Ask Me About My New God!

A comedy album’s objective is to make the listener laugh and Maria Bamford’s latest album, “Ask Me About My New God!,” struggles to produce even the slightest chuckle. Maybe her routine is more about the visual performance or maybe her material was simply too sophisticated for my tastes, but I listened through the entire album with great difficulty in trying to find something humorous to write about. Unfortunately, there was little to be found.

The majority of Bamford’s routine involves telling mediocre anecdotes in a variety of voices that is neither creative nor humorous. She talks about her dysfunctional family, dating, learning foreign languages, and other generic topics that don’t really go anywhere. Apparently making the rolling r sound for Spanish or clicking noises for Swahili passes for comedy these days. The audience may have been laughing, but I was not.

I found myself listening intently, trying to understand some of the subjects she was talking about. Comedy albums should be something that you can put on and then get lost laughing with the dialogue. I got lost, alright, but it wasn’t because I was laughing. “Ask Me About My New God!” requires you to focus too intently on each sentence, waiting for a punch line that rarely comes. Confusing and tiresome are not the kind of adjectives you want describing a standup routine but there are no other words.

The only joy I found in the album is hearing this one woman’s laugh which sounded like a dolphin. Bamford even makes note of this person partway through her routine. Other than that, I struggled to find anything remotely funny. If you’re looking to laugh, better look somewhere else.