swim — and it returns to form Mitchell Hurwitz, who hasn’t been this on target with nuttiness since before his “Arrested Development” also went to Netflix.
“Lady Dynamite” may be a test for your own comedy tastes; the number of episodes you binge (and you can binge all 12 today!) may be a test of your own manias.