She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s called a standup comic, but is she? She doesn’t tell jokes, she tells stories. And she doesn’t so much tell them as perform them, as a gifted actor might. Randy and Maria met by email when he wrote the Ethicist column for the Times, and she wanted to discuss the ethical implications of being a spokesperson for a big box store. She lives in a moral universe. Despite this disadvantage, she has a flourishing career in show business.

• PERSON: Her mother
• PLACE: Her coffee shop, Café Con Leche
• THING: An oil painting of her dog