Bookseller Created
Read by the Author, Endorsed by your local bookseller
Give audiobooks, support Skylight Books!
Start gifting
Bookseller pick
Send as gift
Add to Wish List
Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create account
Shop small, give big!
With credit bundles, you choose the number of credits and your recipient picks their audiobooks—all in support of Skylight Books.
Start gifting
Limited-time offer
Get two free audiobooks!
Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting Skylight Books with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.
Sign up todaySure, I'll Join Your Cult
A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere
Narrator
Maria Bamford
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn more
Length
7 hours 40 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“What a zany, psyche-med laced, adorably cringy, appropriately humorous, and thoroughly relatable peek into the comedic and troubled brain of Maria Bamford! Both heartfelt and tragic, it’s a fascinating window into daily challenges faced by those who struggle with intrusive thoughts, anxiety, bi-polar disorder, and attempting life during this insane period in earth’s history. Daily affirmations, 1: I will leave the cults I’ve joined, 2: I will recommend this book, 3: I will no longer shop at Target. ”
— Kathy • The Well-Read Moose
Bookseller recommendation
“I laughed, cried, questioned my entire life, laughed again, gasped, realized I needed therapy, cried again (unrelated), and related hard to so much of Maria's experiences that I began to question my reality. 11/10 will read again”
— Kristin • Aaron's Books
Bookseller recommendation
“Maria Bamford is my absolute hero and she covers what would otherwise be an intense journey through mental health struggles with humor and whimsy. You will laugh until your sides hurt and feel seen and supported the whole way through.”
— Carrie • Lark & Owl
From “weird, scary, ingenious” (The New York Times) stand-up comedian Maria Bamford, an instant New York Times bestselling, brutally honest, and “laugh-out-loud funny” (Jennette McCurdy, #1 New York Times bestselling author) memoir about show business, mental health, and the comfort of rigid belief systems—from Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, to Richard Simmons, to 12-step programs.
Maria Bamford is a comedian’s comedian (an outsider among outsiders) and has forever fought to find a place to belong. From struggling with an eating disorder as a child of the 1980s, to navigating a career in the arts (and medical debt and psychiatric institutionalization), she has tried just about every method possible to not only be a part of the world, but to want to be a part of it.
In Bamford’s “trademark blend of disarming intimacy and dark whimsy” (Publishers Weekly), Sure, I’ll Join Your Cultbrings us on a quest to participate in something. With sincerity and transparency, she recounts every anonymous fellowship she has joined (including but not limited to: Debtors Anonymous, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, and Overeaters Anonymous), every hypomanic episode (from worrying about selling out under capitalism to enforcing union rules on her Netflix TV show set to protect her health), and every easy 1-to-3-step recipe for fudge in between.
Packed with “Bamford’s brilliance, relentless humor, and insatiable instinct for survival (Library Journal), this memoir explores what it means to keep going, and to be a member of society (or any group she’s invited to) despite not being very good at it. In turn, she hopes to transform isolating experiences into comedy that will make you feel less alone (without turning into a cult following).
Maria Bamford is the star of The Maria Bamford Show, Ask My Mom, and Lady Dynamite. She was deemed Breakout Comedy Star at Just for Laughs, and her critically acclaimed work includes her stand-up specials Weakness Is the Brand, Old Baby, and Maria Bamford: The Special, Special, Special!, as well as two Comedy Central Presents specials. Maria’s writing has been featured in The New York Times, LA Weekly, and more. She is the author of the audio original You Are (A Comedy) Special. Maria has contributed comedic voice-overs for Big Mouth, BoJack Horseman, Adventure Time, Word Girl, Kung Fu Panda, Legend of Korra, and Teenage Euthanasia. For her mental health advocacy, she’s been presented with The OCD Foundation’s Illumination Award and featured at the Psychotherapy Networker Symposium, The Chautauqua Institution, and the Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy and Ethics Symposium. She’s not always right for these rooms, but she’s on time and pleasant. (From Maria: This was all in the third person. My apologies. If you need help, dial 911 or 988 or call Delta airlines Diamond line. Health care can be expensive and sometimes, super shitty. Go get yourself that shitty-ass help and tell me how it went!)
Maria Bamford is the star of The Maria Bamford Show, Ask My Mom, and Lady Dynamite. She was deemed Breakout Comedy Star at Just for Laughs, and her critically acclaimed work includes her stand-up specials Weakness Is the Brand, Old Baby, and Maria Bamford: The Special, Special, Special!, as well as two Comedy Central Presents specials. Maria’s writing has been featured in The New York Times, LA Weekly, and more. She is the author of the audio original You Are (A Comedy) Special. Maria has contributed comedic voice-overs for Big Mouth, BoJack Horseman, Adventure Time, Word Girl, Kung Fu Panda, Legend of Korra, and Teenage Euthanasia. For her mental health advocacy, she’s been presented with The OCD Foundation’s Illumination Award and featured at the Psychotherapy Networker Symposium, The Chautauqua Institution, and the Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy and Ethics Symposium. She’s not always right for these rooms, but she’s on time and pleasant. (From Maria: This was all in the third person. My apologies. If you need help, dial 911 or 988 or call Delta airlines Diamond line. Health care can be expensive and sometimes, super shitty. Go get yourself that shitty-ass help and tell me how it went!)
Featured in these playlists...
Reviews
"Stand-up comic Maria Bamford shows her sense of timing, audience, and humor as she narrates her memoir. Upbeat and whimsical, she begins by defining sounds that signal what’s coming: Brakes squealing, for example, heralds “creepy stuff.” She also warns listeners that her memoir will not follow a linear structure. Indeed, while pondering bouts of mental illness and her need to belong, Bamford continually takes detours that are filled with irreverent, laugh-worthy details; salty language; and tongue-in-cheek observations. All are delivered at breakneck speed as she discusses topics that range from self-help programs to Suzuki violin training. While sometimes distracting, the brisk nonstop humor buoys Bamford’s moments of candor in stories about her mother’s evangelical leanings and death. Bamford’s portraits of others are seamlessly integrated, and her witty transitions work well." Expand reviewsWant the printed book?
Get the print edition from Skylight Books.
Skylight Books is proud to partner with Libro.fm to give you a great audiobook experience.
Give audiobooks, support Skylight Books!
Libro.fm for Business
Start a membership, get two free audiobooks