RECOMMENDED

A tour de force of non sequitur stories and high-pitched voice exclamations, Hollywood-based stand-up/voice specialist Maria Bamford will undoubtedly bewilder anyone expecting a traditional set-up/punchline comedian. The topics may be typical—office etiquette, allergies, her pug dog’s George W. Bush impersonation—but the execution is anything but, as she crafts bizarre characters, unloads an arsenal of voice inflections and structures her jokes as loose vignettes. Example: After being sent to an eighteen-week Dale Carnegie sales training course at the age of 15, Maria uses the techniques against her parents. “If I told you for $49—that’s the price of Greyhound bus ticket to Chicago–I’d be out of your hair for the rest of your life, you’d give me that $50,” she says in her childish cartoon voice. “…And that’s where me becoming a roadie for REO Speedwagon comes in.” (Andy Seifert)

February 6-7 at Lakeshore Theater, 3175 N. Broadway, (773)472-3492. $20.