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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

What a long, strange trip it's been
Posted by Jill | 9:51 PM
In just over a week, it'll be the eighth anniversary of the day when we turned on the radio at 6 AM to listen to the new morning show on the equally new Air America Radio. The show was, as longtime readers of this blog know, Morning Sedition, and it was the best damn thing to hit radio in years. There'd been nothing like it before, and there's been nothing like it since.

I've written about the hilarious, infuriating, heartbreakingly honest and funny Marc Maron many times since I first started blogging in 2004. Because Maron is so accessible (or so needy), watching his rise, fall, and rise again has been unlike your standard entertainment career death watch and resurrection. Those of us who've followed Maron's career over these last eight years have been probably more pleased, and certainly just as surprised, at the way a project that started out as a failed comedian's attempt to make things right with all the people to whom he'd been a dick over the years, quite possibly in anticipation of a planned suicide, is now one of the most acclaimed podcasts in the country, and this ferociously smart, neurotic-but-working-on-it Jewish man is finally getting the recognition his work deserves. And most importantly, he's not forgotten the people who listened along the way -- the ones who sent encouraging e-mails, and who sent food and cat toys and other gifts and who now show up in droves to see him in rooms that for years he couldn't fill.

So on this day which saw the nightmare possibly come to pass of Jesus of the Rockies bringing his 3-ring circus to town to make a dysfunctional Jets clubhouse even worse, there's some good news that makes me kvell with naches: Marc Maron's weird life is coming to television, from those wonderful people who brought you Portlandia:
MARON (working title)
Premieres in 2013.
Marc Maron has been a comedian for 25 years. He’s had his problems. He was an angry, drunk, self involved, twice divorced compulsive mess for most of his adult life, but with the popularity of a podcast he does in his garage and a life of sobriety, his life and career are turning around. MARON (wt) explores a fictionalized version of Marc’s life, his relationships, and his career, including his incredibly popular WTF podcast, which features conversations Marc conducts with celebrities and fellow comedians. Neurosis intact, Maron is uniquely fascinating, absolutely compelling and brutally funny.

The only way I could be any happier about this is if Lawton Smalls is his next door neighbor. But please. Cats. There must be cats.

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3 Comments:
Anonymous ShortWoman said...
The dream of the '90s is livin in Portland!!
3/21/12, 11:42 PM  
Blogger Jimbo said...
Wow. Brilliant at Breakfast, you are such a brilliant writer for any meal. I'm afraid I am a Morning Edition listener; fact is I can't listen to the trash on the other MSM (except some of the music my teen daughter listens to when I am being her chauffeur). This guy sounds like he's worth a look-in but I hope it's not just an elaborate AA event but a real engagement on the issues of the day. But thanks for the post.
3/22/12, 12:19 AM  
Blogger Jill said...
Jimbo, alas, "Morning Sedition" was cancelled in December 2005 (long and sad story) and Air America exhaled its last, sad breath in January 2010. But an almost-complete archive of the shows, plus all the comedy bits, live on here, so you can see what us fans were so hopped up about. You should also check out Maron's podcast, WTF (linked from the original post and in the sidebar). Now, he's not everyone's cup of tea; there's a lot of the Neurotic New York Jew school of humor there (it's also the well from which I draw on the rare occasions when I'm funny), but it's very, very smart stuff. Check it out and tell me what you think.
3/22/12, 5:41 AM  
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