My Current Obsession: Marc Maron
Not everyone loves someone’s work in the exact time that it’s at its most potent. Many people are often late to the game, or put off watching, listening, or reading to a key medium during a vital pop culture moment. Of course when you finally discover this new voice you want to tell everyone, but while you were watchingtrashy reality television and reading the new E.L James (or whatever you’re into, I’m not into that…) something truly artistic and enervating sifted through your fingers fine white sand.
My current obsession is a man that has been technically famous since the nineties, and has been known and successful for some fifteen years as a stand-up and radio host. Of course I didn’t come to know about Marc Maron through his radio hosting gigs years ago, or even his podcast WTF with Marc Maron. As with all good things that nobody cares about, I learned about the comedian through television, via his just finished IFC show Maron. The show Maron follows a semi-fictionalized version of Marc Maron in his life as a curmudgeon, podcast host, and comedian, while living in LA and dealing with his strange assistant, ex-wives, and numerous conquests and girlfriends. What especially makes this show feel authentic is Maron’s take on his own bitter vitriol, and his constant rants directed at close family and friends. He consistently fights with other comedians and can’t seem to get out of his own way. His bitterness is always refreshing and feels so real and unfiltered, like life should be. Many comdians guest star as themselves and give great performances, including from people like Elliott Gould, Sarah Silverman, Whitney Cummings, and Tig Notaro. He often takes from his own life and references painful and tragic events that make for great television; weaving autobiography with present day concerns and anxieties.
Because of the introspective and vitalizing nature of his conversations with guest stars on his IFC show, I had to listen to the real thing on WTF with Marc Maron. The show is a blend of ranting, in a stream of semi-belligerence, and a conversation with his guest/s. While interviews with comedians can be interesting, these are more conversational in tone. Granted, I have only listened to the episodes featuring Eric Andre and Roseanne, but it’s clear that the show enthralls for its entire hour and a half to two hour run. There are things in those interviews that I absolutely never knew, and could not have guessed about these comedians, and it’s both inspirational and fascinating to see that their lives were completely changed from one moment to the next. The show started as a way for Maron to make amends with people he had wronged, as he is a recovered drug addict with major anger issues. A lot of his work has reflected these issues, including his stand-up, TV show, and podcast.
Because I love Maron as a performer and actor, it has been great to see him in guest roles lately. He put in a couple stints as New York councilman Ed Duffield in the fourth season of Girls. He also just starred in his own vignette style episode of the Joe Swanberg helmed project Easy. In that episode he plays a graphic artist memoirist whose new book hasn’t gotten as much press as previous efforts. The role is very much Marc Maron, as the creator is heavily autobiographical, he has some anger issues, and he doesn’t know how to deal with the exasperating problems of the millennial generation. If you haven’t seen it yet, trust me it’s a riveting watch. Maron has also appeared in episodes of Louie, Dr. Katz, Metalocalypse, and Harvey Beaks.
Maron works the best when everything is about him. In a generation where just being yourself can create an entire reality show empire, Maron’s success is much more understandable than it would have been even ten years ago. The man takes so much from his own persona and grief that anything else feels false and contrived. The best way to get into his entire backstory and get to know his life is through the IFC show, but if you want the slow burn of his entire bitter persona check out his newest special “Thinky Pain.” The podcast is definitely worth checking out, and the most recent episode (which air every three days) featured Rachel Feinstein.