Marc Maron on why it was time to end WTF (and why he’s not quite good yet)

Marc Maron did not invent this question “Are we okay?” or the medium of podcasting, but he has made both indelibly his own.

For 16 years, the caustic comedian opened emotional wounds and settled old scores. WTF with Marc Maron – The pioneering podcast signed off on Monday after 1,086 episodes.

Launched in September 2009, the film features everyone from Paul McCartney and Nicole Kidman to then-president Barack Obama, but it’s the truly combustible parts that “Are we okay?” The segments in which he resolved tensions or decades-old grudges on the microphone were often with fellow comics: Louis CK, David Cross, Margaret Cho.

This unapologetic, scrappy approach is Maron’s superpower, allowing him to break through the secrets of the cycle of oppression to get to something honest.

Maybe I should have tried it myself when we talked a week ago in early October. WTFs last episode. Something was wrong. I blame the first few awkward Zoom overlaps on the delay between Sydney and Los Angeles, but despite the pixelated iPhone images, Maron’s furrowed brows behind wireframes suggest something more weighty.

He’s been looking back since announcing the show’s end in June (citing burnout). On air, he recently revisited the interview in which he first met filmmaker Lynn Shelton, who would later become his partner before her sudden death in 2020.

Did revisiting the episodes make you think about how things have changed over time? “Not really,” he shrugs. “That made me feel like I was pretty good at this.” So which guest surprised him the most? “That’s a tough question.”

Towards the end, when I asked her if she was ready to say goodbye unfortunatelyMaron interrupts the question with his own question: “Are we finishing? I have to go. Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude.”

For WTFs This summit dedicated to “What the F–kers” and “What the F–kniks” is Maron: the grumpy philosopher-curmudgeon who can’t help being sincere. Not every guest appreciated it (Gallagher stormed out), but this approach transformed him from a “comedian’s comedian” into podcasting’s unlikely conscience.

While he tells fans he’s exhausted, he admits he’s not quite sure how he’ll fill the hours after the mics go off.

“Between stand-up, podcasting and acting, sometimes it was every day,” he says. “There’s going to be a big gap there in terms of talking to people [on the podcast] Talking in these long, very satisfying conversations is part of my social and emotional life.

“My social life outside isn’t that big, so I’m going to miss that. I’m a little nervous about human interaction on a regular basis… I’m afraid of a smaller workload because then I really have to sit by myself. But I think it’s important to do that.”

Released five years after the term podcast was coined and five years before the true crime saga Sherry, unfortunately helped define the modern grammar of the medium: candid, unfiltered, self-written. Maron’s hour-long talks created space for sensitivity and depth that traditional media rarely allows. Maron has racked up 55 million downloads a year from his garage studio Cat Ranch, commentating on comedy, politics and his cats’ medical problems. In doing so, he opened the door to a generation of celebrity interviewers who borrowed his candor but mostly stripped away his naivety, turning what began as one man’s confessional into a global content format.

“It’s kind of the wild west out there 1760380389″And it’s a pretty jam-packed field,” he says. “But every once in a while, someone latches on to something and it spreads out into the world. You just have to get through it and keep showing up with the same intensity you took the break from.

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This consistency has returned unfortunately It became a platform that revitalized his career; She’s landed acting gigs and stand-up specials that once felt like a distant future, including a spot on Netflix. GLARE and his own three-season sitcom, Maroon.

In 2009, Maron didn’t have much left to lose. Two failed. Saturday Night Live audition (he would eventually discuss it with Lorne Michaels). Stepping stones that were supposed to happen, like the HBO special and recurring episodes on Letterman and Conan’s late-night shows, never made much of an impact. He was a sober, angry man who had been fired from Air America radio and was twice divorced. They put on a show, with producer Brendan MacDonald sneaking her into the old studios after hours. Marron soon set up a studio in his garage in Los Angeles; He continued to maintain this order despite moving home.

“I was always trying to put myself out there to be a whole person,” Maron said. WTFs The penultimate episode is the last solo episode. “So I thought, if I can be seen and show myself that I can come together in some way or another.”

First, unfortunately It was the pinnacle behind the comedy shop curtain, where comedians like Patton Oswalt, Margaret Cho, and Maria Bamford chatted with industry gossip and inspiration (“Who are your guys?” is another classic Maron question).

He also liked to make his problems a topic of discussion, and things started to click as Maron began to be extremely outspoken, talking about addiction and career disappointments, leading to fascinatingly raw conversations as guests tuned into his energy.

Less than a year later, Robin Williams was extremely candid about his struggles with depression, alcoholism and suicidal ideation. Williams’ episode, later archived by the US National Registry, demonstrated the power of media: two comics quietly discussing depression, alcoholism and suicidal thoughts. When Williams died in 2014, Maron re-released it and the audio cracked on the intro.

The guests may have had a draw, but it was always Maron himself who kept listeners coming back. The gruff, curious voice that opens each chapter like a worried friend checking in: Have you seen the mechanic? What about the appointment you’ve been postponing? Thousands of listeners have written to him over the years, telling them that these talks helped them get through dark times and changed their mindset. with the news WTFs Eventually these letters multiplied.

“I feel bad for so many fans who have come to have such an intimate relationship with the show,” he says. “It’s a loss. The reality is the weight of not doing it.”

Despite the intimate nature of podcasting, where hosts often speak directly into your ear, Maron says his audiences are generally “pretty respectful,” although he’s learning to draw more precise lines.

“When you talk about a relationship, they don’t really have a rebuttal,” he says. “Various women have said: ‘It’s not fair for you to speak one way or another when I can’t take my side. That’s an element too.

“And you know I have a private life, everything is not available… [Otherwise] eventually you will run out. “There’s a point in keeping some things to yourself, so at least you can take care of yourself a little bit.”

If there’s been any criticism from fans, it’s that Maron, an outspoken progressive, doesn’t stick around as a figure on the left. It was on Maron’s mind: When he was announcing WTFs He eventually dubbed himself the Oppenheimer of podcasting and brought great evil (male comedian with a microphone) to the world. Last year, Maron made headlines by calling out comedians who were “joking with fascists” after Donald Trump took a break from his presidential campaign. The Joe Rogan Experience.

However, Maron says unfortunately It was never a diverter. “This was never a political demonstration,” he says. “My personal views on politics have been filtered out of necessity. People are saying, ‘We need you now!’ I know you said.

“But nothing we’ve done on the podcast has ever gotten this much attention. [political] “Excerpts from my comedy special, which has been watched by millions.”

He talks about his latest HBO special panicked He gets his name from what he calls obsessive anxiety, that is, incessant worry. “I also think it’s a place where most of us are,” he says, clarifying that he means “rational people.”

The special, which received some of the best reviews of his career, is full of political sarcasm, including a self-reflexive, viral song about how Maron and his fellow progressives have “enraged the average American enough to turn to fascism.” It oscillates between a risque segment about a potentially traumatic childhood and an unexpectedly tender riff on a Taylor Swift song mourning Shelton.

If there’s one thing Maron has talked about most openly over the years, it’s Shelton’s death. Two days after his death in 2020, he repeated his 2015 speeches with a blunt and convoluted introduction. “I don’t even know if I have to do public speaking,” he says, “but that’s what I do.”

But he is most proud of this childhood episode, as it made the nervous audience laugh. This might be the first smile I’ve ever seen that struck me when I said it made me laugh.

“[The special’s] It’s really full but I feel good about it. There is a comedy challenge [that]and when it works, it’s great,” he says.

There’s a point in keeping some things to yourself, so at least take some care of yourself.

“That’s the ultimate goal. If you say the unsaid – not in a ‘I shouldn’t say this’ way, but if you take the emotional risk and talk about something that most people keep unsaid, then it becomes a real relief valve for people who identify with that.”

It’s clear that Maron’s own relief valve is working, and yet unfortunately It’s over, there are no plans to pause it. Days after the finale, he was testing new material at Los Angeles comedy club Largo. A. unfortunately Books and acting gigs are also on the way: a Bruce Springsteen biopic, the second season of Apple’s Stick, his own planned directorial debut.

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Also, there is Are we okay? – A documentary recently released in the US by Steven Feinartz, which follows Shelton after his death as he prepares for a heartbreaking, sad 2023 special. From Gloomy to Dark.

Maron is happy with this, but says Feinartz makes him look “a little more cranky than me, but balanced.”

“When I watched the movie as if it wasn’t me, it felt like a portrait of a gruff, sensitive guy who somehow succeeded in spite of himself. And Steven said, ‘Yes, that’s exactly the movie.'”

panicked It can be streamed on HBO Max. last episode WTF with Marc Maron It was published on Monday.