Maria Bamford Says We Worry About Freedom of Speech When White Guys Are Affected

It’s been a rough year for late-night. Make a few jokes about the President, and look what happens! Stephen Colbert gets canceled. Jimmy Kimmel gets suspended. Trump calls for Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon to get the ax. Doesn’t that make comedian Maria Bamford, recently named the great living comedian by Patton Oswalt, worried about the future of late-night comedy?

“Well, the sad thing is that people don’t notice the lack of free speech until it starts affecting white males,” she told Nuvo this week.

“It seems like our country is just not itself anymore because there is fear of retribution,” she continued. “I mean, people get death threats now for saying what they believe, and I’ve had that myself.”

Someone sent a death threat to lovable Maria Bamford? She explains that, as a bit, she filed a restraining order against Trump so he couldn’t come within 100 feet of her house. “I put that on social media because I thought it was funny, and he is an unregistered sex offender so there’s real reason to be afraid of him.”

As one might imagine, certain members of the online community didn’t appreciate the joke. Not only did she receive those death threats, but she also got messages from people who claimed to know where she lives. 

Still, Bamford gets that others have it worse. “So I think how bad it’s gotten is where you go, ‘Oh, even the privileged are being affected,’” she laughed. “I don’t think anybody who is Black, brown or has any other minority experience is going to be surprised by how quickly your freedoms are taken away.”

But things may be getting better for people with those minority experiences, at least in the world of comedy. “The wonderful thing is that people of all different experiences have access, so you can really attract your fan base,” she said. 

When Bamford came up, there were only three or four TV networks to provide platforms for young stand-ups. “But I have a couple friends who have different disabilities or conditions,” she said. “They can connect directly with people who love their work, and who they are doesn’t have to hide.” 

As an example, she hyped up Schizophrenic Hippie, who does a podcast with a woman who has schizoaffective disorder. “He does standup and is very funny,” she said. 

More voices of all kinds are good for comedy, Bamford says. “People just have completely different life experiences, which makes shows better. If you have three white dudes or three white ladies, it’s just not that interesting — we’re having very similar experiences. So I think the comedy does get better with diversity.”