I don’t know if it’s Maron’s voice - he sounds like Peter Vecsey after six Adderalls and a week with the most annoying works of Charles Bukowski - or if it’s the predictability of the show’s beats or if it’s Maron’s slow-bore drilling of his subjects, but there’s a hypnotic quality to WTF that can sometimes feel therapeutic. But outside of the occasional live show, which usually involves a bunch of comedians you’ve never heard of desperately reminding you of all the reasons you’ve never heard of them, Maron just kind of exposes a problem/darkness/neurotic tendency, flips it over, pokes at it, extracts some vaguely Buddhist/AA-ish platitude, and calls it a day. As someone who listens to the WTF podcast for an average of about 45 minutes a day, I wish there were a prettier way to describe what goes on. If the subject was successful in both white and black clubs, Maron kind of pats them on the back and says, “Way to go!”ĥ9:13: Maron starts ranting about having too much heart to play the game and obliquely references his days coming up in Boston with Louis C.K.Ħ5:14: Maron stares lovingly at his neurosis by admitting to his neurosis, pointing out the problems with his personal brand of neurosis (“I’m an angry motherfucker”), and concludes that he’s ashamed of these things, but doesn’t ever really mean it. This is always followed by a disingenuous statement like “I’ve learned in my old age to really respect that sort of act.”Ĥ5:17: Maron says something underhanded and self-congratulatory about “not understanding show business.”ĥ0:23: When his interview subjects are minorities, Maron grills them on their culture’s food (hello, Mindy Kaling!) or the difference between black clubs and white clubs. Burroughs and the Beatniks.ģ3:15: Maron asks, “So what was the dark side of that?”ģ7:12: Maron says something like, “I never could do because all I ever wanted to do was become a stand-up. He/she is a _.”Ģ3:15: Maron asks the subject about his/her meeting with Lorne Michaels.Ģ5:27: Maron asks subject about substance abuse problems, mostly as an excuse to discuss his old days working as Sam Kinison’s drug mule.ģ2:15: Maron says something about William S. The podcast always follows roughly the same format:Ġ:00 -12:45: Maron talks about something going on in his life and sells ads for, Audible books, or Adam & Eve.ġ2:45-22:00: Maron introduces his guest and talks to them about how they came up in comedy/music/writing/TV.Ģ2:13: Maron asks very specific questions about a very specific comedy club, mostly to say, “Oh yeah, I know _ who does the booking there. For those who don’t know, WTF features Marc Maron, a 48-year-old stand-up comedian, and his interviews with some very famous people (Anthony Bourdain, Louis C.K., Zach Galifianakis, Robin Williams, Chris Rock) and some other people you don’t know by name but quickly recognize when you Google image search them (Fred Stoller, Merrill Markoe, Rachael Harris). Neurosis in Los Angeles is mostly an ugly approximation.Īs a fix, I’ve been listening to the WTF podcast in the car. But for those, like me, who are at their happiest when listening to other people stack one layer of false modesty on top of another layer of false self-awareness, Southern California, and all its gyms and its phalanxes of actresses who hike up Runyon Canyon, can feel a bit alienating. It’s not all bad - sometimes it’s edifying, or at least healthy, to be fixed into Southern California’s weird, static perspective on things. Everyone else in Los Angeles just sort of talks about traffic and the Lakers and weather and what meats to barbecue and where to find actual bagels. There are also screenwriters who, in a very Larry David way, try to whip up neurosis, but if you talk to any of these successful people long enough, you start to realize that most of their problems revolve around sandwiches, “studio executives,” and juices. Sure, there are actors who talk endlessly about themselves. Self-obsession and blathering about self-obsession, especially in a way that celebrates one’s own self-obsession, doesn’t seem to be as present here as it is in New York. Neurosis - at least the Woody Allen kind - is hard to find in Los Angeles.
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