Maria Bamford Is Particular About What You Put in the Little Free Library

Money, prestige and fame were deciding factors when the comedian Maria Bamford first considered writing about herself. So was having an authority figure ask her to do something. “Simon & Schuster said, ‘We’ll pay you $150,000,’” she recalled. “I said, ‘Wow, this is a dream I didn’t even know I had coming.’”

In “Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult” — subtitled “A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere,” published in September — Bamford digs into bipolar II disorder, suicidal thoughts, psychiatric wards and 12-step programs that already inspire her stand-up comedy. And adds recipes.

“Cooking to me, because I don’t enjoy it, is emotional,” she said. “There’s a process for me in anything where I feel like I’ve done it wrong.”

But self-exposure wasn’t the difficult part. “No one is laughing when you’re typing,” Bamford said. “When it’s stand-up, I get to say whatever I want and no one gets to tell me anything. But with writing, someone will say, ‘Hey, why don’t you flesh out that part?’ Then you have the emotional response of, ‘Ohhhh godddd, how dare you speak of my baby.’”

In a call from Los Angeles, where she lives, Bamford talked about what keeps her afloat: Debtors Anonymous meetings, little libraries and pool time. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

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Comedy Open Mics

You get to hear from people who have all sorts of different experiences, especially in bigger cities. My current favorite is at 9 p.m. on Mondays at Public Displays of Altadena, geographically attractive and clown-positive.