Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFund.org and is distributed by NPR.

It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn.

Maria Bamford is one of the best stand-up comics in the world, and she has spent a lifetime

looking for help. For as long as she can remember, she has dealt with anxiety, depression,

obsessive-compulsive disorder, and a host of other issues. She's seen therapists, she's

attended seminars, joined support groups, she's even called car rental agencies, completely

out of the blue, absolutely baffling the agent on the other end.

All these challenges she has managed better lately, but managing the challenges is work,

and it's work that she acknowledges she can't really do alone.

She finds comfort in help, in structured recovery systems. Even if the system is designed

to help her recover from being a debtor, which she kind of isn't, she's found comfort

in help from other people too, right kind of therapist, the right sponsor, and yes, even

the right car rental agent. So, Maria Bamford wrote a book, it's called Sure, I'll

Join Your Cult, in it she writes about her journey to find mental health, and what works

for her. She also shares advice for others looking to do the same, and because it is a book

by Maria Bamford, who is one of the world's greatest stand-up comics, it is also very,

very funny.

Maria Bamford was kind enough to read a little bit from Sure, I'll Join Your Cult. This

is from a portion where she's describing one of her more positive romantic relationships,

her serious boyfriend from high school.

Why didn't give me the experience of a friend and a boyfriend, though I never took advantage

of us having a friendship by telling him exactly what was going on, OCD thoughts, eating

...