Maria Bamford

Maria Bamford is playing The Sheldon on Friday, October 23, and if you've never seen her live, this is a good place to start. She's built a whole career around comedy that's deeply personal and experimental, and she doesn't shy away from mental illness—a subject she handles with a mix of character-driven humor and intimate storytelling. It's the kind of stand-up that feels more like a conversation than a routine.

If her name sounds familiar but you can't quite place it, you've probably heard her voice. She's a prolific voice actor with roles on Big Mouth, BoJack Horseman, Summer Camp Island, Adventure Time, Bob's Burgers, and Word Girl. She also created and starred in the cult web series The Maria Bamford Show, where she plays every single character herself.

On screen, she's best known for Lady Dynamite, the surreal, semi-autobiographical Netflix series about a comedian who suffers a nervous breakdown. That same thread runs through her stand-up specials, too. She's released three unconventional hour-longs—Weakness is the Brand, Old Baby and Maria Bamford, and special, special, special!—and was the first female comic to have two half-hour Comedy Central Presents specials. In 2014, she took home the American Comedy Award for Best Club Comic.

The show is at The Sheldon Concert Hall and Galleries, 3648 Washington Blvd. in St. Louis. It starts at 7:30 PM, with doors opening at 6:30 PM, and tickets are $56.50, $38.50, or $28.50 depending on where you sit.