So I never wrote about the best part. We got to meet Maria.
So Maria, SLP, SLP's mom and I all went back into this sort of sitting room behind the balcony in the Throckmorton. I introduced SLP to Maria and said "I believe Jess is your number 1 fan". And Jess said something like "No, I'm number 2. I'm not number 1 at anything". Which was a little disconcerting. So I said I'd be the number 1 fan, since I'd been to Maria's last 4 shows and SLP had only been to the last 3. Maria thanked us for coming out to support her shows.
I took a picture of SLP and Maria, and then we all sat down in these nice antique chairs they had.
Maria was so sweet! She sat and talked to us for five or ten minutes, until they started flashing the room lights to make us leave. She's gorgeous, by the way. Maria had the awesome "party perm" going, and her face and smile were so beautiful. And yes, her voice really does sound like that. It was really kind of other-worldly to listen to that odd voice in conversation after listening to her albums for so long.
SLP immediately asked "Did you bring Blossom?". Maria said No, she can't bring a pet on Southwest, so she left Blossom with the neighbors "because Blossom likes to go over to the neighbors and party". We both told her how much we enjoyed the show, and how glad we were that she did the bit about leaving messages on her mother's answering machine from the Baby Jesus. That's my new favorite Maria bit. And I got to tell Maria in person what an amazing writer I think she is. She asked us if we'd seen the superdeluxe.com series, and we both said we loved about it.
We weren't the only ones singing Maria's praises, since other audience members were coming up and telling her how funny she was. We talked a bit about Dana Carvey and Robin Williams. Someone came up and told Maria that Robin Williams was standing in the balcony during her act and was laughing so hard people were telling him to be quiet. Maria said she'd met Robin before and he was very nice.
Then I gave Maria the present I had brought for her, which was a tank top with this on it:
She seemed touched by the gift, I think. She leaned over to SLP's mom and explained that she had a pug. I was concerned the shirt was too small - it looked just big enough to fit a wiener dog. But Maria assured me that the material would stretch. I guess the sizing chart on David and Goliath is right, then. It said 32AA = small.
They started flashing the lights, so we got up to get out of the theater. Downstairs, Mark Pitta told Maria that Robin Williams wanted to talk with her. So we both told her to go ahead and schmooze with Robin and we would wait.
She came back 10 minutes later and actually apologized to us for keeping us waiting so she could talk to fricking Robin Williams. We took a couple more pictures, and Maria gave us both a hug and said she had to get to sleep.
I pulled out my phone and said, "Please, Maria, just one more thing. Could you record a voice message from the Baby Jesus on my phone?" And she said, "Oh, give me your phone number, and I'll call you and leave a message from the Baby Jesus." And SLP, who'd been so quiet and shy all night, immediately shouts out "
I WANT A MESSAGE FROM THE BABY JESUS TOO!!" So she took both our phone numbers, and we both said we'd let our calls go to voicemail for the rest of the evening. Then we said our goodbyes and took off.
Jess and I went outside the theater and did a High 5 - Yes! Got to meet the Bammer! How cool was that? She was so friendly and down to earth. It was just the greatest to get to talk to her.
So I drove all the way home to San Jose, and went to bed. And about 1am that night, my phone rang and I let it go to voicemail. After the voicemail indicator popped up, I checked my message immediately and heard this:
s191.photobucket.com/albums/z218/lanebrain65/?action=view¤t=BabyJesus.flvThat was the 2nd coolest thing that happened on this whole adventure. The very coolest thing was seeing the video of Maria going to the airport the next morning - and wearing my pug life tank top!
youtube.com/watch?v=wcOWfRTteccSo that was my brush with Bamford. I emailed her and told her how thrilled I was that she was wearing my tank top in the video, and this time she responded with a quick thank you. And I've been playing the Baby Jesus voicemail for everyone I know ever since.
And hey, added bonus - Maria's cell phone number showed up on my phone when she called. So now I have Maria Bamford's phone number. How cool is that?
I'm sure that wasn't Maria's home # you got there.Celebrities are much smarter than that.