WTF with Marc Maron (it's a podcast)

People seem to be tired of WTF dominating the talk here, so now WTF and Marc Maron have their own dedicated thread.

what up what the fuckers, what the fuckanettes, what the fuckanauts

LOCK THE GATES

For serious, today's Bobcat Goldthwait episode was crazy good.

looking forward to it, he was really funny on the live episode he was on

The Bobcat one is great because of Bobcat; I'm pretty much over Maron at this point. I figure if I listen to one a month from now on I won't want to strangle him.

What are some of the better episodes IYO? I tried the Janeane Garafolo one, which was pretty good, but then lost interest after playing the Sara Silverman ep in which she seemed about as bored with Maron as I was.

Maybe I should revise my policy of choosing podcasts for babe factor.

i think the louis ck episodes are generally seen as the best ones

The Maria Bamford one is my favorite.

^yah otm xxxp. maron was so hung up on the 'bobcat voice' character that it got p annoying

recent good ones: dino stamatopolous, stephen tobolowsky, dave foley, most of the live ones

lol @ maron and laura kightlinger deciding to call up lous ck in the middle of the podcast. so awkward (he picked up but was busy and annoyed, of course).

i have a dumb question

in the theme song, what is the thing that sounds like "and i'm not guilty here"?

i don't think that's what he's actually saying but it's what i always hear

Ed Helms playing bango! Mike DiStefano is essential listening. All the old school guys. Stewart Lee, duh, considering he is the greatest of all time. The Apatow ones.

I can kind of get why Maron's persona is an obstacle for some people, but I've been a fan of the guy for so long that it's almost impossible to be annoyed by him now (though there are definitely still occasions where I'll be thinking "okay, let's move ahead...").

Some of my favorite guests have been Stephen Tobolowsky, Maria Bamford, Adam McKay, Louis C.K., Judd Apatow, and Patrice O'Neal.

n/a do you mean El Chupacabra saying Double-U Tee Eff?

ha ha maybe? it seems odd that i would be that far off but ???

Dino stamatopolous one was alltime classic and listening to it got me into Moral Orel which is beyond brilliant. Also Starburns.

the Pardo one was great. funny and a lot of great nuggets about how comics approach their craft.

Loved, loved loved Bobcat today. The stuff about his Dad, his crazy biker brother, Kurt...love him. Maron doesnt grate on me anymore, I tend to focus on the guest

The joke about Michael Jordan's dad and Kurt the only one laughing-- A+

Also loved the reason he's called Bobcat (basically as an FU to someone else).

I loved the story about their idea for the All Apologies video idea, with JFK assassination and the pie, and the tour manager saying they can't be in the same room anymore.

Wasn't Kurt really into SNL, at least as a teenager?

My all-time favorite wtfs:

Louis CK
Paul Scheer
Maria Bamford road trip
Janeane Garofalo
Stephen Tobolowsky
Joe Mande

Enjoyed Laura Kightlinger confirming what I thought about Todd Barry (funny but he goes to far in dealing with hecklers to the detriment of the rest of his set, or at least he has the 2 times I've seen him in person). Enjoyed the Robin Williams and Carl LaBove episodes a lot, and his subtle skewering of Bobby Slayton was great.

Anyone other than me pay to upgrade the app? Only really worth it to be able to listen to the old episodes.

Ed Helms seems like a sweet dude, but I think because of that, he didn't really gel with Maron, who seems to need his guests to be more darkly confessional to fully engage with them. Also Helms seemed sort of surprised that Maron hadn't seen Cedar Rapids and didn't know what it was about.

I got to listen to most of the old ones before he created the app, so just use the app for the new eps now

Robin Williams was great, i forgot that one.

otm. also helms doesn't really seem comfortable talking about himself at all.
xpost

Yeah Ed Helm is a sweetheart

Yeah, that was my Ed Helms takeaway. He's uneasy talking about himself (and at least 10 minutes before the interview was over, I was hoping they'd take a break so he could go outside and get some fresh, non cat-infected air).

Laura Kightlinger's childhood sitch = whoa! She seems like a bro, though, and I'd kick it with her.

Just heard Marc Maron on the CBC lately and that spurred me to download a bunch of these and have been enjoying what I've heard though my big complaint is the sheer amount of often-pointless yammer at the beginning of each episode.

The Louis CK ones aren't available in the iTunes feed (they just fell off the bottom I guess) but you can still download them if you search for them in the cached versions using Google search.

Fast forward

Anyone who's just now getting acquainted with Maron needs to hear his Not Sold Out stand-up album from 2002. The ones since then have also been funny, if slightly more self-loathing, but the set that comprises Not Sold Out is masterful.

Fast forward
― reggaeton for the painfully alone (polyphonic)

Yeah, I guess. Might get to that. I find that I'm listening to a lot of these when my hands are incapacitated (cooking or something) so not always an option, and thankfully so far it hasn't been TOO irksome. Though we'll see after I have 20 of them under my belt!

seems like a sweet dude, but I think because of that, he didn't really gel with Maron, who seems to need his guests to be more darkly confessional to fully engage with them.

I was suprised at how well the Stephen Tobolowsky ep went because of this - Maron didn't dig for any of the painful stuff Tobolowsky's talked about, but just let himself get caught up in the guest's storytelling ability and say some "wow"s at his IRL bloozzzz-rock encounters

My favorite ep so far was W. Kamau Bell & Dwayne Kennedy talking about race and comedy. I could've listened to a couple more hours of that.

Patrice Oneal & Mike DeStefano (RIP) are the 2 best I've heard.

have no idea what greg fleet looks like i just assume hes superhans from peep show

he kinda looks like a middle-aged smackie whinnyingly asking you to lennim twenty bucks

The two-parter with Mencia is sort of different from the rest of the podcast but is AMAZING -- Marc Maron, Comedy Detective, and the case of the Ripped-Off Jokes -- the whole thing has the intensity of those scenes in the interrogation room from Homicide: Life On The Street

live wtf from brooklyn was very funny especially chuck klosterman.

Greg Fleet on today! <3

Oh no, Andy Dick on Thursday. I may skip that one.

yeah that's going to be weird and awkward... I may have to listen in stages

I still blame him indirectly for Phil Hartman's death, so unless his hour with Marc is some kind of self-flagellating apology fest, I'm not interested.

yeah, and I've heard icky stories of him crashing high school proms and shit...dude is not right

remember maron saying andy dick was someone he didnt have time for as he wouldnt take responsibility for his actions (think it was on joe rogans interview)

the great thing about Maron is you have to believe he'll confront Dick about all that stuff. he's not an obsequious kind of guy

Yeah that's the thing with Maron's guests -- if I don't know them or dont' like them, Maron's the reason I listen.

Though I have to say there's something about Joe Rogan I really don't like.

(lol apropo of nothing)

I haven't listened to the Rogan ep yet, even though it's been downloaded.

the great thing about Maron is you have to believe he'll confront Dick about all that stuff. he's not an obsequious kind of guy

― Mordy, Monday, April 25, 2011 1:00 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

OTM. The deeper he went into the Gallagher and Mencia interview, the more I thought, "Any other interviewer would have stopped five questions ago."

*interviewS

Apparently Andy Dick is still staggering about the wilds of Portland, as the Bridgetown Comedy Fest organizer announced from the stage last night that no one knew where the hell he was, he had missed his flight, and if anybody sees him, please to DM the organizer on Twitter, etc.

What a champ, that guy.

Oh Andy.

Maybe it's just me...but the Rogan interview didn't feel real to me. He was open and talked about his life and whatever but his tone, the way he responded to questioning, he just felt very closed off and like he was tolerating Maron and not actually participating fully. Or something. Maybe I just don't like Rogan.

Oh and he would spout these random little lectures about bizarre pseudo-science that made me actually yell at my car stereo at one point AGGH YOU ARE SO FULL OF SHIT and then I had to stop listening for a little while because i'm crazy :)

Maybe Marc is secretly working through the entire cast of Newsradio. Can't wait for him to talk to Stephen Root!

the Joe Rogan interview was (another) one that made me think "Marc has some deep, DEEP issues"

andy dick interview has the potential to be amazing

But if it was a cavalcade of batshittery, wouldn't Maron be hyping it as such? He did with Gallagher, and I haven't heard a peep about Dick on the latest WTFs (unless it's on today's, in which case I'll stop talking now).

I actually liked the Rogan interview! I don't like him as a comedian or actor but he seemed a lot more thoughtful guy than I expected, and like I think I said on the comedy podcast thread, Maron was being pretty annoying in that interview. He seemed to have all these preconceived notions about who Rogan is (basically a really aggro dude) and then wouldn't back off from those notions no matter how many times Rogan denied them, which isn't really great interviewing technique. Rogan did creep me out when he was talking about all the steroids he does.

I want Maura Tierney to start doing standup so she can be a guest.

Bobcat Goldthwait episode was one of the best of the recent batch btw.

could listen to 5 more podcasts of Bobcat. Love him.

I still blame him indirectly for Phil Hartman's death, so unless his hour with Marc is some kind of self-flagellating apology fest, I'm not interested.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 25 April 2011 17:47 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

wtf?

Hartman's friend and former SNL colleague Jon Lovitz has accused Hartman's former NewsRadio co-star Andy Dick of re-introducing Brynn to cocaine, causing her to relapse and suffer a nervous breakdown. Dick claims to have known nothing of her condition.[48] In 2006, Lovitz claimed that Dick had approached him at a restaurant and said, "I put the Phil Hartman hex on you; you're the next one to die."[49][50] The following year at the Laugh Factory comedy club in Los Angeles, Lovitz and Dick had a further altercation over the issue.[50] Dick does not believe he is at fault in relation to Hartman's death.[48]

I've heard Dick questioned about Brynn Hartman before, and he just bounces into five minutes of "I didn't go to her house and put a GUN in her hand and tell her SHOOT PHIL, I wouldn't do that. She was MENTALLY ILL, that's not the cocaine's fault. I didn't know she had a problem with coke, or I wouldn't have given her any. Oh maybe I would have, I was on coke, hahahahaha. Of course' it's a tragedy but you can't dwell on these things. Whatever! I do what I like!"

I know it's an integral part of his personality, but I'm getting weary of the "problems" Maron has with almost any comedy that didn't spring from exactly the same place as he did, or with comedy scenes he feels excluded from. This episode he didn't "get" absurd humor--which is okay. But he's always lightly dissing alt comedy and nerd comedy, has said he doesn't understand British comedy. He rarely has black comics on the show, possibly because stand-up is pretty segregated and he never plays the same clubs as those guys. (I'm pretty sure I've heard him scoff a few times when young stand-ups talk about Chris Rock being their main inspiration.) The only people he likes seem to be the ones who gave him breaks (like Conan), who came up in his era or before him, or younger comics who praise him.

I dunno, I was listening to the Aziz Ansari WTF last night, and they definitely didn't come from the same place (couldn't have -- Ansari is about 20 years younger than Maron). And Ansari wasn't praising Maron to the skies or anything.

yeah but didn't have some thing where he thought Aziz was going to be arrogant?

He always ends up coming to a resolution with his guests on the show, but then he regresses again. He'll get along with some alt type comics, but then a few weeks later he's back to talking about how he feels excluded from the alt scene. It gets to seem like schtick--he has to have a problem with each guest that can be worked out on the show.

The point is he is capable if turning the corner, and he is getting better at being less combative. But at some point, it is still his show and it will always be about him to a certain extent. Maybe Maron just isnt your bag

yeah but didn't have some thing where he thought Aziz was going to be arrogant?

Yeah, but I took that as more "He's so famous so young so quickly!" rather than jealousy. I do get what you're saying about the conflicts he invents or imagines (or doesn't), but I guess I find that appealing. He's going through the same personality-navigation that every working comic is, but is open and honest about it.

it is funny to me how he has that bit or at least line abt richard lewis's act 20 yrs later being the same whining, etc & his reaction of "so you havent worked out any of this?"

...which is funny but maron p consistently has the same perspective too & is stuck in it in a v similar way

x-post no the shows are entertaining, but it sometimes grates to hear someone being close-minded about genres of comedy, or anything. I do admire his attempts to get over it though.

I agree that he definitely has that schtick of placing himself in opposition to his guest and then building to a resolution. I think maybe this started with Louis CK, where it was a genuine progression, but since then he's kind of forced it sometimes, it can seem very artificial. Even as a schtick, I think it works for some guests, gets them to talk about stuff they wouldn't normally talk about. The problem is when it doesn't work but Maron refuses to change his style or strategy to fit the situation.

Wasn't it Aziz he talks to about Chris Rock being a v. funny influence? And they discuss how odd it is when he does shows trying to work out his next routine without doing it 'Chris Rock style'?

I generally agree that Maron has a limited view of what comedy he likes but when something from outside that hits him, he can't shut up about it. I mean I am about as big a Stewart Lee mark as there is but stfu about dude already in every single podcast.

I also think he is starting to be better about opening up to his trad. idea of comedy. Like discussing stuff with whoever it was who wrote Night Of The Musuem and understanding that it isn't some sort of way to attack his perceived notion of real comedy but as a well-paid job for dudes trying to make a film that entertains children. And I think as the show goes on and he's already interviewed all his buddies he'll start to open up more - hell you can see that with things like Gallagher.

He said on twitter a couple weeks ago that he's trying to arrange a Chris Rock interview. Who knows if it will happen or not, but it would be nice to finally put that to bed.

Really hoping there's a surprise Chappelle interview at some point (maybe #200), but that's a pipe dream.

Isn't any Chappelle interview with anyone in the outside world a pipe dream?

Probably, but when was the last time he was interviewed only about his standup (which is presumably/hopefully what Maron would focus on)?

He's not a recluse by any means. Chappelle still does impromptu sets at clubs around the country, but he hasn't done any media for years.

x-post He already went after Tom Lennon a little bit months ago about writing Night at the Museum and Herbie, so I guess he got it out of his system by the time he had Lennon's writing partner on.

Really? Cool, I thought he was a hardcore recluse.

Ha! I didn't know about this:

In April 2007, Chappelle set a stand-up endurance record at the Laugh Factory Sunset Strip comedy club, beating comedian Dane Cook's record of 3 hours and 50 minutes. In December of the same year, Chappelle broke his own record with a time of 6 hours and 12 minutes. Cook took the record again in January 2008, with a time of 7 hours.[28] On November 19, 2009 Chappelle performed at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles, where it was speculated that he would aim to take back the record. However, he was disqualified according to the club owner, after he left the stage, five hours into his routine.[29]

Jeffrey Ross said on Bill Simmons podcast that Chappelle had been appearing in LA on the reg, late at night just working out material

Would love a Chris Rock wtf. Or Chappelle.

And they discuss how odd it is when he does shows trying to work out his next routine without doing it 'Chris Rock style'

this was kind of amazing to me. i would love to see a chris rock set where he is intentionally dead pan, trying out the words without any kind of funny delivery.

I felt like Andy Dick filibustered a lot during that interview. If I knew nothing about Dick I probably would have enjoyed it more as a bunch of crazy sex & addiction stories--but he went all Andy-so-innocent during the Phil Hartman part & called his assistant. It reminded me of Mencia & his defensiveness.

I'm 10 minutes into the interview and I've already paused 3 times for a "I dont know if I can do this" break.

Does Andy Dick talk about jerking off as a 12 year old in every interview he does? Probably a bit too late for him to try telling jokes, I guess.

nope. he talks about another 12 yr old jerking him off.

The bit I liked best was Andy Dick laying into his 'birth' father for wanting to get back in touch because of his money, then claiming to have offered any woman that he got pregnant financial support to make up for the fact he couldn't parent any resulting child, and then further making it clear that despite the fact he was only in his own children's lives until the age of five, he still paid his way.

the australia stand-up clip he played recently where he called out the heckler was some srs lulz

yeah that was pretty good. his heckler stories are always great...cool to hear a live clip!

i was really fine w/ andy dick on this idk i dont have any neg feelings built up abt him and get maybe a little that hes like proactively trying 2 play the sympathy card here & cotton favor & knows maron has a p huge audience but i truly felt some sympathy 4 the dude! altho of course hes brought everything on himself & earned the rep as a fuckup

he creeps me right the fuck out...I still havent finished listening yet

meh, hes just a messed up dude. not like im ever gonna go see him or anything but thats mostly cuz i dont really think hes funny and nvr have

I did end up really liking the Andy Dick episode after my initial misgivings. Much as I wanted Maron to go at him more, in the end I was kind of touched by Maron's genuine affection for him. I mean, he is still a fuckup, no question...but kind of fucking sad to know that he knows he is fucked up but that he doesn't want to deprive himself. I dunno. It was like hearing Maron interview his fuckup kid brother or something...he tried to act like "Andy Dick" for a while at first and the way Maron just let it go right by, not even call him on his crazy outbursts and weird pervy statements, it was a good way to get to something that was closer to the real Andy. Or something like him. I dunno. I definitely came away with a different impression.

also Sue Costello was great. Got a bit selfhelpy at times, some of the therapy-language gets a bit much for me, but her message, her journey really hit home for me. Should send the whole interview to my Mum, lol.

I don't know who she is but Sue Costello's laugh gave me tingly feelings, the good kind. She was a bit self-helpy, yeah, but I liked her.

her laugh was terrific, I agree totally.

Winters interview was great

Man, just listened to the Tobolowsky, and his stories of hanging out with the Vaughan Bros. are great. Totally weird he was there at so many important junctures (at least as far as Stevie Ray and Jimmy Vaughan go).

Damn, that Jonathan Winters episode was like a big comfy blanket. He was so great! And Maron was really good with him. Excellent episode, for sure.

Eddie Pepitone made me legit lul on the recent live ep

Winters was the total opposite of the bitter old showbiz vet. Cool to see someone able to amuse himself with his own talent.

That crazy zookeeper character made me lolol

this is kind of illuminating/sad, from that ny mag louis ck article:

(I ask him about whether he and Maron are back in touch after years of estrangement, and he says they are, now and then. “I tell him I’m happy to sit down anytime for a real conversation, but he just wants me to do the podcast again. It’s a little weird.”)

hah

he called Louis from the podcast recently -- they've got a weird relationship for sure

like, i don't just blame Maron. Louis CK is clearly a pretty weird guy too.

Sounds like an Apatow movie waiting to happen

anyone worthwhile is prob somewhat weird

its my only hope

Coming to public radio!

http://www.maximumfun.org/2011/05/17/wtf-public-radio-show

"...Night Of The Musuem and understanding that it (is) a well-paid job for dudes trying to make a film that entertains children."

Once upon a time this could be done artfully, but now United States of Low Expectations.

shit movies were better in your day huh

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

wow, the re-recorded bumper sounds terribly limp (at the end of the Apatow segment in polyp's link)

Shandling episode is GREAT!

Also, I now have a crush on Sue Costello.

(Caught up on several shows over the last couple days.)

loved Shandling...especially the way he tries to help Maron.

shandling episode was good, such a funny weird dude
steve byrne came off like an ignorant republican asshole

yeah i didnt warm to steve byrne. the dane cook story was funny though.

true, that was good

I didnt like Byrne at all.
Also Carlin's wife gave me weird vibes...loved the stories but she was a little odd

I've never heard the entire Dane Cook episode but in that clip he came across as such a douche, not able to laugh at himself at all and very concerned about Setting the Record Straight.

The Phil Rosenthal episode was very skippable.

I'm torn on Cook...I think Maron was kind of a dick, but Cook did feel kind of distant or guarded, and Maron was maybe trying to lighten him up
I felt like I understood Cook a little better though...I still dont like him but I'm glad he opened up a little, even if it wasnt quite what I wanted

Rosenthal is a boring interview, yeah, but I still kind of want to see his docucomedy.

And I agree that the Sally Wade ep was weird. I'd nodded off for a couple minutes toward the end and her crying woke me up.

The Jupiter thing got way more serious than I banked on

It was cool as a concept & very Carlin...but from her it was oddly intense

Wonder what her standup comedy was like? o_O

Yeah, I'm glad she's chosen to share all this stuff, but her personality is such that it's probably just more enjoyable to thumb through the book than to hear her speak about it.

^^^

i'm sure it's a horrible thing to think but i was kinda disappointed Carlin had a relationship with her. and the Jupiter alien letters stuff... well, I guess even brilliant ppl have embarrassing corny personal lives.

rosenthal was nice butnice like an uncle you are cool with sharing 10 minutes with every couple of months.

shandling trying to bring down america was o_O

http://splitsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Fozziewtf.jpg

Feels that way sometimes.

needs a bubble between the last two where he talks at length about his own relationship with his father

Maron is live in studio on the Best Show tonight. FYI!

cool!

Really enjoyed the Harmon interview. He seems like a very cool, genuine guy. And the self-doubt makes him more likeable to me, like oh hey I feel like that all the time & have done fuckall...makes me realize I really am the only obstacle to me doing cool things :)

every ilx person should call into the best show tonight 9pm est

Was kind of enjoying the pretense that Scharpling actually had a problem with Maron.

wth i didn't even read this thread but just trampled in here . so marc maron is on the best show tonight? crazy. ok fuck it i'm totally calling in. and i'm not even a marc maron person by any means god said it, i believe it, that settles it.

Ask him if those Ray Romano calls are staged.

I thought the Ray Romano call during the Rosenthal episode had to have been staged because Romano was worried about spoilers for his TV show when Maron never actually said, "This conversation is being broadcast for WTF."

Maybe he assumed it would be broadcast for WTF. Probably a fair assumption considering who Maron is.

True.

The Ray Romano calls were clearly a bit.

You'd think, but Louis CK claimed that Maron ambush calls him.

But that was during the actual show, with another guest in the garage. The Romano calls were during the little "sponsored" period where the only objective is to push Men of a Certain Age.

true, but Maron also seems to take enough pride in his rep as a "straight shooter" that i can't imagine he'd mock up so much how random the call was ("should i call him?" "i'll call him." "is it okay i used your cell #?" "are you sure?" "that went well. i'll be calling him again.") just for the advertising. it's possible, but I guess I've really bought his persona as authentic.

(nb authentic as convincing not some benjaminian authenticity etc etc)

See? From the get-go, I read it exactly opposite. Maron's self aware enough to actually caricature his own schtick when it comes to advertising for a sponsor. The fact that Ray played along as though he was reading from a script cemented it for me.

The show always goes in this order:

Today's show is sponsored by ______.
Music/intro
Long monologue bit
Sponsored bit
Interview
Exit

The Romano calls very clearly took place in the sponsored bit all three times they happened.

In the early WTF days Maron used to do more bits, where he'd talk to some comic doing a character--like the racist self help guy who wanted black people to "lighten up" like Obama's father had.

But the Romano bits seemed betrayals of the rep Maron has built for himself since then--and I'm specifically thinking about how they mirror the call to Louis CK, which was clearly authentic. They really bug me.

If it was an attempt to caricature his own shtick, it was really poorly communicated. He sounded like he was trying to sincerely sell the call as authentic.

Brian Posehn seems like a total sweetheart.

yea hes a delight. i didnt know he worked on metalocalypse but of course that fits perfectly

I want Brian to have his own podcast. Every time Marc interrupted I wanted to smack him.

Every time Marc interrupted I wanted to smack him.

― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 9 June 2011 16:18 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

thread descrip

romano calls were a bit, clearly. also, they were hideous.

liked his conversation w harmon; they complemented each other well.

also maron was sweet with carlin's widow.

Oh boy that last call to Ray, bit or not, just gave me the CREEPS.

I'd never heard of Iris Bahr or seen her in anything, but really enjoyed that interview.

its amazing how much we are all addicted to listening to this podcast yet find maron a whiny twat at the same time. i think he still makes a good interviewer though.

xxp yeah, I was gonna say, if they were bits, Maron is a really talented actor. that last call was supremely uncomfortable. ray seemed legitimately confused about how to deal with maron and maron kinda seemed like a socially inept psycho.

I'd never heard of Iris Bahr or seen her in anything, but really enjoyed that interview.

Ha, I chose not to listen to that one, since her Svetlana character kind of annoyed me whenever I saw commercials for her DirecTV show at the movie theater.

Or HDNet, rather.

I've not heard of half these people - or more - he interviews, but the Iris Bahr interview was a good one.

Loved the Posehn interview. He's such a good dude.

i like Maron as a standup and the podcast obviously has good guests but skimming this thread all of you guys already seem so sick of him/it that i'm like yeah i guess i don't need to check this out

i had a lot more enthusiasm for the show when i was going thru the whole back catlogue of eps so i'd say try that, though i doubt theyre free anymore (most used to be linked from wikipedia)

i like Maron as a standup and the podcast obviously has good guests but skimming this thread all of you guys already seem so sick of him/it that i'm like yeah i guess i don't need to check this out

nah man, it's fantastic

Yeah, seriously. Even if it isn't always consistently great, it's great most of the time. I daresay it's some of the more important work being done in the comedy world ATM. And I personally think Maron's preamble is a pretty essential part the overall show. Dude's working on himself, and it ain't always a pretty picture, but he's always engaging and usually pretty damn funny about it, to boot. I like knowing what's going on in his head.

Maron is very engaging and part of what makes him engaging is all the stuff that we're discussing here. I get annoyed at him plenty but that's definitely part of what makes him interesting.

Lol yeah al the show is usually awesome, if youre already a fan of him I see zero reason for you to ignore this

It works because all comics seem to share the same set of neuroses/horror stories/insecurity/disdain for mankind and/or each other. Put them together and the shit comes out.

i'm sorry if it seemed like i was asking to be convinced -- trust me if i ever get to a point in my life where i want to listen to a podcast, that will probably be the one. reading this thread is just kind of a bummer because every fan of it seems to hate Maron as an interviewer.

That's... Exactly the opposite of true. It's just the kind of style that becomes easy to caricature over time. But if this is like your thing w ilx bookmarks where you won't listen to a podcast for inscrutable some dudeian reasons, then nev mind

he is actually not that terrible an interviewer. it's just his own personal hangups, quirks & shit that he'll interject can really grate sometimes

i also feel like guests are being less candid lately (idk say since the nyt article) and are now specifically coming on with a thing to promote

i'm just hesitant to give up any of my ever-shrinking window of time in which i can listen to music to internet talk shows, sorry if that's inscrutable

reading this thread is just kind of a bummer because every fan of it seems to hate Maron as an interviewer.

He is an EXCELLENT interviewer

It's the open-emotional-wound stuff that often fills up the Maron preambles that makes him such a great interviewer too: his experience of 12-stepping a) makes him process-oriented w/r/t human foibles and motivations, so he approaches that stuff in a deeper way than 99.87% of all interviewers in the world, and b) gives him some sometimes-facile but v effective shortcuts for asking ppl about personal shit. And his own wide-openness makes people respond in kind - he's not a smarmy Entertainment Reporter, or a local radio person who skimmed your wikipedia entry while you were in the elevator, he's a charming fuck-up who'd genuinely interested in you. And hell, he's so open about his problems and flaws, and how they inform his creativity, what do you have to lose by not trying to talk on that level too?

The only problem I really have with Marc is that when he encounters a person who didn't have a fucked up childhood or bizarre relationship with his/her parents, he a) doesn't know how to act and b) pushes for dirt where they likely isn't any. Ed Helms was a good example of this.

the Helms one was great for how they related by jamming on banjo and gtr instead

yeah i know that the cliche about every comedian having some dark past or personal issues is a cliche because it's so often true but i feel like it can be this really reductive lens to look at things through and i'm more interested in hearing comics talk shop and break down why things are funny than their psychological motivation for being funny or w/e

theres def a lot of that talk in these shows

yep. the personal shit is Maron's method of approach, not his objective: the conversations are about career and creativity.

and there's something about his personality and his style where even though he's ridiculously narcissistic, sometimes to the point of distraction, he'll just hone in and ask a question that just drives to the heart of the conversation, sometimes repeatedly in the same conversation. Like with Dan Harmon. I didn't walk away with a ton of understanding of his work on Community, but I came away with an understanding of the person. And there's not a lot of interviews that give you that. We sort of go in wanting information, wanting the muscle on the bone and we walk away with the marrow. And I think what's great is that Maron doesn't always know that he's doing that. I think if he knew he'd be Charlie fucking Rose and would be a terrifying mechagodzilla interviewer, but while he's self-effacing enough and paranoid enough to not know how good he is, I think it's real gift.

Though I will say as a lifelong question asker and someone who loves to get stories out of people, the way he goes about it can drive me completely round the bend, and it took me a long time to get past that. Just the moments where he chooses to come in on a question, or cutting someone off when they're talking, or not asking a followup question on an interesting tidbit because he's in his head thinking about his next question...that does take some getting used to. But the time spent with him is worth it. He's changed SO much from those first episodes.

Definitely in the Harmon interview you saw the best of the Maron technique, in that I knew that if anyone else (say Chris Harwick) were the interviewer it would just be about how cool this or that episode of Community was, or how awesome Abed or Troy is. And even as a fan of that show I saw how Maron was able to pull more interesting stuff out by not being a fan-boy, but by being a perhaps slightly jealous more seasoned show-biz dude asking what he was interested in. That Harmon rose to the challenge made him more interesting.

Hardwick, or whatever he call he-self

he changed his name to Gang Starrdwyck after Guru died

Hardwick: So, how about that paintball episode?
Harmon: Well, we really set out to...
Hardwick: That episode was IN SANE !

yep. the personal shit is Maron's method of approach, not his objective: the conversations are about career and creativity.

― all cats are gay (sic), Friday, June 10, 2011 8:36 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

yeah otm - as far as talking shop goes, this is as good as it gets

Oh boy that last call to Ray, bit or not, just gave me the CREEPS.

― WHO THE FUCK READS THE (a hoy hoy), Thursday, June 9, 2011 3:48 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

xxp yeah, I was gonna say, if they were bits, Maron is a really talented actor. that last call was supremely uncomfortable. ray seemed legitimately confused about how to deal with maron and maron kinda seemed like a socially inept psycho.

― Mordy, Thursday, June 9, 2011 7:45 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark

srsly holy fuck that last call was sooooo awful

So happy Amy Poehler is on the show today!!! Listening now.

his experience of 12-stepping a) makes him process-oriented w/r/t human foibles and motivations, so he approaches that stuff in a deeper way than 99.87% of all interviewers in the world

it's the strong whiff of therapy that turns me off, frankly. i don't think it makes his interviews "deep" (necessarily), but like many therapy addicts i think it does mean he projects his own issues onto everyone he meets

i mean i dunno - maybe he's never actually had a therapist but he certainly uses the podcast as a therapeutic medium for himself. and like, that's his prerogative but maybe after listening to him for an hour he could send me a check for $100 like other therapists get

sounds like ur projecting ur issues with therapy addicts

Just listened to an episode for the first time, the Garry Shandling one, and loved it. Definitely has the therapy side, which I love, because it gets around comics having to be "on."

You def picked a good one to begin with.

if anyones curious like i was, here is the story jill soloway was talking abt, reads a lot like palahniuk

http://www.corpse.org/archives/issue_10/ficciones/soloway.html

are the last couple episodes worth listening to? don't really care about the guests, so i haven't bothered.

basically, no. i think the larry miller one was one of the first i turned off early

yeah, larry miller seemed annoying. the jimmy fallon one was OK

Only made it 20 minutes into the Thune one. Don't know Thune and Marc was being a dick.

guys you should listen to things maybe you can ~~~learn something~~~

I dug the Thune episode. I don't think Maron was being a dick so much as that's just how comedians are around each other, which Thune acknowledged/understood -- he didn't seem put out/upset by Maron's dickishness at all, and Maron copped to it anyway. And the way Maron tackled the "guitar comic" thing was kind of fascinating, especially how the two of them tried to spell out their problems with and/or attraction to that approach.

The Thune episode was one of favorites recently. Listening to Maron grapple with Thune's Christianity was pretty interesting.

uh "my favorites"

Thune was good. Maron is funny with his laser-focus on religion, he's like an alien from outer-space trying to understand a foreign thing. I like it. And cool of Thune to talk about it so openly.

I kinda liked the Larry Miller ep. :/

It got a little uncomfortable when they talked about Thune meeting his wife.

Larry Miller was okay, but when the interviewee has his/her own podcast, I feel like it goes too smoothly.

True. It wasnt revelatory but I do like the way Miller tells stories.

I guess I just have mixed feelings about Miller in general esp after finding out he was a contributing writer for the Weekly Standard.

Well, they say that a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged (though Miller didn't take the usual attitude.)

interview w/Maron on the onion av club today:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/marc-maron,58554/

Today's WTF was pretty hard to listen to.

I've got about six shows to catch up on including today's, so thanks for the (totally conflicting) pointers, folks! :)

It's podcasts like this that keep me from TV entirely.

By hard to listen to I meant raw.

I cried for an hour afterwards...dug up some stuff I hadn't thought about in a long time. Yeah. Really tough going but god he's so likeable, I really do hope that he stays okay. What a fucking story.

The Patton Oswalt one is so layered and fascinating, with the undercurrents of competition, jealousy, success, etc.

DRUDGE SIRENS

Do not listen to the Todd Hanson episode in public, especially at work like I did, or p much anywhere which isn't a dark room, alone, with a box of tissues and a phone that can be used to call a best friend

I somehow managed to be finishing the second half driving down the freeway home from work. WALL OF TEARS ;_;

omg I wept like a baby during that Hanson interview esp when he starts talking about his cats. I was impressed w/Maron's restraint during the interview honestly.

it's funny that he's having guests now who kind of resent going to do the show (or are at least skeptical), but pretty obviously have been put up to it by their agents because the podcast has gotten so popular.

just downloaded my first episode, gallagher.

not a great first choice - go grab i think Maria Bamford is a pretty excellent introduction. Or Louis CK, Patton Oswalt... somewhere where the interviewee and Maron have some history, and they get into it.

it's funny that he's having guests now who kind of resent going to do the show (or are at least skeptical), but pretty obviously have been put up to it by their agents because the podcast has gotten so popular.

Who do you have in mind exactly? It does seem like within the last few months, there are more guests who are openly plugging something.

Richard Lewis and Paul Reiser both seemed like they had no idea what the show was

yup, i was thinking of those two in particular.

Yeah, any time a guest is surprised that Maron "hasn't done his research," it's a tip-off that they don't know how the show works.

Also, I think Reiser mispronounced "Maron."

Gallagher certainly seemed to fit that description too -- it seemed like he had no idea who Maron was

I've only listened to one and it was the Gallagher one. I was expecting some sort of nervous "edgy" confrontational style of interview and it wasn't that at all. Pleasantly surprised.

Haven't listened to any others though.

Gallagher certainly seemed to fit that description too -- it seemed like he had no idea who Maron was

it seemed like he had no idea where he was

btw the live one with jon benjamin was great

maron was pretty good on bill maher -- that is just a weird set up where they slide in a comedian or otherwise less political guest -- like kevin smith did it and was just awful

It's pretty bad when Shandling does it too.

boy gallagher is a shithead

Richard Lewis was hard to listen to for me, but I sort of liked the Reiser ep. He's full of himself for no good reason, but it was a solid conversation. Lewis on the other hand just seemed sad and confrontational. Maron kept having to backtrack and apologize because of how he worded stuff and how Lewis reacted to it.

Loved the Benjamin and Katz reunion.

HOLY FUCK I just today got around to hearing the Todd Hanson one (I'd been stockpiling eps for a roadtrip). Still gutted a few hours later.

Caught up on some older ones I'd not listened to as well: Doug Benson (fun!), Kevin Smith (fun!), Joe Rogan (ponderous), Greg Fitzsimmons (funny but also "eh"), Bobby Lee (o_O), Jimmy Fallon (people had said this one was boring, but I'm a Fallon stan now so I thought it was great if a bit fluffy).

But DAMN, Todd Hanson.

im not a huge demitri martin fan but this is the best ep of wtf in a while imo

I didn't know who D.Martin was before this episode. Is he funny? Seems really boring here.

paul reiser was a bore

i dont find him that funny tbh, but i have a bunch of friends that do. tbf i havent paid attn to him in a while.

idk i liked how thoughtful & candid he was, seemed honest & unpretentious

richard lewis sounded drunk. i mean im sure he wasnt, probably just tired.

richard lewis was crazy!

paul reiser was a bore

This should be etched on his tombstone.

richard lewis was crazy!

Likewise.

Wow, the Todd Hanson. I used to very casually know Todd, and we still have a few friends in common, but not so many that I'd given him much thought in years. But as I was listening to this heartwrenching stuff, a lot of stories came flooding back to me of Todd's past issues and dealings with debilitating depression and the like. Harrowing stuff.

A friend of mine interviewed Richard Lewis last week. He (my friend) was sick and told Lewis as much, and Lewis apparently responded, hey, don't worry about it, I'll handle this. And proceeded to talk and monologue about his life for over an hour, pausing every few minutes to make sure my friend was still there/alive.

Richard Lewis sounds like a pretty standup guy.

idk i liked how thoughtful & candid he was, seemed honest & unpretentious

Yes, I know next to nothing about Demetri Martin, but I really enjoyed that episode. Just a good, interesting conversation.

totally

I find WTF totally compelling. Marc Maron lives just a few blocks from me and I often see him at my morning coffee place. I always want to say something to him but it's usually pretty early and he is sitting alone and probably waiting for the caffeine to kick in, so I chicken out. Last week there was a huge pile of wtfpod stickers left in there which I guess he dropped off. They were cute.

Also, I like his new glasses.

Just listened to the pre-interview bit of the Reiser episode. lol @ "The Google"

from what I've heard so far, his interviews with female guests have been wayyyy more interesting than male guests

I've been wondering if I should see Maron in Chicago next week. The thing is, I like him as an interviewer, but I'm not so sure I like him as a stand-up. I would see a live WTF in a heartbeat, though.

Also, I like his new glasses.

You should go see that jazz trumpeter/optometrist!

it's weird that after listening to countless hours of wtf i don't have a sense of what his stand-up is actually like. i mean, i certainly have an idea in my head of what it's like from hearing him talk about it, but i haven't heard any of it (all the madison shows were sold out).

Well, I've seen him do appearances on Conan and Ferguson. But I also have to imagine that a headlining show for him is somewhat different from a four-minute TV routine.

His Not Sold Out cd is fantastic. One of my favorite stand-up sets/albums ever. But the two cds since then have been a little tough to get through. He was definitely not in a good place in life when those were recorded, though, and he seems to be less grumpy/introspective now (if that seems possible), so I'd definitely be up for seeing him live.

His standup is very conversational & natural, I really enjoyed it. A lot if it is expanded off pre-interview WTF but still really funny. He did a pretty amazing bit about a fight with his girlfriend that made me cry a little even as I was laughing.

I always want to say something to him but it's usually pretty early and he is sitting alone and probably waiting for the caffeine to kick in, so I chicken out.

idk man, given the choice I'd say hello before he shits his pants

yes maybe

i've been watching maron on cable specials since the 90s, always thought he was a v good comic. kind of funny to me that he's achieved such a following as an interviewer now.

Saw one of the Madison shows and it was highly worthwhile. As you might expect his act is not heavy on the jokes. Fair amount of audience work. Completely in keeping with the podcast.

Oh, that sounds promising then!

He just killed on Jimmy Fallon. (Not stand-up, regular guest segment.)

I watched the Green Room episode with Maron, Shandling, Apatow and others last night. He's gold on that, and getting to see some of his body language during interactions and lulls there, where's he's not interlocutor nor compere - and reading lots into it because of how well I "know" him from WTF - makes me wonder how much of that might come through all the time, and what was just because he wasn't in 'charge'

Maron's on the Slate Culture Gabfest this week.

Just watched the Green Room episode. Based on the size of the avi, I was expecting it to be an hour. It was only 30 minutes. Feel slightly cheated, particularly because Bo Burnham wasted valuable time playing his dumb song.

yeah the show comes and goes very quickly, especially since you just know they edited down from a much longer bull session

I listened to the Dmitri Martin episode today...that was a really good, natural conversation. No real bombs dropped, but just engaging and interesting.

now i'm imagining marc maron as funkmaster flex

D. Martin did a good Adam Carolla episode too.

I'm 20 minutes into the Dice Clay one, and Dice is already repeating his stories, which are about how great he is, and Maron is giggling in adoring, unchallenging delight like he always does with someone who was working when he was a doorman. Is it worth listening to any more, or skipping to the bit with his son?

Yeah, to me ADC is equivalent to Gallagher or worse, but Maron was starstruck so nothing interesting came of the interview.

What a missed opportunity that was. Dice needed to be called out on his sexism just like Gallagher was called out on his homophobia. And Keyes OTM: how is ADC not as much of a joke as Gallagher?

Dice's homophobia is grosser than Gallagher's, from what I've heard (have never heard anything of Gallagher material beyond WTF and that great review of his Spanish-language gig where he didn't bother to learn Spanish; heard some awful Dice stuff in high school)

the aubrey plaza one was pretty adorable (+ that crazy stroke story)

Yeah, I just finally started listening to this with the San Antonio one, which was nearly enough to make me give up on it straight away, but thankfully I hung around for the Plaza one and found out why these are pretty highly regarded.

I dug the San Antonio one!

Yeah, I listened to about 15 minutes of San Antonio before throwing in the towel.

I quit on the San Antonio one early too.

ADC is such a dick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5k-uH3kDOQ

he's kept up his "I look exactly like John Travolta" concept by getting bald and fat, I see

Pretty sure Gallagher is an honest to goodness right winger. Don't know about the Diceman.

Everyone who liked ADC when they were teenagers is just as embarrassed about that fact as those who once liked Gallagher. "Hey, I was 14; I thought anti-gay jokes/smashed fruit was funny!"

What a missed opportunity that was. Dice needed to be called out on his sexism just like Gallagher was called out on his homophobia. And Keyes OTM: how is ADC not as much of a joke as Gallagher?

man i think andrew dice clay has been a joke for the last two decades. maron takes him more seriously than most other people in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgvQ8ahTnq8

1990

the interview-with-himself/birbiglia one is really great.

i thought i already knew him so well! but there are surprises here; it's a different voice, somehow.

the aubrey plaza one was alright but I really hate how maron handles interviews

Maron was extra-dickish in the Aubrey Plaza ep, but Plaza was more interesting than I would've guessed.

yea totally, the only time I've actually enjoyed his interviewing style is when for whatever reason the interviewer seems like they're completely breaking his spirit, which, I guess, is really only the patton oswalt one

jimmy shubert one today is good & candid, just ramble-y rehashing of kinison days, etc

I liked Aubrey Plaza's story of being an SNL intern, because my friend was also one back around 2001, and her experience sounds about the same--never really talking to anyone on the cast (though she says Tina Fey was nice to her), weird encounters with guest hosts (Ben Stiller made the staff stand outside in the cold during a promo shoot because he didn't like being watched, Lucy Lawless walking up and saying "Hi. Did you come in here off the street?)

In all fairness, Lawless said that to Elliott Smith, too.

Just bought a ticket for his Nashville show in September. YAY! Years of being a fan and I'm finally in a position to see him live. :D

i had to stop the most recent live one three times, cause bob ducca was making me laugh so hard in public.

Yeah, lots of stifled laughter in my office on Monday (I'm not the only person in there who listens to WTF).

Dug up the early interview with Zach Galifanakis, and - novelty of the ludicrous narrated intro aside - this is awful. Zach's trying to give a good interview, and Marc's just totally distracted and I guess caught up in his own shit. Really interesting to reflect on his growth as an interviewer (esp with delicate subjects) not just through to "Marc today", but in terms of his middle-early period, even up to Louie CK.

feel like the dud-ness of the Galafianakis interview is mostly because it was done on a movie set between takes. hard to dig too deep into anything when there's constant interruption. i did lol at Zach telling Marc about funny situational jokes he's made and then realizing how silly that was and how he should make that guy one of his stand-up characters. "let me tell you about this joke i told these people once..."

or more "let me tell you about how i made these people laugh with a joke once."

i liked the zach g interview because it was really funny, but galifianakis is so married to his clown persona that i find it hard to imagine him giving a 'real talk' interview to maron anyway

That happened during the period I wasn't following the show (I was there in the beginning when it was really sloppy, and then came back on board around the time of the Mencia shitstorm). Lots of old ones I need to hear at some point.

Stanhope was a pretty insubstantial interview today, yet a fun listen all the same.

Carol Liefer on Monday's show was pretty funny, because I'm so accustomed to hearing her be clean for tv, that hearing her drop an f-bomb or whatever was O_O

i listened to the Gallagher interview the other day and almost had to turn it off. what a shrill, obnoxious idiot.

maron or gallagher?

i haven't listened to the wtf with bob ducca but if you enjoyed it, make sure you listen to the comedy death ray/comedy bang bang episodes where seth morris originated the bob ducca character. they are insanely hilarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHIegpSmIyw

I just listened to the recent live one with Bob Ducca doing a short bit, loved it. I'll have to check that one out.

Listening to WTF reminds me just how immensely fucked up comedians are.

there is also a bob ducca podcast with very short episodes (i think just a few minutes) also available via earwolf - haven't checked these out yet either but i assume they're good

ive been listening 2 old cdrs a lot this wk -- some of the 'would you rather' games kill me, like i have to pause & regroup

the Bob Ducca podcast annoyingly isn't available via Earwolf per se, they have to be individually downloaded from Soundcloud (if you don't use iTunes)

I think I prefer the Maron/Ducca interaction on the most recent live one to the CDR episodes, Maron's way of skirting around the hilarity of Ducca's sadness being preferable to Tig Notaro's kinda unnecessary interjections.

I do really like when he reads the poem "A Ship Called Hope", though.

Haven't liked the Ducca mini-podcasts much at all.

Seth Morris--the guy who does Bob Ducca--is in that WTF sitcom pilot iirc. Wonder why Maron hasn't interviewed Morris yet.

Probably waiting until the pilot gets turned down so they'll have a lot more to talk about.

Today's episode with Sudeikis was generally good, didn't realize that guy was such an ass.

JUST KIDDING. He's as nice here as you'd think he would be. Never knew he was Norm's nephew!

watching the joan rivers doc last night made me wish she'd do wtf

Yeah, that would be great!

Jeselnik on Thursday...or, as I like to call him, creep who tried to bone my friend when she'd gotten drunk. WTF interviews even with people I don't like tend to be listenable, though, so I'm sure I'll tune in.

Who would you like to hear interviewed on WTF? I'm waiting for Steven Wright, Nick Offerman, Andy Daly (non-live), Andy Zaltman...

Emo Philips
Jerry Seinfeld
Tim Allen
Dick Van Dyke
Bill Cosby
Woody Allen
Carol Burnett
Julia Louis Dreyfus
Larry David
Roseanne Barr
Paula Poundstone

CHAPELLE
Chris Rock
Fey
Murphy
Farrell
wusshisname who did Arrested Development
Schwaltwelder
Some comedy prose writers
A comic poet or two?
Comedy playwrites?

Mitchell Hurwitz?

Bob Newhart

personally i dont care so much about american comedy canon guys. Woody Allen would be sweet though.

Ian Hislop and other prominent Private Eye/satirical news types.

The show has become a de facto oral history of comedy, so fill in the gaps. It won't take forever.

I'd rather hear from any canonical figure instead of another interview with a yet another guy who did coke with Kinison.

Ian Hislop and other prominent Private Eye/satirical news types.

this would be completely pointless, as Maron has no idea who they are, what they do, why it's funny, or any point of connection at all to their work

I don't know if Sudeikis was blowing smoke or not, but I'd love to hear Maron interview Lorne Michaels. SNL topics never get old for me, but especially if they were to come from Lorne.

I'd secretly hoped #200 would be Chappelle. I imagine he'll be on the show at some point. Roseanne would be great too.

IANUCCI: A lot of people think I'm so focussed on mocking news and media conventions because of a conscious and earned anger at the way information is twisted and devalued in our society, but really it's because a copy of The Sun blew into my pram when I was small and touched my genitals

pfft if wtf was just shit american comics like maron i'd have stopped listening already. it is the people he isn't used to or do something different that have been the most fascinating imo. And I don't see why a British satirical news paper would be so different to the guy who did The Realist or Onion writers.

Maron has stated on numerous occasions that he appreciates but doesn't really "get" Brit humor. I doubt he's going to go out of his way to schedule interviews of that sort.

After listening to Fitzsimmons on WTF, I actually started listening to selected episodes of his own show. The interview with Natalie Manes from Dixie Chicks last April was a) hilarious and b) O_O

yeah the point was not so much 'it has to be hislop' as his kin.

Just saying that I don't envision this podcast taking an international lean anytime in the near future, except for occasional live shows in other countries or impromptu interviews with new non-American comedian friends.

hence me citing someone non-Hislop in my hilarious theoretical scenario hoy hoy

i think ellen would be a good interview

I'd listen.

Hell, I'd even listen to a Leno interview, but I'd be flipping my iPod a bird the whole time.

Leno would be must listen imo, assuming Maron doesn't get all polite

It'd be fun to hear how Leno would react if he somehow let himself get cornered. I don't think his people would let him anywhere near WTF, though.

Letterman, on the other hand, wouldn't open up or be serious at all if he's not on his own turf. It would be a pointless interview.

Someday, someone will get a good interview out of him.

do not understand american talkshow tradition but still wonder what happened to arsenio hall

and i obv only know arsenio hall for rap references

have you seen Larry Sanders?

Arsenio situation isn't that complicated—a lot of the local tv affiliates that carried his show had to drop it when Letterman's show started on the national CBS network, and that essentially killed it off).

ok but then he disappeared for 15 years?

I have seen the first season of Larry Sanders but its the backstage stuff I find funny, monologues and selling any celebrities shit every day is just RMDE@USA.

do not understand american talkshow tradition but still wonder what happened to arsenio hall

He guest-hosted on Access Hollywood the other day and he legitimately looked like he hasn't aged at all. Very odd.

Well yeah, I don't know where he's been really since 1994. Arsenio would be a great WTF interview.

he did that Sammo Hung cop show, where halfway through they realised they should bring in a sidekick who could deliver some snappy dialogue, as the star couldn't actually speak English

presumably he went hiding for a bit after the talk show was axed, but also got paid enough for it that he's been able to live a comfortable middle-class life and doesn't have a desperate need to see his face on posters

Who would you like to hear interviewed on WTF? I'm waiting for Steven Wright, Nick Offerman, Andy Daly (non-live), Andy Zaltman...

Offerman on Kevin Pollock's podcast is A++++. Check it out if you haven't yet.

My WTF want list is...

Dennis Miller
Paula Poundstone
Brett Butler
Richard Belzer
Dan Aykroyd
Steven Wright
Judy Tenuta

Would love an hour with Belzer!

Dennis Miller would be an insane interview. Doubt it'll ever happen though.

well maron is a fan of stewart lee so brit comedy isnt anathema to him. id love to hear him interview dylan moran.

Lee isn't exactly 'Brit Comedy' as 'Alt Brit Comedy'.

some of my favorite eps have been ones with guys i didn't really know about, like ron shock or eddie brill. i'll listen to any older guy who's been around the block a few times. albert brooks would be cool, or even jeff foxworthy or ron white. or judy tenuta.

He guest-hosted on Access Hollywood the other day and he legitimately looked like he hasn't aged at all. Very odd.

― polyphonic, Monday, August 29, 2011 8:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

black dont crack

wrt leno i'd love to hear that ep, and i dont think maron would try to put the screws to him - i think he respects leno's old stand-up more than you guys do even if he isnt a fan of the tonight show, and i dont think it'd be hard for him to find a sympathetic angle

yeah i bet a leno interview would be fairly amicable. maron was raving about that war for late night book for weeks, and after reading it, i actually had a little more sympathy for leno. he's a hack but a hard-working hack and i can't really blame him personally for anything that happened with the conan debacle. plus maron is never a dick to the famous guests.

i've been open about not liking maron much as a personality/comedian so keep that in mind but the idea of the maron/wtf sitcom sounds pretty awful.

do not understand american talkshow tradition but still wonder what happened to arsenio hall

― gay socialists smoking mushrooms with their illegal gardeners (a hoy hoy), Monday, August 29, 2011 8:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Bill Carter's book (The War For Late Night) is a decent resource for what happened/didn't happen to Arsenio. It's largely forgotten now, but Hall was consistently beating Carson in the ratings in major markets in the late 80s/early 90s -- in some cases, crushing him. The fact that he vanished soon after is some combination of bewildering and fucked up.

The Late Shift is the one about Letterman/Carson/Leno/Arsenio, The War for Late Night is the newer one about Conan and Leno

Yeah, I'm still not very sold on Maron himself, he grates on me some times, particularly when he is doing his little pre-interview bits. But I do like how even the guests I couldn't really care less about turn out to be interesting listens. Like the recent Jimmy Shubert one was good, I liked hearing the stories about Kinison and Mitzi Shore between their fits of laughter. I figured I'd abandon that episode early.

xp Oops, you're right, but War For Late Night does have a bit of Arsenio backstory.

I would love a few more Australians next time he travels there like
Wil Anderson
Paul McDermott
Tony Martin

Def. would love Chappelle
Joan Rivers would be killer
Ron White maybe, not for his comedy so much but just bc I hear a lot of comedians like him
Brett Butler would be great

listening to sudeikis, seems like a super nice guy obv but as far as episodes goes it's a bit dull

a lorne michaels episode would be pretty interesting though. hoping richard lewis could persuade larry david to do it as well.

Larry the Cable Guy would be interesting, if he had the balls to not use his character for the interview.

i don't think richard lewis cared about being on one way or the other

As much as I'd love to hear a Lorne Michaels interview, I get the feeling he'd just stonewall Maron when he tried to delve into anything interesting/controversial.

Wil Anderson
Paul McDermott
Tony Martin

Fleet made sense bcz they have common ground to connect on, even without having known each other before. Anderson has no darkness beyond the aching trials of being a sex symbol and doing the same material for 15 years, McDermott hasn't been a comedian since '94 and has never ever displayed any interest in deconstructing or elucidating his persona, and Tony... well, he's opened up about his hideous family history of late in his two books, but still only where he sees an external gag in it, not to ~share~ anything -- and Maron would have to dig into 25 years of material including around 200 hours of radio highlights to find a reason to interview him.

I bet Julia Sweeney would be good.

Stanhope was a pretty insubstantial interview today, yet a fun listen all the same.

I don't know, Stanhope's libertarian rambling revealed him to be kind of an asshole.

I knew that going in. I guess I just gave him a pass since it was altogether mild.

Yeah, I didn't really know Doug Stanhope apart from his Louie guest-spot, and the interview didn't make me want to get to know him further.

same here (though i haven't seen the louie ep yet).

my #1 wtf wish is for him to pick off the rest of the kids in the hall

is Stanhope the guy who pops up on Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe occasionally?

he is, a hoy hoy. im in two minds about stanhope, he can be a great stand-up but sometimes he can pander to his moronic audience too much.

I listened to that Nick Offerman interview (on the Kevin Pollack show) recommended upthread. Good interview. That podcast is weird: lots of famous guests, who get to talk for 2 or 3 hours, but the host is such a non-presence, and you really do have to skip the first 15 minute of name droppiness.

Yah, the Kevin Pollack show can be very hit or miss depending on the guest. He's great at keeping things moving but no surfaces are going to be peeled back.

Having said that, the Steven Tobolosky episode of the KP show may just be my fave podcast episode of anything

ooh ty, I <3 the Tobolowsky Files

I like the turn towards actor interviews this week! Jon Hamm (which was great) and Bryan Cranston (which I just began listening to) are, I hope, just the beginning of a new strand of WTF guests.

one of marc's intros this week was so emasculating it was hard to listen to. like in one intro he talked about over obsessing about his body, about being too scared of dead animals to dispose of them himself, and about his fanboy crush on jon hamm.

i skip the intros now without even beginng to listen to them. find all of them hard to listen to.

Lol I like them a lot, but then again I'm screwed up in a lot of the same ways so I just think it's nice to hear someone else say those things.

Hamm and Cranston may be "actors," but both of them have demonstrated pretty ace comedy chops. The Cranston interview is pretty fun.

Cranston is such a natural storyteller. Hamm to a lesser degree, but Cranston, fuck he's like my Dad & his friends, just wind him up & watch him go. Great stuff.

i loved the recent ira glass live one. ira has to be the only jew in the world who doesn't think about what food will make him poop better.

I just listened to the Cranston one at lunch, and man, I love that guy.

Are there Breaking Bad spoilers on the Cranston episode? I've still only seen the first few episodes.

First few episodes of Breaking Bad, that is.

There are enough spoilers, or intimations of spoilers, that I would just avoid.

Yeah, that's what I figured, thanks.

so we just skipping over lisa lampanelli hmmmm lol. she kinda conforms to the best-case-scenario of what i thought she was really like as a person and their rapport and comedy shoptalk made for a damn good show

thought the jon hamm show was boring but i never watched mad men

I love Mad Men and Jon Hamm, but I have to admit that that episode mostly coasted on Hamm's general likeability.

Didn't intentionally skip over Lisa's episode, thread-wise. I just didn't think about posting when she was on. You're right, though. I like her a lot more now after her convo with Maron than I did before I heard it.

I turned off her episode.

xp i was just playing i heard it by 'accident' anyway. my sensibilities are back safely under glass

The Lampanelli one weirded me out when she asked "Do you think I'll go down in history as one of the all time greats?" and I was asking, "Who the heck are you?"

I didn't even listen to that one because I think Lampanelli's gross.

all time great what? comedy central roasters?

Yeah I don't get her.

I saw some slivers of humanity in her, so whatever. I liked it and liked her on the show.

yeah and marc toootally bs'ed her w/o skipping a beat the way one enthusiastically says YES i WILL be at yr party next week

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2011/10/07/marc_maron_louis_c_k_patton_oswalt_talk_about_their_weight.html

Lampanelli (who I like anyway) was another good piece in the mosaic that is Marc Maron facing his past. It's what makes this podcast a little like an HBO serial. He talked in one or two earlier podcasts about how angry she was when she was teaching, and so now she gets her say.

that's the flimsiest excuse for a thinkpiece ever. "what, 3 neurotic, self-deprecating comedians all made jokes about being in bad shape? I SMELL A TREND COMING ON!"

just imagine if that writer ever discovers jim gaffigan

xpost

I've only ever heard of Lisa Lampanelli bcz of the first time she was on WTF

I only heard of her recently when watching clips of the disastrous Chevy Chase roast.

everything i've heard by lampanelli was so painfully unfunny it made me feel embarrassed for her

Not for all tastes, but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvvNpcTHoXQ

listened to the Lampanelli ep this afternoon and loooooool at her plaintively asking if Maron believes that she'll be thought of as "one of the greats" after she dies

i guess comedians love her? idgi

the norm interview was totally endearing

Yeah, Norm was great classic WTF.

he still creeps me out

norm or marc?

norm

Loved the Norm interview. Thought the spirituality discussion was fascinating...when Maron had been talking about Evangelicals earlier in the interview and Norm steered him off I was like, huh, I didn't know Norm was religious...so it was cool to hear him talk about that. Fucking great conversation between the two of them though. Found Norm very loveable.

Hannibal Burress interview was pretty cool too. He's such a happy, chill kinda dude.

listened to the stanhope interview last night and wow he comes off as a dick

Elaborate? That interview barely left an impression on me. I thought it just sounded like two friends hanging out.

all that libertarian 'hey fuck children and paying taxes and anything else in this world but myself but i'm not selfish honest. also i do jokes about rape fist fucking a girl in their cunt but i don't find it funny'

Carrot Top's Yes Man pretty much ruined that interview.

agree that guy was horrible but it was prob not going anywhere interesting anyway

Right? I didn't imagine it was going to be anything but superficial, but why the hell did his opener/friend have to defend his honor every five minutes like his mother?

It was kinda hard to listen to, the level of awkwardness. Co-dependent relationship 101.

The only thing I could think of to explain it is that Carrot Top has one hell of a temper. I mean, why else would this dude be smoothing shit over every 10 seconds. Reminded me of the way I was with my Mum when I was a kid.

I can see that, but I never thought Marc was veering towards being a dick in the interview (except for when dude's prop jokes flatlined in the car on the way over). Carrot Top seemed perfectly at ease taking a few jabs and carrying on. Friend dude probably has some issues of his own.

Yeah that might be more of it. I agre, I didn't get a dickish vibe from Maron either. But there was an awful lot of scurrying going on. Fuckin weird is what that whole thing was.

the norm interview was fucking great. maybe the funniest ep i've heard, but really penetrating too. loved when they tore into roasts.

Carrot Top's pal interrupted too much. Couldn't take it.

Loved the Norm interview. Thought the spirituality discussion was fascinating...when Maron had been talking about Evangelicals earlier in the interview and Norm steered him off I was like, huh, I didn't know Norm was religious...so it was cool to hear him talk about that. Fucking great conversation between the two of them though. Found Norm very loveable.

Hannibal Burress interview was pretty cool too. He's such a happy, chill kinda dude.

― Janet Snakehole (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, October 20, 2011 9:42 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark

I haven't heard this ep but saw Norm live over the summer and he slipped a lot of stuff in his act that made it clear that he's pretty religious, yeah.

Hung out with HB for a bit last year after a show. He got wasted and dished on 30 Rock cast. He was great and indeed very chill and happy.

Was irrationally hoping that Hannibal would mention that I booked him at a variety show I hosted back in 2004.

Maybe it's in the bonus material for premium subscribers :)

That Steve Almond interview was okay, though he has mostly ILM-unfriendly opinions.

Not even sure who that dude is, so I haven't gotten around to it yet.

He's a fiction writer, though he also has a book about rock music. And he doesn't like marketing.

I still don't know who he is even after reading his Wikipedia page.

And he sneered about Marc getting dragged to an Iron Maiden show.

almond's a p big idiot, one of those writers who teaches at different writing conferences

the one thing I read of his was about how great the foo fighters are in a southwest airlines magazine

hah. his stuff against marketing just comes off as juvenile imo

Uh oh. Iron Maiden sneering? Maybe I'll wait til i'm calm & sleepy to listen.

x-post Yeah, I was thinking, "Are you 20 years old?"

10 minutes in, and I already want to punch this asshole.

uh oh

yeah i think i'm just skipping wtf this week

I'll try it tomorrow but it sounds iffy

Almond is lame, too much on a poor man's David Foster Wallace thing, but Maron is at least engaged in this one 9as opposed to the Carrot Top fiasco), and he has to try to defend his love for the fucking Keith Richards autobio (even though I hate Almond's take on the Stones.)

haha, when maron is riding to carrot top's house and the dude is describing all these racist prop comedy bits, the flipdown "black guy" mask, the angry birds border jumper sombrero.... it's breathtaking.

wow norm macdonald episode was like almost my ideal wtf episode. so good.

Thurs : Chris Rock

^_^

Just started it, hope it's as great as it should be!

Eeee! I can't wait. Hope it's good.

maron was being a real dick to scott adsit

I haven't finished Monday's live ep, so I need to go back and hear that and try to figure out why.

jeez, comics are thriving with material on pushing 50 and getting fat? Time for me to hit the comeback trail.

wow norm macdonald episode was like almost my ideal wtf episode. so good.

This.

Finding Maron really funny on the live show from this week ... guess that's a strange observation about a comedian but it's not what I usually get out of his program. Liking it.

Norm episode was excellent.

i kind of think it's a shame that so many people know him solely as an interviewer, he actually is a pretty funny comic!

idk i listened to the norm one and the intro (just him) was annoying. also his digression into self-aggrandizing political rants during the interview. it was still great tho, overall.

His stand-up is great, but I don't like his pre-interview bits.

his digression into self-aggrandizing political rants during the interview

tbf, that's the first time he's done that in eons.

I dug the Chris Rock interview. Not really anything necessarily new...I just liked hearing him talk at length, I guess.

Really want to watch footage of his dinner with Woody Allen though....

I really dug the Rock and Hamm interviews I listened to last night, need to catch up with like the past 10 though.

One thing I'd like to say- I don't give a shit about American stand up, bar a few guys, I just don't find it funny. I mostly just listen because I like the stories and whatever. Anyone else feel that?

yeah, pretty much

I don't give a shit about American stand up, bar a few guys, I just don't find it funny

so you're into...british standup? canadian?

loved the chris rock one btw.

Norwegian stand-up is where its at.

well for me i like oswalt and louis CK but im not hugely into stand up or anything. a lot of the names he mentions dont register with me at all. ive never heard dave atell's stand up or jim norton for instance.

Atell is funny, but in a "omg I can't believe I'm laughing at this awful shit" funny. Jim Norton is just an asshole.

*way

i don't pay attention to stand-up at all, but i have always liked comedian shop talk and behind the scenes hollywood stories, which is why i listen

I don't really watch any stand-up these days. I think I prefer to encounter people like Oswalt, CK, or Nick Kroll on Comedy Bang Bang or Parks & Rec than to seek out their stand-up. (Though I'd likely go to a Paul F. Tompkins live show.) Too much insistent loud voice stuff. But I watched a lot of Comedy Central in the early 90s, so I know who most of Maron's guests are.

Too much insistent loud voice stuff.

^^This. I kinda like Doug Stanhope as well though

I just watched a bit of Jim Norton on youtube. An asshole indeed.

The Chris Rock episode bored me almost to sleep until about the 45 minute mark, when he gets into, "When you have know ambition, you don't really feel racism. When you start wanting to do shit..." That's where the interview got interesting for me. Before that, it was just blah blah Eddie Murphy blah blah.

Um, make that, "NO ambition."

lol @ "NOTHING is blacker than james brown." (when talking about crossover appeal back in the day vs now)

Well I much prefer guys like Lee & Herring and guys who challange the audience to think, as opposed to 'hey guys ever wondered why [observation] isnt that crazy?' that is p much 99% of american humour (and has unfortunately taken over british comedy recently). i guess it is 'why did american comedy have to make seinfeld their jesus instead of some weirdo meth freak like pryor'.

Pryor not being a meth freak notwithstanding, he wasn't American comedy's Jesus. He was God. He was the Miles Davis of Comedy. Seinfeld's the Dave Brubeck of comedy.

sorry freebase freak.

Seinfeld's the Dave Brubeck of comedy.

yes and then everyone made shit soft jazz comedy records instead of challanging themselves.

Cosby = Louis Armstrong?

and Bob Hope is obv WC Handy.

Even the more broad, mainstream-friendly comics like Seinfeld and Foxworthy aren't complete wastes of time imo. There's enough comedy out there at this point that you can go from one thing to the other just like music without having to choose teams.

i don't pay attention to stand-up at all, but i have always liked comedian shop talk and behind the scenes hollywood stories, which is why i listen

― mizzell, Friday, November 4, 2011 11:08 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

u might like "making it" w/ riki lindhome. good stories of how ppl start out in the biz, etc. the one w/ ben schwartz is partic entertaining & he talks basically breathlessly for an hour+

Johnny Fever otm. Also there's a lot more variety once you actually start looking. Check out someone like, I dunno, Reggie Watts if observational's not your gig.

Also, the comics who closely follow Seinfeld in tone/content seem to be in it as much (or more) for the sitcom-down-the-road as for the standup. It's like Rock telling Maron about his ambition to be at the level of Richard Jeni or George Wallace; Rock truly loves standup, and never saw it as a necessary evil on his way to something bigger. Pryor's massive influence on comedy is inescapable; it's just not necessarily going to be found within a narrow swath of popular mainstream tv shows.

lol never spoke about sitcoms in my lack-of-caring-about-american-comedy

i feel like stand up may be the thing that closest resembles my love of wrestling tho. there isnt much else where you could have a weird passive aggresive dude like maron succeed in an entertaining way actively berating the audience and challanging people to dispise him or think about what a mess he has created. and maybe thats why i dislike most american stand up i see. everyone wants to be the next seinfeld (hogan) on top, you never see a guy try to be comedy's version of terry funk.

something something andy kaufman something something

I know. What I was addressing was the influence of Seinfeld vs. that of Pryor, and how it plays/played out in the culture. The comics who wanted to be like Seinfeld were naturally going to be more accessible in mainstream terms (because of the material and because of careerist aspirations) than comics heavily influenced by Pryor.

xxp

No-one really seems heavily influenced by Pryor though imo. You don't ever really find people doing updated versions of weird things like the Prison Play bit or whatever. Most you usually get is the 'oh shit that's gonna piss off cosby' influence.

I can't think of anyone now who's a direct descendent of Pryor's style, but the thing Pryor did was open the back door of stand-up and sneak all these individual freestyle comics in who took comedy in so many different directions. Seinfeld/Romano/Foxworthy/etc. are all traditionalists for the most part, the kind who could end up in Vegas if they wanted to and are welcome on late night tv. Other guys like Oswalt/Burress/Louis CK/etc. are the kind that will be revered one day like Pryor is now.

I've seen none of those dudes live cept Oswalt, but oh my, "revered one day like Pryor" is a tall order.

True. Some hyperbole/wishful thinking on my part.

You guys are peddling some strange analogies today.

Pryor's influence today is less about direct echoes of his work (although, that's a large part of it: Sykes, Rock, Morgan, CK, etc.) and more about how he allowed comics to do things they wouldn't have thought to do otherwise.

It's like how Miles Davis' style was so pervasive that trumpeters in symphony orchestras had to change their way of playing; they may not be playing like Miles, necessarily, but they're approaching the trumpet differently because of Miles.

Who is the Carrot Top of jazz?

^ that's what I was trying to say, but I'm stupid. xp

Other guys like Oswalt/Burress/Louis CK/etc. are the kind that will be revered one day like Pryor is now.

Maybe CK.

Who is the Carrot Top of jazz?

John Zorn

Kenny G?

lol @ "NOTHING is blacker than james brown." (when talking about crossover appeal back in the day vs now)

― this is unusual for batman. (Jordan), Friday, November 4, 2011 4:48 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

could james brown write a song so black even he could not riff on it

Seinfeld's the Dave Brubeck of comedy.

yes and then everyone made shit soft jazz comedy records instead of challanging themselves.

― a hoy hoy, Friday, November 4, 2011 12:53 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

super talented and unfairly maligned by cool ppl?

The only stand-up I've seen done live is George Carlin and Lewis Black. The Carlin show was absolutely sublime, just so thrilled I got a chance to see him in person.

I saw Bill Cosby live. The material wasn't as good as "Himself" (which is probably the best set of stand-up material ever put together in one place ever, so the comparison is almost unfair), but he worked the crowd in a way I will never forget. I don't remember any one punchline, but I was sore from laughing the next morning. He absolutely slayed the Houston Astrodome. When you can work a crowd of 62,000 people, brother, you know what you're doing.

Cosby = Louis Armstrong?

Maybe, except instead of getting all righteous (self-righteous?) in his old age, Louis Armstrong discovered the magic of laxatives.

And weed.

Rainn Wilson is a good guy. I'd kick it with him anytime. The WTF interview today wasn't eye-opening or anything, but wholly pleasant.

there will always be middle-of-the-roaders in comedy (and i happen to think seinfeld is a pretty great standup, even if his material is i dunno mild). its not like if he never existed everyone would be richard pryors

Cosby = Louis Armstrong?

Read this as Cosby = Louie Anderson -- really confused for a sec and tried REAL hard to make the comparison "work" in my head

Finally listened to the Stamatolpoulos episode - damn he's a cool dude.

Enjoyed Adam Scott, inoffensive, kinda quirky...the nicotine lozenge discussions were kinda funny.

does he discuss triangle face syndrome?

iirc, his answers were pretty obtuse.

he's pretty "acute" ;)

When he's in the kitchen finishing up the eggs benedicts I bet he helpfully says "I sauce all 'ese"

...cos he is pretty tan.

Letterman's ex on tomorrow

Merrill Markoe? If so, I'm sure he's going to ask nothing about her comedy writing, comedy performing or showbusiness development career, and define her solely through a romantic relationship she was in over twenty-three years ago.

Hopefully he'll get around to doing an episode with Andy Prieboy's girlfriend sometime.

^think maron was consciously wary of this crit & didnt try and dig too deep; i think theres a clear difference when marons talking to or abt someone he truly admires/respects vs you know a dane cook or w/e where hes gonna press/pry more

overall i thought this was a v good conversation, merrill seems p cool

Still haven't listened to Merrill's ep yet (will do that sometime today), but so happy that Mary Lynn Rajskub is on Monday's show!

dr. Steve episode had me crying like a girl - on the way to a job interview. hell, before the talk to dr. steve! just maron at the start. fucking hell this show can be rough. (luckily i pulled myself together, having turned up an hour early, at a pub on the corner.)

but yeah, WARNING if you haven't listened to it.

it basically hit me so quick that there was no point turning it off. usually maron rambling at the start leads you in, prepares you and you know if you need to save the actual interview for a later date. but it was maron who had me going!

I've been meaning to listen to that one, I love Dr Steve!

The Ralphie May episode was really good, he has a great attitude despite some of the shitty things that've happened. And Steven Wright was a
a delight, that whole conversation just made me grin like an idiot. What a sweet man.

I did not know about the Ralphie accident as a teen! Damn.

i think i make the mistake of trying to listen to them in order. i dont really know who 85% of the comedians are, so i don't know if it is going to be funny, sad, historical, political etc.

like the one w/ lettermans old head writer/girlfriend was terrific! Merrill Merkoe. Should google, her voice sounded familiar.

I like to listen in order too...I am still recovering from listening to Todd Hanson in the car, holy fuck

oh shit his story was too much.

dr. steve was on that level fyi.

there have been some good one lately for sure, but god damn, i couldn't get through five minutes of that bert kreisher dude.

I had to stop Stoller, his voice was too unbearably shrill for me. Also his whine just...nails on a chalkboard

Yeah Bert Kreisher was unbearable.

Todd Glass was pretty interesting. Felt like Maron did some good interviewing, trying to get Todd to drill down into his discomfort.

I haven't listened to Kreischer...now I am glad, lol

whats the russell brand one like? i havent listened to any wtf's in a while.

I enjoyed the Russell Brand one more than his comedy. Came across as bright and affable.

I am so far behind on these.

Yeah, Russell Brand was really good. I thought I hated him, but hearing him talk without watching him be all twitchy helps a lot.

definitely. russ brand seems really smart & reasonably thoughtful. i begrudge his success far less than previously had

His persona is so overwhelming it's sad. Russell Brand the person seems like an interesting guy.

He's very quick too, I loved his riffs with Maron

The Russell Peters one was interesting too--the guy is playing arenas and works outside of Maron's personal heirarchy, that he seemed dumbfounded, while also doing a good interview.

(P.S. I can't write today.)

tbh russell brand was russell brand. but the russell brand of his radio show or halfway thru a season of big brother, not the guy you see in the papers or at scripted hyper show.

really great eps lately; feel like maron's doing much better at connecting with (bigger) celebrities.

the ralphie one was wonderful. love that i can love a conversation so much even when i don't know the interviewee at all.

his interviewing is improving, you can tell he's listening a lot more

it works best when people talk about subjects he is interested in or is knowledgable about. i've got the donald glover one soon and i bet that is super awkward, tbh, because they seem worlds apart in what interests and inspires them.

Nah, the Glover one is good.

i didn't really like the Glover one. Glover comes off as pretty unlikable weirdly. i mean, not that he does or says anything unlikable but more that his demeanor was kinda -- trying too hard maybe? Or just awkward?

haha Ralphie named his daughter April June May

i dont think he got that right

Ralphie May seemed super prepared for that interview. As in: these are my WTF-compatible stories. I think it was the lowest Maron to guest speaking ratio of any episode--mostly Marc saying, "Really?" "Those guys sound like dicks." etc. Still, enjoyable interview.

Stephen Wright wasn't all that revealing or interesting a guest, but he's Stephen fucking Wright, so it was awesome to hear.

^^^ otm re Steven Wright

oh wait, I did find him interesting so *partly* otm :)

What I really loved about the Todd Glass interview was how it was so in-line with how young people think and react when they are finally coming to terms with themselves, but with added benefit/anger/experience of having an adult's perspective. That shit about not being able to hold someone else's hand really resonated for me. I sort of haven't been able to stop thinking about that interview for the past week.

Yeah, I liked that too, how real it was. It made me feel for him that he sort of hung onto "I'm doing this for the kids" like a safety blanket...not that it wasn't a really good motivation but through the interview it was almost like a tic, like he really needed that to talk about himself, how in his mind if he did it this way it'd be okay, he'd be safe somehow.

I'd only come across him a few months ago on another podcast and had found him very sort of animated and almost like a man-child in a way. Maron was right about how it's about as focused as you'll ever hear him.

Oh yeah, "I'm doing this for the kids" as safety blanket is really otm. It's also incredibly poignant, I think, especially considering how often he reverts to juxtaposing kids today (i.e. that story about seeing those two boys in Boston) with his own youth, where he almost seems apologetic when he says that he was ok and his family loved him, AND YET the obvious anger when he says he "didn't get to have a youth."

I also loved Maron, being his close friend, expressing surprise and gratitude at this whole new side of him that he can finally talk about. That's always a response I like hearing, though it's not as prevalent obv: this idea that when someone comes out, their friends have this new aspect of their personality to get to know. It can be a wonderfully intimate thing.

Yeah, absolutely. The stuff he kept going back to about his parents actually did get me thinking, that in a way a supportive household is good, and sure he *should* be comfortable with his sexuality but it just highlights that disconnect that you can't just be gay in your own house, that from what he saw or the way he interpreted everything outside of his house, he could absolutely NOT be gay. And really, it kind of drives home what a huge *mental* leap it is to come out. Not just wrestling with your family and friends being okay with it, but you yourself being okay with it.

I could talk about it for hours, I was very moved by the psychological insights of that interview. Which is kind of gross-sounding, I don't mean to sound like a scientist and a labrat but it made me think a lot about my gay friends.

My husband kind of laughed at me when I told him about the Glass interview, he had never heard of him and was like 'he came out on a podcast, wtf'...but that's the thing. It wasn't even the actual coming out that was notable, as the process, and the emotions of doing that laid out right in front of you, which is something a lot of people might not have much experience with. Including me.

Anyway, tl; dr

I was having dinner with my recently-divorced friend and we were talking about movies we'd seen in the past few months; I brought up the British film Weekend, which was a nice segue into talking about the Todd Glass interview as they both deal with the politicized aspects of identity--of public v. private, marginalization from "mainstream" as well as the marginalization within the "mainstream" of one's own subculture, and the discomfort of straddling complex social lines.

Really when I say that I haven't been able to stop thinking about Glass it's because of how his emotions remind me of my own when I was coming out at 18, and so in a cyclical way it makes me relive a lot of my own coming-out process and its attendant anger and activist tendencies and ambiguity.

I don't know that it's gross-sounding to be moved by the interview; I feel like why it's so special is because we've been inundated with many rote "coming out" narratives, but none of them seem to have gone into such in-depth analysis of someone's neuroses (I mean, he still has trouble saying "gay"!). It was really thrilling because you hardly ever experience someone figuring out themselves right in front you, and finding the words to say all those things he has never been able to.

I really enjoyed both Todd's and Bert's episode. Bert I knew about from his constant appearances on Jay Mohr's show.

xpost, Yes, you nailed it.
It was interesting how he wrestled with the idea of the 'femme' gay, vs how he saw himself...there was definitely an otherness there, that somehow his own 'type' of gayness was quite separate from "that".

please sban me for overuse of airquotes

done :)

Pete Holmes' laugh gets under my skin fer some reason. I can never tell it apart from somebody faking it.

xpost thanks hoy

its my pleasure :)

(i didnt rlly and never could!)

never say never, lol

paul feig's voice sounds like weird al

It was really thrilling because you hardly ever experience someone figuring out themselves right in front you, and finding the words to say all those things he has never been able to.

OTMFM. What a great episode. I want to talk about it for hours.

I'm glad I'm not the only one! Have y'all heard his "follow-up" on his own podcast? In some ways it's much less interesting because it doesn't have that same sense of urgency, even if it has his same manic passion. There is a bit of progression re: his comfort level, though Sarah Silverman guests and provides a nice counterpart in a different way from Maron; where he tried to prod him through his process, she seems to gently confront him on some of his stances.

Todd's episode with Chelsea Peretti was great, especially her Home Shopping bits.

Thanks for the tip, Billy - I will check out Glass's podcst. I'd like to hear the followup!

Sure! I'd be interested to see how you respond to it vs. the Maron one, since it seems to be more about refining his language/views than figuring them out, which is part of what made the Maron interview so exciting. At the very least, he seems like a fascinating, complicated guy.

I've been meaning to listen to that episode w/ Peretti. I assume anyone who writes for Parks & Recreation is going to be hysterical.

The glee with which Maron and Jimmy Kimmel discussed the night Jimmy went on Jay Leno's 10pm show and publicly shamed him to his face and to the audience's approval was so fun to listen to. Otherwise, Jimmy Kimmel is fairly uninteresting.

The viciousness with which Kimmel treated Leno that night was pretty damn great. In case you've never seen the clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axwO6BkCtIo

fuck this matt graham guy. wanted to yell at him several times "maybe all this bad stuff happens to you cause you are an insufferable prick" and then he breaks out that he feels that all women are satan's helpers here to suck the life out of me. good luck on okcupid, dickhead.

lol. 1 of my takeaways from it was at least he used 2 take ghb himself rather than dose chix w/ it

I bailed halfway through because I was getting a real whiney woe is me vibe from him...is it worth listening all the way through?

it got WAY worse. Stay away.

Looking forward to tomorrow, though.

Bill Lawrence. I hope he talks less about Scrubs and Cougar Town and more about Clone High!

What does that voice that sounds like Don Pardo in the intro say? Sounds like "uh-ma-JOOK-ee-ev" and drives me nuts!

double you tee eff

It's Nick Kroll as El Chubacapra saying W T F with a spanishy twist, lol

drove me nuts for a longtime too

I think it was from this appearance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_frQMqxdvUw

Jo soy un bay beeeee

I could watch that clip all day

It's weird to actually see Nick doing this stuff

Thanks Janet

Funny, I've never seen Maron's recording setup before that clip.

bill lawrence ep was great, although idgaf abt any show hes ever done

didnt know his wife is christa miller! v jealous tbh

I love that Marc Maron does his podcast on a Powerbook and the same p.o.s. Ikea table that I have.

I love that the whole premise of Cougar Town was devised as a hilarious joke, and that ABC was all over it.

Twitter says he's interviewing Wayne Coyne today!

Bill Maher on Thurs!

I loved the Bill Lawrence interview, dude seemed v cool

The Nick Lowe interview is relaxing.

I'm looking forward to it!

i've been enjoying wtf a lot lately, but wow that matt graham interview was just torturous.

I skipped Graham. Nick Lowe was fun, but Marc was steering the convo too much toward Elvis Costello (even after he apologized for doing it).

I feel like Maron sometimes has trouble listening to people not from his world of stand-up. He kept kind of finishing sentences for Lowe incorrectly and trying to steer him toward stuff he was familiar with or already had a mythology about. His attention seems to flag when someone is going away from the direction he wants them to go.

Yeah, he's better than he was but def with "outsider" guests like Lowe it's clear you'll never get the interview you want from Maron. Not that it's a bad thing, per se.

The thing with Nick Lowe wasn't so much Maron's Costello worship, even though Lowe deserves a huge amount of credit for producing This Year's Model alone, it was Marc trying to steer the conversation toward addiction, and Lowe being totally uninterested in the topic. He's just not a guy with that many problems. He's an older gentleman. And though you can't see it in the interview, obviously, he has the most striking head of snow-white hair in all of music. We should all go grey so gracefully.

i haven't listened to any nick lowe (or much elvis costello), but there's a good interview with him in last month's Tape Op.

maron is pretty overrated as an interviewer in general imo. i've talked about it before, but he'll constantly steer the conversation to his bugbear topics even when they've been hashed out, try to fit everything into his "i used to hate you but now we're cool" paradigm even when it doesn't fit, tells the same stories he's told 10 times before, etc. he pretty much gets by on his connections and (now) his reputation. he's best when he realizes that he's got a good interesting guest, asks simple questions, and lets the guest talk (like steven wright, norm macdonald) but when it's someone he's not connected to or doesn't know about, he panics and reverts to his boring, annoying tricks.

I'd agree with much of that. I haven't heard the Lowe interview b/c I don't have much interest in listening to Marc Maron interview musicians.

but i also don't find maron particularly likeable or charming so ymmv i guess

The thing with Nick Lowe wasn't so much Maron's Costello worship, even though Lowe deserves a huge amount of credit for producing This Year's Model alone, it was Marc trying to steer the conversation toward addiction, and Lowe being totally uninterested in the topic. He's just not a guy with that many problems.

I wonder in some of the interviews if Maron makes connections through AA/NA--because he can have guests who have cleaned up, but it's just not something they talk about publicly.

I mean, alcohol/recovery is a big part of Lowe's songwriting, but I assume he's fine just talking about it indirectly that way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HO4mTPJUMw

i think the problem is musicians just generally aren't as big into talking/self-revelation as comedians

Also culturally as an older Britisher, (or non-LA person more specifically) probably not v interested in the navel-gazing recovery-talk in general

agreed. i'm getting tired of hearing about it.

He's worse than Terry Gross loving to talk about sickness and death.

That said, his talk with Russell Brand on the topics of addiction and recovery was totally absorbing, probably because he had such a willing and entertaining interviewee.

The whole bit about how you don't need to nurture your inner child, you need to send it to military school -- great stuff.

Dr. Steve was the best

I should revisit that one. I think I must have been trying to read something at the same time I was listening to it, which never works out.

Bill Maher was boring, and Marc seems to imply that he was a bit strong-armed. Taken not into the house, but to some vague place on the property, and had to wait for him to show up, like Maher was a doctor or a monarch or something. There are SO many things I wanted to hear Bill Maher talk about. Like, for instance, what's with the Playboy shit?

i cant stand bill maher in general

Right, but I wanted to know more about WHY he's so intolerable.

Yeah, if it isn't that good of an interview, I'll just skip that episode because the thought of listened to Maher speak that long makes me ill. Such a smug, self-satisfied douche.

I don't like Maher much at all. I realized as soon as I started listening to him that I disliked him even more than I thought, so I dunno that I'll finish that one.

the thought of listened to Maher speak that long

Actually, it's one of the shortest interviews Marc has done in a while. He got cut off. Clearly Maher was like, "Gotta go, very busy, thanks for promoting my new thing, that's all I'm here to do, but thanks."

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me at all. Maher is ugh.

Carrot Top >>>> Mahr

Definitely gonna skip this one.

sorry couldnt resist posting this. so spot on.

I hope none of you saw Bill Maher on Leno last night.....what a stacked card, let me tell you....the biggest pseud on TV with the most unfunny cunt on earth.....Bill said some shit so ignorant it somehow eclipses his "overweight people are just lazy and why should I pay health taxes because they're pigs?!" P.I. show and rap music comments....he says something like "I don't watch the Winter games....they're not sports...they're GRAVITY!!! You sit on a sled.." All the while with that huge triangular nose and those smirky incredulous "I mean COME ON!" facial gestures that must mean this guy actually thinks he's being cleverfresh...... everyday I cry a 40oz of tears trying to understand how people can think this man is exceptionally intelligent or witty....my theory is that Bill is the mascot for midbrow pseuds all over the USA that aren't outright morons but have just the right amount of totally cursory knowledge about shit in general to think they can stop right the fuck there.

-- Ramosi (olafsonski...), February 22nd, 2002.

huh. so i just learned what a "pseud" is!

god bless ramosi

40oz of tears

Carrot Top >>>> Mahr

x2

Listened to the Nick Lowe interview this morning. I think it's tricky, interview a musician, because Maron is such an insider and empathizer in comedy, and thoroughly understands the personalities, choices, etc., involved in a career--whereas with this one, he's an outsider. Still, it's a way to hear an hour-long conversation with Nick Lowe, and it's no worse or better than Leonard Lopate's interview with Lowe last month, just longer. Glad he did it.

Eazy, that's pretty much how I felt. Maron didn't do a great job but it's the closest I'll come to spending an hour chatting with Nick Lowe so I'll cope with the limitations.

Goddamn I wish the Marc and Tom Show was a real thing. I could listen to those two talk forever.

listening to it now...SO hope this becomes a regular thing.

interesting aside-info from the diablo cody ep -- am def fascinated by her moving to minneapolis cuz of a dude on a beach boys tape trading list (who she married!) & also abt her older brother

I'm gonna get to her ep later this afternoon.

I really don't want to listen to her. Not on the same day as the Scharpling-Maron ep, anyway. I'm in too good of a mood now

He probably shouldn't have dropped these both on the same day, since the Tom one is so much better.

I think the Tom one actually came out Tuesday, but nobody noticed until the regularly scheduled episode today.