Marc Maron is probably best known for his twice-weekly podcast WTF. Since 2009, Maron has shown himself to be one of the best interviewers in the business, providing listeners with intimate conversations (conducted in his garage!) with everyone from the late Robin Williams to former President Obama. He has often talked at length about his Judaism in interesting ways, discussing his lack of spiritual connection while feeling a strong cultural identity. Perhaps his best take on this was in his book, The Jerusalem Syndrome.
In honor of his performance at the Warner Theater here in DC this weekend, we’ve compiled a list of the top 5 Things We Heart About Marc Maron.
In His First Few Podcasts, He Clearly Had No Idea What He Was Doing
WTF did not come out fully formed. In the early episodes, Marc was not only struggling with his recent divorce and his newfound unemployment after being fired from Air America, but also with finding the voice of the show. At first, it operated somewhat similarly to a morning radio show, with Marc making prank calls to his dad and having fake guests calling in to chat (God, for instance). Though he certainly found his footing eventually, nothing sums up the early days like his monologue on how and why you should steal food from Whole Foods (which GatherDC does not advise).
The Louis CK Episode
Likely the show that put him on the map, Marc and Louis spend two hours hashing out who was at fault for ruining their friendship (spoiler alert: it was Marc). Over the course of their conversation you listen as two old friends start out icy and distant and end with tearful promises to work harder to be better friends. Louis would later go on to have Marc appear on his television show, but in a role reversal, Marc was the spurned friend.
His Cameo in Almost Famous
Everyone who listens to WTF knows that the show starts out with the catchphrase, “Lock the Gates,” but not everyone knows that those words came directly from Marc’s role as a mean-spirited club owner in Almost Famous.
He Talked to the President Like a Person
In what is arguably his most famous interview, Marc gets deep with President Obama regarding race, cynicism and our divided country. Equally entertaining was the follow-up episode in which Marc recounted how the interview came to be, as well as how the Secret Service shut down his entire neighborhood to make it happen. Marc has saved the coffee cup the president drank from while in his garage and now keeps it encased in glass on his desk.
His Upcoming Role in the Netflix Series GLOW
Jenji Kohan’s (Orange is the New Black) latest is a Netflix series called GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling) starring Alison Brie and, yes, Marc Maron. In his first major role (outside of playing himself on his IFC show, Maron), Marc will play a “Washed-up Hollywood director who has a very complicated history with women – and now must lead 14 of them on the journey to wrestling stardom.” Yes please.
