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Wednesday, April 03, 2013
I can't wait
Those of us who stuck with Marc Maron during those brutal days long ago when he was getting fired from Air America three times have been hoping for something like this ever since. Yes, folks, the human version of Henri le Chat Noir (only without the French and the fur, though there will be cats) is coming to IFC in May.
Labels: Comedians, comedy, Marc Maron, pop culture, television
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
What a long, strange trip it's been
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:
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.
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.
Labels: Comedians, Marc Maron, sheer awesomeness, television
Saturday, December 31, 2011
You know what's sad? I understand this thought process
Maron on Conan, December 22, 2011:
The gift part, not the prostate part.
The gift part, not the prostate part.
Labels: Comedians, Marc Maron
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Tell me you've never done this.
I can't tell you how many times in my life I've been convinced I have cancer. The infected hair follicle that I was convinced meant I had leukemia. The headache that lasted 3 days that had me convinced I had a brain tumor. Ovulation pain that had me convinced I had ovarian cancer. For someone who hates to go to doctors, I've sure put up with a lot of anxiety to avoid going to them. And meanwhile, I come from a family where we're so mean the Goddess does't want us and keeps us here a long, long time. My mother has survived 18 years after lung cancer surgery. You know what the 5-year survival rate for lung cancer is? 15%. And Mom is still kicking 18 years later. And still smoking. I'm serious. Don't fuck with us, because we are made out of tough stuff.
So after obsessing about cancer my entire life, what do I do now? Work on oncology clinical trials. Don't ever let it be said that the Goddess (or Jehovah, if you like) doesn't have a snarky sense of humor.
So after watching Marc Maron on Conan at the top of this post (actually not pissing off the right, more's the pity), don't you dare tell me you've never gone through exactly what he describes. In fact, tell me about when you did.
Labels: cancer, comedy, Marc Maron
Sunday, July 17, 2011
And they say LIBERALS have no sense of humor?
Perhaps this is the definition of irony.
Back in the days when I was able to start my day with a good healthy dose of comedic cynicism with "Morning Sedition", Marc Maron would open the show with "Good morning geniuses, philosopher kings, working class heroes, progressive utopians with no sense of humor..." If you're familiar with the Maron oeuvre, you know that humorlessness on the left is an integral part of his work when he ventures into the political realm (which he doesn't do much anymore, since as he said on Real Time with Bill Maher this weekend, political rage is just about being angry in your own head, something he's been workinig on with his WTF podcast, which is itself a kind of atonement for the way he treated people in comedy when he was a self-destructive asshole, instead of just the garden-variety asshole he is today.
But now Marc Maron finds himself with a notoriety he would have killed for a few years ago, because of an offhand remark he made during his appearance on Real Time -- one which for anyone who knows his work, is another example of the kind of raw, rip-your-head-open-and-dig-out-the-muck musings that are an integral part of his schtick.
I'll be the first to admit that Marc Maron isn't everyone's cup of tea. At one time I'd have said that you have to be a neurotic Jew with food issues and unresolved childhood self-loathing to really "get" what he does. But there are few stand-up comics who, after a radio show that lasted only a year and a half and ended over five years ago, has kept the show's fan base to the point of breaking down the wall between comic and audience. Whether it's his live stand-up shows or live WTF broadcasts, Seditionisti and WhatTheFuckniks shower him with gifts relevant to his chaotic life and cultural references -- vegan cakes, non-vegan cookies, full butterfat ice cream, and of course cat toys. There are always cat toys, because if you've followed Maron's career since three feral stray cats were dumped almost literally in his lap in Astoria, Queens in 2004, you know about Boomer the Dirt Cat (who the now-loathed ex-wife left behind and took the much nicer Moxie the Astoria Cat in their very bitter divorce), Monkey, and LaFonda, you know that he's a Cat Guy. And another thing the fans do is create the artwork that shows up now on WTF swag.
Marc Maron has this peculiar thing that he desperately wants to be liked, but he's suspicious of anyone who likes him. If you don't necessarily like him as a person (and he's far more accessible than most stand-ups are), you should at least appreciate his work. But the thing you have to realize about Marc Maron is that when he gets up on a stage, or puts on the headphones in his garage and starts a monologue, he's not doing it for you. He's doing it for himself, because without it he'll go slowly nuts just from living inside his own head. You either get that or you don't.
Unfortunately, appearing on a popular show like Real Time means that this weekend Maron was out of the comfort zone of people who still miss Lawton Smalls and the Presidential Palm Pilot and who remain hopeful that Current will somehow put WTF on television. And now he's Public Enemy #1 on the right for an offhand remark he made (2:33 into the video below) about hoping Marcus Bachmann (who's widely reported to be a closet case, which of course, as Stephen Colbert would say, makes it "fact-esque") takes out all his rage and anger about his closeted existence into the bedroom with his wife, GOP Republican presidential candidate Michele, and has "hate sex" with her.
Watch for yourself:
I'm waiting for the feminist blogosphere to weigh in with trigger warnings and all the rest of the fragile flower baggage that comes with framing your entire life and entire being around having been a victim of rape at one time. But so far it's mostly on the right that the outrage is taking place, which is hilarious because for a year and a half, Marc Maron was on terrestrial radio for fifteen hours a week during morning drive time, being FAR more inflammatory to the right wing than an offhand remark on one episode of a show on premium cable, and the right never bothered to listen and never uttered a peep. But let him muse for ten seconds about something that probably goes on in many bedrooms around the country (incluing probably many Republican bedrooms), and the right goes nuts.
What's funny is that the right, often justifiably, has poked fun at the political correctness of the left. What you don't see in the video clip is Marc Maron explaining how he gave up talking about politics because of the humorlessness of the left, and how he'd say something and someone would say he didn't really get into the concerns about the transgender community. For decades the right has railed against political correctness, saying vile and hateful things about Hillary Clinton and Michele Obama and Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic high-profile women. But let a comedian make an offhand remark about a Republican woman, and they go nuts.
What Marc Maron does by digging into his own head is take us to places that most people don't want to go. He rips aside the curtain of American hypocrisy and pokes fun at it, and he does it without Jon Stewart's need to be nice. It's what all the great stand-up comics of the last half-century have done. It's what Carlin did, it's what Pryor did, it's what Lenny Bruce did. Maybe you've never had "hate sex". But you can bet your life that all the people on the right who are having the vapors today have. And if they haven't, they sure as hell want to.
Back in the days when I was able to start my day with a good healthy dose of comedic cynicism with "Morning Sedition", Marc Maron would open the show with "Good morning geniuses, philosopher kings, working class heroes, progressive utopians with no sense of humor..." If you're familiar with the Maron oeuvre, you know that humorlessness on the left is an integral part of his work when he ventures into the political realm (which he doesn't do much anymore, since as he said on Real Time with Bill Maher this weekend, political rage is just about being angry in your own head, something he's been workinig on with his WTF podcast, which is itself a kind of atonement for the way he treated people in comedy when he was a self-destructive asshole, instead of just the garden-variety asshole he is today.
But now Marc Maron finds himself with a notoriety he would have killed for a few years ago, because of an offhand remark he made during his appearance on Real Time -- one which for anyone who knows his work, is another example of the kind of raw, rip-your-head-open-and-dig-out-the-muck musings that are an integral part of his schtick.
I'll be the first to admit that Marc Maron isn't everyone's cup of tea. At one time I'd have said that you have to be a neurotic Jew with food issues and unresolved childhood self-loathing to really "get" what he does. But there are few stand-up comics who, after a radio show that lasted only a year and a half and ended over five years ago, has kept the show's fan base to the point of breaking down the wall between comic and audience. Whether it's his live stand-up shows or live WTF broadcasts, Seditionisti and WhatTheFuckniks shower him with gifts relevant to his chaotic life and cultural references -- vegan cakes, non-vegan cookies, full butterfat ice cream, and of course cat toys. There are always cat toys, because if you've followed Maron's career since three feral stray cats were dumped almost literally in his lap in Astoria, Queens in 2004, you know about Boomer the Dirt Cat (who the now-loathed ex-wife left behind and took the much nicer Moxie the Astoria Cat in their very bitter divorce), Monkey, and LaFonda, you know that he's a Cat Guy. And another thing the fans do is create the artwork that shows up now on WTF swag.
Marc Maron has this peculiar thing that he desperately wants to be liked, but he's suspicious of anyone who likes him. If you don't necessarily like him as a person (and he's far more accessible than most stand-ups are), you should at least appreciate his work. But the thing you have to realize about Marc Maron is that when he gets up on a stage, or puts on the headphones in his garage and starts a monologue, he's not doing it for you. He's doing it for himself, because without it he'll go slowly nuts just from living inside his own head. You either get that or you don't.
Unfortunately, appearing on a popular show like Real Time means that this weekend Maron was out of the comfort zone of people who still miss Lawton Smalls and the Presidential Palm Pilot and who remain hopeful that Current will somehow put WTF on television. And now he's Public Enemy #1 on the right for an offhand remark he made (2:33 into the video below) about hoping Marcus Bachmann (who's widely reported to be a closet case, which of course, as Stephen Colbert would say, makes it "fact-esque") takes out all his rage and anger about his closeted existence into the bedroom with his wife, GOP Republican presidential candidate Michele, and has "hate sex" with her.
Watch for yourself:
I'm waiting for the feminist blogosphere to weigh in with trigger warnings and all the rest of the fragile flower baggage that comes with framing your entire life and entire being around having been a victim of rape at one time. But so far it's mostly on the right that the outrage is taking place, which is hilarious because for a year and a half, Marc Maron was on terrestrial radio for fifteen hours a week during morning drive time, being FAR more inflammatory to the right wing than an offhand remark on one episode of a show on premium cable, and the right never bothered to listen and never uttered a peep. But let him muse for ten seconds about something that probably goes on in many bedrooms around the country (incluing probably many Republican bedrooms), and the right goes nuts.
What's funny is that the right, often justifiably, has poked fun at the political correctness of the left. What you don't see in the video clip is Marc Maron explaining how he gave up talking about politics because of the humorlessness of the left, and how he'd say something and someone would say he didn't really get into the concerns about the transgender community. For decades the right has railed against political correctness, saying vile and hateful things about Hillary Clinton and Michele Obama and Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic high-profile women. But let a comedian make an offhand remark about a Republican woman, and they go nuts.
What Marc Maron does by digging into his own head is take us to places that most people don't want to go. He rips aside the curtain of American hypocrisy and pokes fun at it, and he does it without Jon Stewart's need to be nice. It's what all the great stand-up comics of the last half-century have done. It's what Carlin did, it's what Pryor did, it's what Lenny Bruce did. Maybe you've never had "hate sex". But you can bet your life that all the people on the right who are having the vapors today have. And if they haven't, they sure as hell want to.
Labels: Comedians, double standards, Marc Maron, Real Time with Bill Maher, wingnuttia
Friday, May 20, 2011
It's about friggin' time
Those who are long-time readers of this blog know of our long-standing wistful feeling of bereftness, even after lo these five-and-a-half years, that we will never again be able to turn on the radio at six minutes past six AM and hear the opening bars of that bumper music from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, followed by "It's six past the hour and this...is Morning Sedition!" And we at Casa la Brilliant are not alone. There's Melina and Seanie and Vernon and PJ and Krista and many, many more, for whom a radio show that ran for not even two years created a special kind of community. And at the forefront of some of the most brilliant radio comedy ever recorded was Marc Maron, who started out as a neurotic basket case, but who learned in that short time how to do radio. Because Maron might be a really funny comedian, but he's a GREAT radio host and interviewer. And in the last year, with his increasingly successful (and important in the industry) podcast, he's begun to be able to finally hone his craft without a bunch of inept suits being scared to death of what he brings to the table.
And now, at least on some NPR affiliates, Marc Maron is going to be back on terrestrial radio -- not live, not daily, but in a special version of WTF put together specifically for public radio.
Jesse Thorn of The Sound of Young America announced the good news a few days ago:
So far only a few affiliates have picked up the show, and it looks like it will be a 10-episode run at first. But hey...you've got to start somewhere, and after a five year absence, it will be nice to have Marc Maron back where he belongs.
And now, at least on some NPR affiliates, Marc Maron is going to be back on terrestrial radio -- not live, not daily, but in a special version of WTF put together specifically for public radio.
Jesse Thorn of The Sound of Young America announced the good news a few days ago:
For about six months now, Sound of Young America editor Nick White and I have been working on a secret project. Now, the secret can be revealed... please welcome WTF with Marc Maron, the public radio series!
We've taken the hundreds of episodes of the WTF podcast and boiled them down to what we think is ten hours of exceptionally compelling radio. We've chosen the best stories and the best guests and made a ten-episode public radio series, produced by Marc, Nick and me.
Thanks to the kind support of Torey Malatia and Ira Glass, our first station commitment came from WBEZ and Chicago Public Media. We've got lots of other stations on tap, but feel free to let your station know it's available on PRX and that you love it. We hope that stations will air it this summer and early fall all over the country. (It was Torey and Ira's insistence, by the way, that led us to keep the name "WTF".)
If you want to hear the show, you can check it out, share it and review it on PRX. Our goal was to capture what makes WTF special and communicate it to folks who aren't comedy nerds - or even necessarily comedy fans. I think they sound wonderful.
So far only a few affiliates have picked up the show, and it looks like it will be a 10-episode run at first. But hey...you've got to start somewhere, and after a five year absence, it will be nice to have Marc Maron back where he belongs.
Labels: Marc Maron, NPR, WTF
Thursday, May 05, 2011
A post that will interest only about ten people in the world
A treasure from Jim Earl in the form of a video of part of the last broadcast morning of the late, great Morning Sedition.
For the uninitiated, Brendan MacDonald (guy in navy shirt) is now the producer of Marc Maron's hit podcast, WTF. Give it a listen. The guy with the scruffy beard is Dan Pashman, now of The Sporkful, whose writings can also occasionally be seen in Vanity Fair. You've seen Kent Jones on The Rachel Maddow Show.
I still miss this show every day of my life.
For the uninitiated, Brendan MacDonald (guy in navy shirt) is now the producer of Marc Maron's hit podcast, WTF. Give it a listen. The guy with the scruffy beard is Dan Pashman, now of The Sporkful, whose writings can also occasionally be seen in Vanity Fair. You've seen Kent Jones on The Rachel Maddow Show.
I still miss this show every day of my life.
Labels: Marc Maron, Morning Sedition, talk radio
Thursday, April 07, 2011
I need a Maron fix
Sometimes I forget how much being able to listen to Marc Maron on the radio used to keep me sane.
Labels: comedy, Marc Maron, WTF
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Sunday morning comedy
Because if we don't laugh, we'll collapse into a fetal position in the corner.
Labels: Comedians, Marc Maron
Saturday, January 15, 2011
And because sometimes we need a break from the horror of life in America in the 21st century...
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Recognition that's long overdue
And to think we knew him when.
And there's more, from the New York Times:
Thirty years from now, people will look at the late, great Morning Sedition the way some people look at Jean Shepherd's show. What most people won't realize is that one short-lived radio show is what allowed Marc Maron to cut his interviewing teeth with some policy heavy-hitters -- people like journalists Michael Ware and Borzou Daragahi, politicians like Howard Dean, policymakers like Robert Reich. Maron may no longer even remember the call letters of Air America's then-flagship station, but it's the experience he got there that laid the groundwork for him to finally find a niche. He's a really good standup comic. But he's a GREAT interview show host.
The 10 Funniest People, Videos and Things of the Coming Year
7/10
'WTF With Marc Maron'
Acid-tongued, rage-prone satirist Marc Maron has been a stand-up-circuit fixture since the Eighties, hosting Comedy Central shows and befriending guys like Judd Apatow and Conan O'Brien along the way. But his new podcast, "WTF," may be his greatest achievement yet: a series of unvarnished shit-shoots with comedians that move from laugh-geek joke anatomy to quasi-therapeutic venting (Louis C.K. wept during his epic two-part interview).
And there's more, from the New York Times:
On his show, whose title includes an exclamation that can’t be printed here, Mr. Maron, a stand-up comic by trade, has cast himself as an unlikely celebrity interviewer — one who is angry, probing, neurotic and a vulnerable recovering addict. And somehow he’s able to elicit from his guests, mostly other comedians like Sarah Silverman and Ben Stiller, the same level of vulnerability.
The interviews, usually taped in his garage in Los Angeles, often end up feeling more like therapy sessions. Take, for example, Robin Williams talking to Mr. Maron about the dark side of dealing with audiences: “I guess it’s that fear that they’ll recognize — as you know — how insecure are we really? How desperately insecure that made us do this for a living?”
Thanks to moments like these the podcast has, over the last year or so, become a cult hit and a must-listen in show business and comedy circles. The success of the show has everything to do with its perceptive, prickly host and his ability to coax surprisingly revealing things from his guests.
Thirty years from now, people will look at the late, great Morning Sedition the way some people look at Jean Shepherd's show. What most people won't realize is that one short-lived radio show is what allowed Marc Maron to cut his interviewing teeth with some policy heavy-hitters -- people like journalists Michael Ware and Borzou Daragahi, politicians like Howard Dean, policymakers like Robert Reich. Maron may no longer even remember the call letters of Air America's then-flagship station, but it's the experience he got there that laid the groundwork for him to finally find a niche. He's a really good standup comic. But he's a GREAT interview show host.
Labels: comedy, Marc Maron, WTF
Thursday, December 23, 2010
You can't BUY this kind of publicity
I don't know if Marc Maron should be thrilled or call his lawyer about this:
The CIA has launched a taskforce to assess the impact of 250,000 leaked US diplomatic cables. Its name? WikiLeaks Task Force, or WTF for short.
The group will scour the released documents to survey damage caused by the disclosures. One of the most embarrassing revelations was that the US state department had drawn up a list of information it would like on key UN figures – it later emerged the CIA had asked for the information.
"Officially, the panel is called the WikiLeaks Task Force. But at CIA headquarters, it's mainly known by its all-too-apt acronym: WTF," the Washington Post reported.
WTF is more commonly associated with the Facebook and Twitter profiles of teenagers than secret agency committees. Given that its expanded version is usually an expression of extreme disbelief, perhaps the term is apt for the CIA's investigation.
Labels: CIA, Marc Maron, WTF, You can't make this shit up
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Welcome back, Sammy!
It's almost starting to feel like old times again. Not quite, but as close as we're ever going to get, given that here in the New York area, WWRL's signal is virtually nonexistent after 5 PM once the first frost comes. But when you drive a fair distance to and from work as I do, there's something comforting about having the voices of Mark Riley (6-9 AM), Thom Hartmann (3-6 PM) and Randi Rhodes (6-8 PM) on terrestrial radio. And of course the shining star from the old Air America firmament is Rachel Maddow, demonstrating night after night that opinion journalism doesn't mean pulling stuff out of your ass.
And thanks to the magic of podcasting, many of our other old Air America friends are back on the air. Marc Maron's WTF podcast, which is in the top 10 comedy podcasts at iTunes, has him doing what he does best (ranting and interviews) in the comfort of his own garage, as well as expanding the audience for his standup gigs. With former Morning Sedition co-producer Brendan McDonald providing the technical expertise and a welcome dose of leavening sanity, the man seems actually contented with his life. Dan Pashman, another Morning Sedition producer and NPR veteran, writes occasionally for Vanity Fair and has his own podcast with co-host Mark Garrison, The Sporkful, about "the most ridiculous food-related minutiae". And now, the one old Air America show to be actually revived in its original form as a podcast (since with no Air America even in existence anymore, there's no corporate entity that actually owns these things), is back with Sam Seder again hosting The Majority Report.
The advantage to terrestrial radio has always been that it's always there when you just turn it on. And perhaps for another decade or so, terrestrial radio will have an advantage with the Luddites and older listeners who tune into Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh every day. But over time, as WiFi becaomes more ubiquitous, and more people have smartphones, and internet-based broadcasting becomes just as easily accessed as terrestrial radio (and in the case of low-signal stations like WWRL, more so), podcasting is going to be better able to replace terrestrial radio in the lives of more people.
Since advertising sponsorship only offsets part of the costs of operating a podcast for those who are trying to make a living doing it, more podcasts are going to be operating on a subscription basis. WTF is on a voluntary subscription basis, and for now so is The Majority Report. Subscribers receive additional content and other goodies that act as incentives. In the music industry, there's an increasing sense that "content wants to be free." But in progressive talk radio, where we've "known" people like Marc Maron and Sam Seder through their struggles with the Air America debacle, there's a closeness to the performer that you don't have with, say U2 -- and so subscribing to their content feels more like helping out a buddy, or playing a nominal cover charge at your local dive bar so they can continue to do an open jam on Thursday nights.
So click the links above, give a listen, and if you like what you hear, consider subscribing via iTunes and toss some money in the hat. These guys are good at what they do, and they deserve our support.
Labels: Marc Maron, podcasts, Sam Seder, talk radio
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
There's a lesson in here for all of us
I'm not sure what it is yet, but there's a lesson there.
Long-time readers of this blog know that our fandom of comedian Marc Maron goes back years -- back to April 1, 2004, exactly, when Morning Sedition hit the airwaves on the now-defunct Air America Radio. Maron has the singular distinction of having been fired from AAR three times -- and he's come out on the other side not just intact, but an increasingly major star.
Maron is a very funny, if exhausting, stand-up comic...but one thing that emerged from his experience on terrestrial radio is that he's a GREAT interviewer. I I don't know if he thought of WTF himself (I suspect that producer and all-around sane person Brendan McDonald had more than a little to do with it), but after over one hundred episodes, Marc Maron is making his -- wait for it -- mark -- in the world of podcasting.
One would think that Maron, who's sort of a bluesman of comedy in that without anger and suffering one wonders if he'd be as good at what he does as he is, would have lost his edge, now that he's successful, happy, and presumably making a living from the increasing number of stand-up gigs he has and the podcast donations he receives from the fans he used to hate simply because they thought he was brilliant. The great comedy bits from Morning Sedition may now only be available thanks to the generosity and server maintenance of P.J. Sauter, whose 24/7 feed can be played in the right-hand sidebar of this very blog, but there seems to be no limit to where he can take this thing.
A recent article in Austin 360 reveals that WTF gets about 200,000 listeners a week, perhaps rivaling that first-day audience for Morning Sedition. Maron has also provided a taste of what could be a very interesting book for those with complicated relationships with food in this article at Saveur (hopefully the first of many) about cooking Thanksgiving dinner at his skinny mother's Florida condo. And now, no less a Jewish Commie Heathen Intellectual Elitist NPR-er than Ira Glass calls WTF the New York Times of podcasting:
Marc Maron struggled around the edges of the standup scene for years, watching his peers do things like get the gig hosting The Daily Show and such. Air America may have been a horrible experience personally, but it led to a situation in which he can do something he really loves, at which he's also really, really excels.
There's a lesson here. Perhaps it's just pure luck that allowed Marc Maron to stumble into something where he could be his own boss doing what he loves -- and now, with the podcast, make a reasonably stable living doing it. Or perhaps it's when we face adversity that we come face to face with what our true calling is.
Long-time readers of this blog know that our fandom of comedian Marc Maron goes back years -- back to April 1, 2004, exactly, when Morning Sedition hit the airwaves on the now-defunct Air America Radio. Maron has the singular distinction of having been fired from AAR three times -- and he's come out on the other side not just intact, but an increasingly major star.
Maron is a very funny, if exhausting, stand-up comic...but one thing that emerged from his experience on terrestrial radio is that he's a GREAT interviewer. I I don't know if he thought of WTF himself (I suspect that producer and all-around sane person Brendan McDonald had more than a little to do with it), but after over one hundred episodes, Marc Maron is making his -- wait for it -- mark -- in the world of podcasting.
One would think that Maron, who's sort of a bluesman of comedy in that without anger and suffering one wonders if he'd be as good at what he does as he is, would have lost his edge, now that he's successful, happy, and presumably making a living from the increasing number of stand-up gigs he has and the podcast donations he receives from the fans he used to hate simply because they thought he was brilliant. The great comedy bits from Morning Sedition may now only be available thanks to the generosity and server maintenance of P.J. Sauter, whose 24/7 feed can be played in the right-hand sidebar of this very blog, but there seems to be no limit to where he can take this thing.
A recent article in Austin 360 reveals that WTF gets about 200,000 listeners a week, perhaps rivaling that first-day audience for Morning Sedition. Maron has also provided a taste of what could be a very interesting book for those with complicated relationships with food in this article at Saveur (hopefully the first of many) about cooking Thanksgiving dinner at his skinny mother's Florida condo. And now, no less a Jewish Commie Heathen Intellectual Elitist NPR-er than Ira Glass calls WTF the New York Times of podcasting:
Right now, pretty much every comedian without a network TV show has his own podcast, but Marc Maron's WTF Podcast, here on the web or here on iTunes has distinguished itself as the New York Times of comedy podcasts, and by that I mean the definitive comedy podcast of record.
[snip]
Being interviewed by Maron reminded me of an old axiom about interviewing: that an interview is a party you're throwing and your guest will mirror your behavior. Marc is an insanely intense guy, and stares into you as you talk—it really feels like his eyes are piercing inside you—and then when he speaks he reaches inside himself and talks in the most heartfelt way possible. In a room with that, you'd have to be made of stone not to respond in the most soulful way you can summon up. He's emotionally present and he makes you emotionally present. I don't think that's any kind of calculated move, it's who he is when he's performing. And of course it gets amazing results.
Another fun fact: he records the thing on a little digital recorder, with two handheld mics attached by long mic cords. The mics he uses are the kind a comedian uses onstage. So as the interviewee, you hold a mic like a standup comedian would the whole time. Very comfortable I'm sure, for all the standups he talks to.
Marc Maron struggled around the edges of the standup scene for years, watching his peers do things like get the gig hosting The Daily Show and such. Air America may have been a horrible experience personally, but it led to a situation in which he can do something he really loves, at which he's also really, really excels.
There's a lesson here. Perhaps it's just pure luck that allowed Marc Maron to stumble into something where he could be his own boss doing what he loves -- and now, with the podcast, make a reasonably stable living doing it. Or perhaps it's when we face adversity that we come face to face with what our true calling is.
Labels: Marc Maron, WTF
Saturday, October 02, 2010
Living in your own head
Wow...Maron must have really been hitting the WTF Roast before going on Craig Ferguson last night:
It's surprising to hear a man talk about the nonstop dialogue in one's head. I always tell Mr. Brilliant that if he's ever away and puts listening devices in the house, he'll think I had someone move in while he's away, because I carry on entire conversations with myself. I don't even direct them at the cats. When I need to rant, the walls are as good an audience as anyone.
My brain is always talking. Always. I dream in color, with large casts of characters, sometimes in exotic locales, and there's always talking. If I wake up in the middle of the night, it's a challenge to get to the bathroom and back without thinking "Now what do I have to do today? You know, this room really needs painting. Do you think I can get around to those closet organizers this weekend? Shit -- I forgot to call the exterminator again. When is that meeting? God, [annoying person] is a pain in the ass. I wonder if I'll get out of work on time today. I'd really like to blog about what Rachel said last night. Is the car due for an oil change? Jim DeMint is a fucking idiot." Because once this kicks in, it's all over. Wanda Sykes did a bit on this once, and unfortunately I can't find it on YouTube. Every woman I've asked says the same thing -- that the mind is always going. I can be in Savasana, and I'll be making shopping lists. It just never stops.
I once read someplace that when a woman asks a man "What are you thinking" and he replies "Nothing", he's telling the truth. I asked Mr. Brilliant about this and he concurred that yes, sometimes he just doesn't think about anything. I simply cannot fathom how this can happen. So when Marc Maron talks about his inner dialogue looking at someone's new ice cream maker on the subway, I know exactly what he's talking about. Except mine will continue at around 2:30 AM. There might even be recipes.
It's surprising to hear a man talk about the nonstop dialogue in one's head. I always tell Mr. Brilliant that if he's ever away and puts listening devices in the house, he'll think I had someone move in while he's away, because I carry on entire conversations with myself. I don't even direct them at the cats. When I need to rant, the walls are as good an audience as anyone.
My brain is always talking. Always. I dream in color, with large casts of characters, sometimes in exotic locales, and there's always talking. If I wake up in the middle of the night, it's a challenge to get to the bathroom and back without thinking "Now what do I have to do today? You know, this room really needs painting. Do you think I can get around to those closet organizers this weekend? Shit -- I forgot to call the exterminator again. When is that meeting? God, [annoying person] is a pain in the ass. I wonder if I'll get out of work on time today. I'd really like to blog about what Rachel said last night. Is the car due for an oil change? Jim DeMint is a fucking idiot." Because once this kicks in, it's all over. Wanda Sykes did a bit on this once, and unfortunately I can't find it on YouTube. Every woman I've asked says the same thing -- that the mind is always going. I can be in Savasana, and I'll be making shopping lists. It just never stops.
I once read someplace that when a woman asks a man "What are you thinking" and he replies "Nothing", he's telling the truth. I asked Mr. Brilliant about this and he concurred that yes, sometimes he just doesn't think about anything. I simply cannot fathom how this can happen. So when Marc Maron talks about his inner dialogue looking at someone's new ice cream maker on the subway, I know exactly what he's talking about. Except mine will continue at around 2:30 AM. There might even be recipes.
Labels: Marc Maron, personal musings
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Caturday
Because we haven't had any Maron around here in a while, and because this is a nice photo of the B@B official stand-up comic with Monkey:
We likes us some Monkey:
We likes us some Monkey:
Labels: cats, Comedians, Marc Maron
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Good Morning Geniuses, or Shit Marc Maron Says
More of the collected Twittered unintentional verse of Marc Maron:
I don't believe in God
but I believe vitamins work.
I think its because I can see them
and put then in my mouth.
I understand Catholicism.
Okay, okay.
This compulsive eating of ice cream before bed
has to stop.
I mean WTF.
I mean, am I some kind of lonely cat lady
with an eating disorder?
Labels: Comedians, Marc Maron, poetry, Twitterati
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