母女情深—媽媽的喜劇人生

Robert Siegel （Host）： Now a story about a mother and daughter bound through impersonation. Comedian Maria Bamford imitates her mother for laughs on stage. And that got NPR’s Alix Spiegel wondering about how that might’ve affected their relationship.

Alix Spiegel （Byline）： In her professional life， Maria Bamford often plays her mom.

（Soundbite of archived recording）

Maria Bamford： My mom—I’ll tell you a little about myself. My mom told me before I went to my first girl-boy party in the eighth grade， she said， “OK，remember what we talked about—3）gonorrhea， 4）syphilis， 5）herpes， one， two. Watch the cold sores. Date rape is a lot more common than people think. You look so 6）gorgeous. Oh， Jenny’s mom’s here to pick you up. Well， have a good time.”（Laughter）

Spiegel： Bits like this are standard in Bamford’s act. Sometimes， the version of her mom that she plays is just funny because the mom can be so charmingly 7）upbeat about the horrors of the world that it’s hilarious. But sometimes the imitation feel like they’re about elements in their relationship that have a darker side， like in this YouTube bit she did.

（Soundbite of YouTube video）

Maria： So sweetie you taking a shower？ Can I just get in there real quick and just show you something？ Oh， I didn’t know you were 8）naked. Oh， sweetie， listen， if you want to get 9）breast implants， we will support you—not financially， but emotionally.

Spiegel： So what happens when you mess in a very public way with an 10）entanglement that’s pretty complicated already—the emotional entanglement between mother and

daughter—how does that affect things？ On two different days， in two different states， with the blessing of both， we spoke to Maria and her mom， whose name is Marilyn Bamford， about this. We started with Maria， who said her mom imitations were some of the very first comedy bits she ever did and that， in the beginning， she did them to get a kind of distance or control over her relationship with her mother.

Maria： For me， it was a time in life of， like， 11）detaching from my family or detaching from， you know， what I think they want me to be. Like， my mom， I remember she did—or what I heard her say—of course， she may have a different feeling of what she said at the time， but she said if you don’t wear makeup...

（Soundbite of archived recording）

Maria： ...Honey， when you don’t wear makeup， you look mentally ill. So now， when I go home， I’m certain to wear thick， green 12）eye shadow and a line of lipstick around my lips. Uh？ Baby look pretty now， mommy？

（Laughter）

Marilyn Bamford： Oh， it feels like she’s got me down perfectly in terms of voice， 13）cadence， vocabulary. You know， she’s...

Spiegel： And what about the things that you say？ I mean...

Marilyn： Well， quite a bit of that is not exactly what I say. The one I think about was the one where she has me saying when you don’t wear lipstick， you look mentally ill.

Spiegel： Yeah.

Marilyn： And she and I have gone back and forth about that because I—I know I didn’t say it that way. I said you look depressed. I mean， that’s my memory of it. On the other hand， she remembers what she remembers.

Spiegel： But， still， Marilyn doesn’t seem disturbed at all by her daughter’s impression of her， even by the things that she feels are misrepresentations of what she said or how she is. She sees the impression as helpful.

Marilyn： And so when I say something like， oh， I don’t think I said that， and then we have a discussion about it， it is helpful in the end. But I know there are probably some times where I have chosen not to say anything about it because I’m not sure I want to discuss it or have the energy to discuss it.

Maria： You know， I think the real reason you’re down is because you’re 36， and you look 36. And that’s hard.

Spiegel： Do you learn anything about yourself from watching her imitation of you？

Marilyn： Oh， yes （laughter）. I kind of remind myself of my mother. My mother was a believer that you put your lipstick on and you 14）powdered your nose. And I think I see that there in myself and I say， oh， no （laughter）. I don’t wanna be that way. But， what can you do？

Spiegel： And speaking of the 15）inevitable 16）gravity of being your mother， though Maria Bamford started her imitation to detach from her mom， it ended up having the 17）reverse effect. It brought her closer.

Maria： Like， it cheers me up to think about what she would say about things. Like， I like the idea that she has a certain point of view on life and things are certain or—or if I—if she’s not around， I can make her be around. In terms of， like， I would like to be more like her as I get older. Like， I’m hoping that my impersonation just bleeds into—I’m her （laughter） as I grow older.

Spiegel： Are you really hoping that？

Maria： Yeah. You know， I could just be the full-on Marilyn Bamford because she’s a very 18）likable person， you know？ She’s always 19）bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. It’s like， oh， honey， we’re going—we’re in Turkey and I wanted to call you because the hotel next door is on fire and your father is Vining it. We are going to have dinner tonight in the town square and everybody’s out...

Spiegel： And Marilyn Bamford， in her own way， has experienced an unanticipated benefit from her daughter’s impressions of her.

Marilyn： I think that many women my age who are， you know， catching up with 70， you know， feel kind of invisible. So therefore， when you have your daughter doing these really wonderful and gifted impressions of you， it makes you kind of 20）immortal in some way. And that’s kind of a lovely thing to happen at this age.

羅伯特·西格爾（主持人）：現在講一個通過模仿來維系母女感情的故事。喜劇演員瑪利亞·班福德在舞臺上通過模仿自己的媽媽來逗樂觀眾。NPR新聞的阿里克斯·施皮格尓爾好奇這會對她們母女的關系有什么影響。

阿里克斯·施皮格爾尓（撰稿人）：在她的職業生涯中，瑪利亞·班福德經常扮演她的媽媽。

（表演原聲片段）

瑪利亞·班福德：我的媽媽——我告訴你們一些我的事。在我8年級第一次參加男女派對前，我媽對我說：“好吧，記得我們之前說過的話——淋病、梅毒、皰疹病毒I型、I I型。小心唇皰疹。在約會中被強暴比人們想的更加常見。你看起來美極了。噢，珍妮的媽媽來接你了。好吧，祝你玩得開心?！?/p>

（笑）

施皮格爾：這些都是班福德的常規表演。有時候，她扮演的媽媽真的很有趣，因為面對這個可怕的世界，媽媽樂天派的精神確實很逗樂。但是有時候瑪利亞的表演也讓人感覺到她們（母女間）關系的陰暗面，像是這個她在YouTube（上傳）的表演片段。（YouTube視頻的原聲片段）

瑪利亞：那么親愛的，你在洗澡嗎？我能快點進來給你看點東西嗎？噢，我不知道你光著身子。噢，親愛的，聽著，如果你想要隆胸，我們會支持你的——不是在經濟上，而是在精神上。

施皮格爾：那么當你把已經很復雜的糾纏——母女間的感情糾葛公開地表現出來的時候，會有什么樣的影響呢？在兩個不同的日子里，在兩個不同的州，經過她們兩人的同意，我們分別采訪了瑪利亞和她的媽媽——瑪里琳·班福德。我們首先采訪了瑪利亞，她說對媽媽的模仿是她最早期的一些喜劇片段?！?br>