The Dust.

All cleaned up, people.

I start shooting season 4 of Maron for IFC today. I have a 6:00 A.M. call time. I’ve been trying to clear my head and get grounded for the two and a half month haul that is shooting thirteen episodes of this show. That is a break neck pace FYI. It will be intense. It will be all I’m doing, that and two podcasts a week. Yup, as those of you who have been with us for a while know, we keep delivering the goods.

So, needless to say, I’ve been stressed. Not as much as I used to be before starting the show. The beautiful thing about this season is it’s a completely different show. For those of you who watched season 3 know that I am not in great shape. I’ve let some shit go. That means I don’t have to worry about a lot of mundane shit this year like my hair, my clothes, beard… freedom from vanity and preening. It’s also going to be exciting to be untethered from what the old show was and moving into an entirely fictional (kinda) world of possibilities. It will be new to all of us. I’m excited about shooting. I’m pretty amped up. I’ve had to try to ground myself and relax. I don’t really know how to do that. What do I use— deep breaths? No. Nicotine lozenges, coffee, food, a little working out, masturbation…. yes, all those. But this time I locked into some compulsive cleaning. It is true people. I deep cleaned the garage.

Between us, the garage was getting kind of gross. I vacuum occasionally, a bit. I pile stuff. I move stuff but the dust… oh my God, the dust. It had started layering and getting grimey. What used to be a cool space with all kinds of cool stuff was starting to look like a neglected roadside museum of some kind. Look a bit closer and everything is covered with grime. If dust is human skin my garage was covered with several layers of the skin cells of about 675 famous to kind of famous people, including a president. If lightning were to strike it into some primordial inceptive start of new life form it would be a monster with multiple neurotic personalities, an amazing imagination, great sense of humor and the ability to lead worlds. Probably shouldn’t have vacuumed and dusted. Had to though. It was nasty. Took me 3 days of many hours at a stretch. I got everything out, went through it, garbaged some stuff, cleaned some other stuff, put it all back in. Now, it is as pristine as a lot of old stuff can be. Oh, and the spider webs were everywhere. I don’t know how I don’t notice them. I rarely see spiders but they definitely vacation in my garage. I was starting to think word had gotten out that my garage was actually creepy. Well, IT ISNT NOW. It’s nice.

My guest today appreciates creepy. Today I have a nice long talk with Crispin Glover and I think we got some stuff nailed down. On Thursday the brilliant Cintra Wilson hangs out and we talk about her and her new-ish book. Love her. Also on Thursday a little chat with Zach Galifianakis.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

Someone Make That Happen

Aw, shit, People-

Golden Globes! Yep. I’m watching them right now. I love them. I know it’s shallow. I know it doesn’t mean anything in the big picture… but it does. I love show business. No matter how cynical I may seem or how bitter I come off or how jealous I feel. I love show business. I know I go through this every time an award show is on. I have to cop to it. I love what I do, what I have done. I’ve achieved almost everything I set out to do in my life but for some dumb reason I want to wear a tux and be validated by show business. I can accept that it probably won’t happen and, again, I am really okay with that. Seriously. It’s just that there is a little longing, a little heartache to it for some reason. I know it’s an ego thing or a validation thing or just a… no, those are the two.

I know I have talked to many people I see sitting at the tables I see on TV right now. I know I am on a first name basis with some of them. I know that my podcast is respected and listened to by many of them and that is what I am known for. But I‘m a comic, a creator. I have a TV show. I want to be at the thing and be nominated for a thing but maybe my things just don’t cut it. Who knows? I know I do one thing real well. So, I’ll settle for a Peabody. Someone make that happen.

I’m thankful I can appreciate and feel good enough about myself and what I do to not be angry at show business anymore. It’s okay to live with a little heartache. It’s easier when you’ve found your thing and it works and no one can tell you how or what to do. So, I’m good.

Genius is an elusive thing. It is a word we all toss around but there are few real geniuses. Charlie Kaufman is one of them. A true creative genius with a fluidity of imagination that is really unrivaled. He is on the show today along with Duke Johnson, the co-director of Charlie's new film, Anomalisa. It is a rare, dark movie. I’ve never seen anything like. I was thrilled that he decided to come on the show. I’m glad Duke was there too. It was a great talk.

On Thursday I talk to Garrett Morris. He’s the first original Not Ready For Prime Time Player I’ve had in the garage (I had Lorraine Newman on a live one). It is a doozy of a talk. Loved it.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

Honor It.

We’re in it, People!

2016.

It feels like just another day in some ways, obviously, but I do feel a shift in my thinking. I guess that has something to do with the transition into a new year. It may have something to do with resolutions. I don’t really make resolutions but I think my brain naturally reflects on the marking of another year and makes a half-assed attempt at convincing me that we should do some things differently.

The main things I am up against when this inner discussion happens are habits. Mental habits, physical habits, the patterns and loops we live our lives in mentally.
Changing behavior is aggravating because most of the time it isn’t satisfying. I think I do things because I want to feel a certain way and sometimes I act impulsively. Stifling that impulse is doable but holding the stifling is torturous sometimes. The impulse festers and takes on a life of it’s own. The only way you can get through this, I believe, is just let the impulse scream and yell and cry. It’s doing that because it’s dying. If you don’t feed it, it will die. Unfortunately, they regenerate rather quickly, so you may have to deal with the death screams of impulses a lot. You get used to them and you can try negotiating with them like you would a child. Sometimes that placates them. I find that as I get older these impulses get older, too. They are onto themselves and most of the time a bit halfhearted and embarrassed. That’s a gift.

Sorry if this vague or abstract. Some of you know what I am talking about. It’s a broad-based idea for those who struggle with self-awareness.

Yes, there are some things that are pretty hardwired and not really open to change, or changeable at all. Again, though, age dulls some of that and also humbles it because it is humiliating and exhausting and embarrassing to honor it.

I guess what I am saying is this year I’m going to try to live a little more comfortably with myself in terms of being okay with who I am. Fuck. I wish that wasn’t such a struggle. It is what it is. 2016.

I have a nice talk with David Spade today. We didn’t really know each other and I wasn’t optimistic about us getting along but it was great. On Thursday I talk to the genius that is Todd Haynes. I’m a big fan of his films so this was an exciting talk for me. I hope it is for you as well.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

The Years Fly By

Here it comes, People-

Another year. If you make it through, you get to start another. So, congrats to us all for getting here. It’s not always easy.

I spent some time in New Mexico over the holidays. I was fantasizing about perhaps moving off the grid into the hills somewhere outside of Santa Fe. The difference between fantasizing and actually doing can be immense. I was in Santa Fe for four days and as beautiful as it is, I would really need to make some personal changes to live there, even part time. Like, I would need a new brain entirely. I’m already lost in my head a good part of the time. If I went somewhere with few-to-zero distractions I would fall down into myself and maybe never get out. Or I would wander around the town just stopping in places with the desperate need to talk—to anyone. I’d like to think that I would write a book or come up with some new creative direction and do something amazing but I should know by now that inspiration seizes me in crisis, never in peace. Maybe that will change but I don’t think I can force it by running away.

I took a tour of some of the places that defined my childhood but I've rarely returned to them. I went by the first house my family lived in when we moved to NM in ’72. I lived in the basement with my brother. It had its own bathroom and shag carpeting. I went by my elementary schools, the synagogue I was bar mitzvahed in, the place I worked in high school, my high school, the house I actually grew up in and The Frontier Restaurant on Central Ave, where I learned to think.

I had some odd realization based on some of the memories that would flash by me when I was around these places. I think there is a lot to be learned from what memories surface and what memories you hang on to. How many memories are hard and painful verses the ones that are fun and feel-good. I like the feel-good kind but I tend towards the painful ones. Though a lot of who I am came out of mistakes and missteps and feeling embarrassed and awkward. Some of the trauma leads to me being who I am and I am honestly not sure I could identify a good time during my adolescence. There were some parties and near death calls in cars and some small victories. Great times don’t have the bittersweet resonance of heartache until they get so far away that even remembering them is a little painful. This is what happens when the years fly by. It gets a bit more challenging to feel alive like you did when you were young and stupid. Thankfully, new experiences can be deeper because of those years, that slow emergence out of who you were as kid. The crawl through the sludge of experience to maturity where you walk with a little more difficulty but each step carries the weight of everything that you are. Happy New Year!

Today I have a deep talk about love and relationships from someone who earned his wisdom the hard way, Neil Strauss. Heavy stuff. On Thursday, New Years Eve, I have a lighter, shorter chat with the hilarious Bill Buur and then we are going to run highlights of some big happenings from 2015. We can do that. We have them.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

I Understand the Joy of Giving.

Merry Happy, Folks-

Go with what you go with but try to not ruin everything.

I feel like an asshole. I don’t get cards or gifts, really, for anyone. I feel like a bad adult. I get cards from people. Some people I don’t even know. Or at least I don’t think I know them. Maybe their kids have grown up to the point where I don’t recognize them anymore. Or there’s been a spousal shift or change or it arrived in the wrong box and I opened it by accident.

I do know that I am much too anxious to deal with getting presents and I guess that’s just the way I am. I don’t come from a big gift giving family but that’s really no excuse. I just don’t think to do it. I’ll do the important ones—like the woman in my life but it just drops off after that. I guess that’s why I don’t get many. Makes sense. I understand the joy of giving but sometimes I give the wrong thing and obsess about that. That’s stinks. I hate having to live through someone pretending that the gift I got was a good one. See, I make it about me. None of it matters unless you get an amazing gift. Like Sarah gave me a Filson leather duffle bag. It’s amazing. It will last me the rest of my life. Thoughtful gift. I bought her a wool hat and fingerless gloves (and a trip). They seem inferior but I really liked them. We’ll see what happens in terms of her wearing them. Doesn’t matter (kinda does).

Amazing things happened in Chicago, people! Despite what anyone may think, I am a pretty insecure guy in some ways. Surprise. The project I was working on is an episode of a new Joe Swanberg series and it is entirely improvised. I was nervous. Because when you do long-form scene improv that is not gunning for funny, you are improvising and experiencing emotions relative to the scenes and they are driven by real feelings happening in the moment with no script. It was like living in the scenes and spontaneously creating a personal history for myself that is informed by my real life but filtered through the background that is put in place for the character. No script at all, just direction. Swanberg is a master of this form because it is what he does and he is amazing at it. It was a real exciting thing to be involved with and I learned things about myself and did something I had never done before. What more can you ask for from creativity? AND i got to work with Jane Adams. Genius. Love her.

Today me and Horatio Sanz have an amazing and, at times, slightly out of synch talk about A LOT of stuff. Love that guy. It was great finally getting to talk to him. On Thursday I have a pretty mindblowing talk with Bob Forrest about his time on Celebrity Rehab, his time as frontman of Thelonius Monster, sobriety and drugs and his amazing new record ‘Survival Songs.’ He sings too. Great stuff. Happy holidays.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

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Almost an Entire Day.

Hola, People!

I’ll give you a little update on a few things. We’re getting close to having all the scripts done for ‘Maron’ season 4. They are looking good. We left the character of Marc in dire straights at the end of last season and we will try to pull him out and get him back on his feet in this one. It’s been a fun season to create. I’m growing my beard out for the first couple of episodes. I don’t love beards. I miss my defined facial hair configuration.

I’m going to be doing some acting in a new Joe Swanberg Netflix project. I’m pretty excited about it. I like playing people who aren’t me. It’s better if they are a lot like me. I’m not that great an actor. No accents or weight gain, just somewhere in the range of neurotic and a little angry and I’m good.

I’ve been working on some new bits and doing a lot of standup. There are a lot of great guests coming up on the podcast. Things are going good. I actually felt good about myself for almost an entire day last week. Takes practice.

Thanks for all the good reaction to my special ‘More Later’ on EPIX. You can find out how to watch it if you haven’t at epixhd.com. If you can't watch it at any of the available options it will be on HULU in a couple of months. I will give you the heads up.

Today you can listen to a truly amazing conversation I had with producer Brian Grazer. It is really the most thorough talk about show business I’ve ever had and it is with one of the biggest producers in the business. He’s a great guy, great talk. On Thursday I check in with my old friend Eric Bogosian who, among other things, has written a studious and in depth book about a little known story. It's about the assassinations of the some of the architects and active executors of the Armenian Genocide. He’s a talker. It was great.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

I Love This Neighborhood

Happy Hanukkah, People (or not)!

I have not lit the candles yet. I hope to. Sometimes its just weird to do alone or with someone who’s not Jewish but I’ve done it before and I find it moving so I will try to get at least one lighting in.

I did something I have never done before. I rode in a parade. I know a lot of you are probably thinking ‘that makes perfect sense.’ Maron is made for parades. I’m surprised he’s not riding in parades every few weeks. I have to say I was nervous for a few reasons.

I was asked to be the Grand Marshall of the NELA Christmas Parade a couple of years ago. This is a small parade that runs down a few miles of Figueroa Ave. right through downtown Highland Park. At that time I had done a season of Maron and I definitely was a Highland Park person but I still didn’t think I deserved to be in the parade. You see, the weird thing about living in a neighborhood that has a shifting cultural profile is you don’t want to feel like you are part of the group that is changing for what some people who were there before think are bad ways. I guess what I am saying is that when I moved here there were no hipsters or hipster shops. I bought my house on a fluke. I was driving around some dude who was looking to rent and I fell in love with my house. I didn’t even know where I was really but I loved the area. It was long before the hipster invasion. I respect the people of Highland Park but I definitely felt like a visitor or a guest. And the last thing I wanted was to be paraded down the street like a guy claiming to be part of the community.

So, I guess what made it different this time is I thought about it and I realized I’ve been here for 11 years. I love this neighborhood. I work here. I shoot my show here. I talk about it all the time. I’m not a native but I am definitely a resident and part of the community. So, I got in a Bugatti kit car and was driven down Figueroa, behind the cops on bikes and in front of a high school marching band, waving. I was one of the Grand Marshalls! There was a sign on the side of the car that said ‘Marc Maron Podcast Artist.’ Every few blocks there were announcers speaking through a PA announcing me as the comic who brought President Obama to the neighborhood and interviewed him in his garage on a podcast. Right after it was announced, it was announced again in Spanish. I waved.

I love it here.

Today I talk to the live-wired writer Adam Resnick about his book, ‘Will Not Attend: Lively Stories of Detachment and Isolation.' I love that guy. On Thursday I have an amazing talk with film director, Danny Boyle.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

Speaking of Anger.

Hope you held up, Folks!

My Thanksgiving went much better than I expected it to. I think one of the main factors was getting out in time. I made it just under the wire. Turns out that four nights and three days is the exact right amount of time to spend in Florida with my mother and her annoying boyfriend. Even another half day may have tipped the scales for all involved into ‘bad scene’ mode. I can only keep the anger in for so long. Look, I have processed a lot of it but I seem to have a replenishing well of annoyance-based anger towards him and I always find a new facet of my mother’s emotional dynamic that reveals the source of an entire history of emotional pain and bad behavior for me and that shit is hard to stifle. Those moments of horrendous catharsis land and demand response but I didn’t act out. Well, once I snapped but it was managed and appropriate.

Speaking of anger, I want to make sure you know that the world television premiere of my EPIX Original Comedy Event "Marc Maron: More Later" is this Friday, December 4th, only on EPIX. Go to EPIX.com to find out how to watch.

Back to Thanksgiving. The food was great. I actually paced out the cooking so I could have time to hang out with family and friends. My girl got her first experience of my family and it went well on both sides. I think my mother might like her more than she likes me because she’s a painter and my mother paints. And there was a better vibe this year all around. Some people that usually come didn’t come and it turns out the fewer Republicans there are at a family gathering the more pleasant it is. There just weren’t enough to gain any momentum so the political talk didn’t pick up any traction at the table, which makes it a nicer experience for all involved. I’m sure there is a Republican version of this as well but that is not my experience.

Today I talk to my friend Kliph Nesteroff for a bit about his new book ‘The Comedians’ and then I have a longer chat with Gloria Steinem about her new book ‘My Life on the Road’. These were both good talks. On Thursday I talk to comedian and Conan writer Brian Kiley. I started out with Brian way back in Boston. He’s a great comic and a great guy so we had an amazing talk. One of my favorites.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

There Usually Are Some Good Sides.

Happy Thanksgiving, People!

I’m going to keep this relatively short and sweet.

This is the week, the beginning of the family holidays. I don’t know about you but every year a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving I start feeling irritable and snappy. I start snapping at my friends and strangers. I feel ungrounded and fucked up in the head. I never know what it is at first. Then a few days before I have to go to my mother’s for Thanksgiving it hits me--the realization that my inner self is preparing or resisting going back to the source. Not just the biological source but the emotional, psychological, metaphysical, philosophical source of who I am and it is not comfortable.

There are good sides to all that you get without asking for from your parents but there are also the bad parts. Their flaws made us react and that reaction is part of the basic construction of how we react and interact with everything and everybody and some of us spend a lifetime trying to temper, manage and fix those reactions and interactions so as not to become the worst part of our parents. That is just a reality. So, when we have to go to the source, all that tempering and retraining and inner work that we have done is threatened. We innately know that the only person or people that can crumble the structure, albeit temporarily, are the ones we built it to protect ourselves against. In other words, our family. They will easily break us.

Here’s what I know. It is temporary and you just have to fortify. Try to find the good side of the unavoidable. We’re older. They can't hurt us like they used to. They're older. It might be good to start appreciating they won’t be around forever. Hell, we might not. There usually are some good sides to them. We have those, too, and we might have gotten that from them also. Focus on those. Try to find the love you had for them that was once pure and tap that a little bit if it’s not too scary and it won’t leave you too vulnerable. And, for your own and everyone else’s benefit, have a fucking sense of humor about it all. They cant really hurt us anymore. Hahahahaha.

Right?

And above all else, remember we are all fragile and as we get older even more so, in many ways. Respect that.

Today, Monday, I talk to Ira Kaplan whose band Yo La Tengo was one of the defining bands of modern indie rock. Also, Bob Odenkirk stops by the garage and we get Dave Cross on the phone to talk about their new show, w/ Bob and David. On Thursday I share a live episode recorded at LA Podfest featuring radio veterans and legends Jim Ladd and Frazer Smith. The real deals.

Happy Thanksgiving (you can do it)!

Love,
Maron

I Guess That’s the Fantasy.

Rock and Roll, People -

Damn, I love to play guitar. I really need to get a group of people I can play with on a semi-regular basis. The issue is there is some part of me that wants it to be great in a professional way. I think this is a problem I have with self-judgment in general.

I mean, I’m a very limited player. I feel it, but I’m not really a musician. I respect musicians and I would never claim to really be one. When I do play, it’s sort of like sports, which were never really my thing because the competition element was too intense. If I played shitty or was on a losing team the real game played out in my head. A fight between me and me about my performance and I always lost that one. It’s fixed.

I like when I can do something well out of the gate but I don’t love working on it or the discipline required to really work on it. I do with comedy and the podcast but that’s all very in the moment stuff and I’ve worked on it all of my life. The feedback and freedom is so immediate but I always feel like I should work harder. So, with music, even if I do it casually, I compare myself to people who make it their life and it makes me insecure and not want to pursue it even for fun. Weird and stupid. I mean, I’ve been working hard at guitar but do I really think I’m going to become a singer songwriter or a front man of a relevant band? Some part of me does. I guess that’s the fantasy. I need to get over it.

I played ‘out’ the other night. Brendon Small did one of his ‘Baked’ comedy shows where a comic tells a somewhat music-specific story and then you can sing or play or both with the amazing musicians he puts together. Last night it was Brendon on guitar, Joe Travers on drums, Pete Griffin on bass and Walter Ino on keyboard and guitar. I wanted to do ‘What Goes On’ by the Velvet Underground. I’d played it before in front of people but I wanted to do it again because my leads are getting better and I wanted to hit that lead note for note.

The rehearsal was at Walter the keyboard guy’s house. I had never been there. Wasn’t sure if it was the right place. No one was picking up their phone or responding to texts. I had my Nash Telecaster with me, no case, and I was sitting in my car losing my shit, again. I thought I wouldn’t get to rehearse. I acted like a child. Texted, ‘I’m out.’ And started to drive off. Then Brendon called, met me outside and we went in to play. I apologized for being a dick. We warmed up with literally three minutes of blues and I was so worked up and mad and caffeinated that I think I played the best I ever played. Then we played the song. It was perfect. Best I’ve ever done it, lead and all. Then I had five hours before the gig.

Long story short, I joined the band for the opening number of La Grange and nailed it. When I went up to do my song I had realized that most of the audience wouldn’t know it and we were at the Improv and a lot of them were there for a comedy show—they had no idea the show they were about to see. I was nervous. I did some bits, got some laughs and we went into the song. It sounded great. Then, we got to the lead and I CHOKED. I botched it. We came back around to it. I botched it again. No one would’ve known because I just jammed something else but not THE lead. So, instead of leaving it be I said, ‘Fuck, I’m going to get this lead.’ Then on the mic I said, ‘we have to stay in the song until I nail this thing.’ I did, but it was clearly not the cool-headed thing to do. I beat myself up for hours. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is I don’t think I can just play music casually. I need to start a serious band and do the work. Someday. Right.

Today on the show I talk to a very post-Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe. Great guy. Solid. On Thursday, I spent a little time with Aziz Ansari and talk about his new show AND I spend some time talking to bass badasses Robert Trujillo and Flea about Robert's film project ‘Jaco.’ It’s a doc about Jaco Pastorius. I don’t generally do these type of talks but we got a lot of other stuff in and I think it's an important story about an American genius that needs to be told and seen.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

Yes, Seriously.

Today is the day, Folks.

Today you will hear me talk to Lorne Michaels. It had to happen. It was much different than I thought it would be, of course.

I feel better.

On Thursday I talk to Elvis Costello.


Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

It’s Hit or Miss.

Hello, Folks!

Hope you had a fun Halloween. I didn’t really notice it until the first kid in a decade came by my house for candy. I didn’t have any. Almost had to give the little pirate some vinyl or maybe just pour some Puffins into her bag. Luckily I had some high end chocolate I snagged down in North Carolina. I’m not sure the kid will dig 70% Dark with Sea Salt but maybe she will. Maybe it will change her little life.

After the embarrassment of possibly enlightening the little pirate (but most likely disappointing her) I scrambled out to the Vons and grabbed a bag of Kit Kats that I am now in a standoff with. I’m happy to report that four other kids came by so the fight isn’t going to go on that long. There’s only half a bag left.

I was flattered and shocked that people tweeted pics of themselves dressed as me for Halloween. That is a scary costume. I imagine the downside of that costume is having to explain who I am to people that don’t know. I have to deal with that all the time. I would say one out of five people would be able to understand that costume. I hope that was a good experience for anyone who went out there dressed as me. Now you can know how it feels to be hanging with one person who is into you and four who are like ‘I’m sorry, I just don’t know who you are.' The number of people who don’t know me is probably much larger relatively speaking but I’m going with one out of five. I’m good with those numbers.

I’m actually fine with things exactly as they are externally. Internally, it’s hit or miss.
I’m a little down on myself at the moment and I have to track. Sometimes it just sneaks up on me while I’m sleeping. It’s weird and awful when things aren’t right in your head and your heart but everything seems to be going great. I’m not feeling sorry for myself or complaining. I know those of you who have been listening for a long time know that this isn’t uncommon for me. I guess just some days are internally shitty on occasion.

I think my mind and heart are wired for seasons. There’s a mode and tone to fall, a crispness that I look forward too. There’s a feeling to it that enables me to feel a slight melancholy and longing without going to down the hole. I think the fact that it was sunny and eighty here today is fucking with my internal seasonal clock. I’m at odds with the weather emotionally and the weather is good. Fucked up. I want to be reflective and nostalgic and a little dark but the sun if harshing my gloom buzz. I will wax poetic about the darkness that envelops me at times. I will try accept it but I will also do everything I can to avoid it and manage it when it happens. I should just learn to sit in it and watch it pass and not panic.

My mood might have had something to do with the dream I had last night or the movie I saw. I watched 99 Homes and it was pretty devastating. Great, but hardcore. Beautifully shot and acted and morally menacing without much redemption. I woke up feeling like I was a bad person. That’s a powerful film.

I had a great talk with Patricia Arquette that you can listen to today. She was intimidating to me but I don’t think you can tell. On Thursday I talk to James Corden. He was great as well. Fun and thoughtful. Good week on the show.


Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

I Need a Picnic.

Yes, People!

Yes, people. I am running out of ways to open this newsletter. So, I went with ‘Yes, People.’ I’m not yessing anything in particular. Just affirming, I guess.

I’m not cheap. I just think I have odd taste. Okay, maybe I’m a little cheap but if you don’t buy nice shit you don’t have to be heartbroken when it gets fucked up or lost or stolen or turns out to be cheap. I’ll get to the point. I threw out all of my old patio furniture because it was breaking and weather beaten Ikea stuff I’ve had for decade. It was embarrassing. If it wasn’t all breaking, I could’ve pushed it off as cool and almost antique but those weird hex keyed bolts that hold that shit together is a give away -- that and the breaking. It just looked like scary, dirty old garbage furniture that you didn’t want to sit on. So, my deck has been empty except for three scattered mismatched chairs, the ones that weren’t breaking. It looked kind of minimal but there’s a fine line between minimal and sad.

I looked at a bunch of patio stuff online. It’s always my first instinct to just replace what I had. That’s the easiest thing to do. Of course I was looking at the end of summer so there wasn’t a lot available. I looked at some fancier stuff and it just looked like run of the mill patio stuff. I like wood. I like it not to be too ornate. Then it hit me. I need a picnic. I need and old style, shitty, side of the road, campsite-style picnic table. That is the most practical thing and it would look cool. I kept telling myself that a picnic table would be hip. I was thinking out loud about it and on my birthday my girlfriend had one delivered. I had a fully-assembled, unpainted pine picnic table on my deck. Over the weekend I decided it needed to be stained red for it to have that classic campsite, roadside look, so we stained it red. Yes! I now have a red picnic table on my deck and three mismatched re-stained Ikea chairs and it is exactly what I wanted. I think I’ll invest in a nice umbrella. That will just make it perfect. Maybe not, though. Maybe I’ll leave it just like it is and I’ll pitch a tent out there. Camping.

Interesting shows this week. On Monday, I talk to Aaron Draplin. His company, Draplin Design Co., is pretty fucking groovy. I can’t remember how we were introduced but he’s an intense, self-made dude that makes cool shit. I wanted to talk to him. It seems out of my wheelhouse but it was great and I learned about someone else's passion for something I could understand but knew nothing about. On Thursday, I talk to the legendary record engineer, Steve Albini. Don’t call him a producer, he doesn’t like that. Even though he had his hands and fingers on the mixing board for some the best records ever he still sees himself as just an engineer there to make the band sound how they want to sound. Intense guy. Great talk.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

Crushed and Crashed.

Good day, Folks-

I will now stop pestering you about Australia because I’m back. It’s done. It was great. I want to thank everyone who came out to the shows for coming out. They were amazing shows. I think the shows there were some of the best I’ve ever done in my life.

I had absolutely no time to do anything while I was there. I left on Monday night from Los Angeles and arrived in Melbourne on Wednesday morning. I slept on-and-off on the plane, watched The Departed, Wolf of Wall Street and a third of the Godfather. Got off the the plane about 5am. Then the dream started. The strange thing about jet lag is you waver between two feelings. Sometimes you feel hungover but with nothing to regret. I guess if the trip doesn’t go well you can regret that, but mine went fine so I just felt queasy and lost. The other feeling is like waking consciousness. That is how I felt most of the time. Like it wasn’t quite a dream but I wasn’t awake either.

I got to the hotel and napped and wandered around a bit. I had TV to do and I didn’t quite have a sense of where I was. I’ve been to Melbourne a couple of times before but I could remember almost nothing. I must’ve felt the same way on those trips because it’s like a dream to me now-- fragments, bits and pieces of imagery, a meal or two. I was there for two weeks and I barely remember the shows. I remember they went well which is why I wanted to go back.

I had to do some TV the first night of this trip. I drank a bunch of coffee, ate a bunch of chocolate and got my brain humming hard and went to do The Live Project show. It’s a panel show. It went well. Talked about the Obama episode, got some laughs and got out. Crushed and crashed. Got up did a morning TV show then got a plane to Sydney. Got to the hotel, crashed, got up, ate shitload of chocolate, drank coffee and a couple Pepsi Max’s and did the show at The State Theatre. There were about 1200 people there. It’s a stunning old theater. I was nervous how it would go but it was an amazing show. I wandered through two hours of standup and it felt perfect.

The next morning I flew back to Melbourne, crashed, got up, coffee, chocolate, hit the stage at the Palais. Had about 1200 again. The Stones had played there in ’65. I wasn’t sure how it would feel. It was kind of a haunted old place in St. Kilda. Great crew there. Listened to loud AC/DC through the huge sound system before the doors opened. Got me in the right frame of mind. I did another two hour show, but tight. It was one of the best shows I have ever done. After, I had some amazing ramen and crashed.

Next day, flew to Brisbane. I had almost cancelled that show before I left because of low ticket sales but we were able to move it to a smaller venue and packed 375 people into it. It was at City Hall. Felt like a conference room. Thought it would be weird. It wasn’t. It was more intimate and emotionally raw but I did almost two hours again. It was sweet, connected.

All the people that came out to the shows were great. My openers Michael Hing, Anne Edmonds and Mel Buttle were all great.

Thanks, Australia. Now, I’m on a plane heading back and it all feels like a dream. Too short a trip, I’m leaving right as my body adjusted and now I’ll deal with lag on this side. Amazing trip.

A music week! Monday I talk to Mikal Cronin. I’ve loved his music for while now. He’s a pal of Ty Segall’s, they came up together. We had good talk. I also talk to Patrick Stickles from Titus Andronicus. I ran into him down at Permanent Records and told him to come by. Love their new record. On Thursday, the legendary James Taylor and I talk about all of it. I had no idea it would be such an amazing conversation.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

I’m Going to Do It This Time.

Good day, People!

I'm on my way to Australia. I want to thank the people with tickets ahead of time. If you don’t have your tickets and this is the first time you're hearing that I will be in Sydney on Thursday, Oct. 14, Melbourne on the 16th and Brisbane on the 17th, please grab your tickets. Links to all shows are available at wtfpod.com/calendar. No matter what happens, we will have some interesting shows. Looking forward to being there.

God, I hate flying. It is part of the gig but the energy it takes to sublimate my fear of take off is exhausting. I literally pass out just before the plane takes off. I used to assume it had something to do with the depressurization of the cabin but I’m starting to think it’s the nap of the neurotically exhausted. I’m usually okay after that, barring extreme turbulence. Shit, I don’t want to go now.

A therapist I used to see back in the early nineties in San Francisco recently contacted me. I had mentioned something he said to me back then on the podcast and I guess someone told him. So, he DMed me on Twitter, we exchanged emails and we met for dinner when he was down here in LA on business. It was wild to see someone I saw in that context more than twenty years later. I was excited to talk to him.

Sometimes it’s hard to see events that happen as part of a momentum that transcends coincidence. I have been very stressed out lately. I know that comes as no surprise if you know me but I shouldn’t be. Things are going good. I earn an honest living and I’m doing what I want to be doing. So, why the stress and insanity? I’m sure being back on the nicotine and coffee cycle does nothing to help anything. That and a lack of exercise routine is enough to cause insanity. Add a lapse of secret society meetings and you’ve got a perfect shit storm of escalating insanity. I have a brain that works in a specifically faulty way no matter what the externals are. It’s a drag. I am aware of it. Intensely aware. I need to take that next step to finding peace of mind and opening my heart more regularly. I know this.

But what has to happen? Well, after talking to my old therapist about his life and where it has taken him I had to heed the signs. He gave up private practice, did a lot of work in building family therapy centers and consulting in creating therapeutic environments and processes for effective family counseling and then went into private counseling for corporate workplaces. It was an impressive story and the one element that changed his life was MEDITATION. Now, I’ve been hearing about meditation from a few people whose work I respect and who are intelligent folks. Kismet! I tried it back in the day, kinda. I’ve thought about doing it. I don’t do a lot of things that would improve my inner life. WHY? Because it’s what I know. Insanity and chaos is my comfort zone. When I don’t have it in my external life I make it in my mind. I’m tired of it. I’m going to meditate. I’m going to do it this time. I downloaded an app so I’m more than halfway there. I keep you in the loop.

I am thrilled to have my first playwright on the show today. I talked to Annie Baker about her work and being awarded the Pulitzer last year. I saw two of her plays in NYC over the last few months. I was excited to talk to her. On Thursday I talk to Mike Epps about playing Richard Pryor in an upcoming biopic and about how he got to where he is. Good talks.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

We Barely Made It Out.

Greetings, People!

Australia next week! We will have a good time no matter how how many people decided to come. Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. October 15th, 16th and 17th! Check dates and links to tickets at wtfpod.com/calendar. Come if you can!

I was just in Raleigh, NC. The woman I am seeing, Sarah Cain, had a big art opening there at CAM Raleigh. I flew down to be there. She did a work on site. She painted the fuck out the place and it is pretty amazing. It’s moving to be thoroughly impressed and surprised by the work your partner does. I had seen a couple of her previous works on site before. They were great but this was some next level shit. I know her pretty well. I guess as well as someone knows someone they have been seeing a year. But how can you really know what a creative person is capable of or what is inside a creative person until they put it out into the world. I sat there with her before her opening and took it in and was moved to tears. It’s hard to say whether or not it was pride or awe or actually being moved by the massive colorful abstractions. It was probably a combination of the three and maybe a couple of other things. It was intense. I like being with someone who does something so outside of my wheelhouse that I don’t feel insecure or threatened by it. I could never do what she does. Sadly, sometimes it takes that for me to be able to appreciate something. If you live in that area or if you find yourself in Raleigh you should check it out. The show runs through January 3rd.

We barely made it out of Raleigh to come to NYC. At least it seemed like we barely made it out. The weather forecasts last week lead me to believe that I might not ever get out of NC. The foreboding possibility of a hurricane that seemed like it might destroy the entire Eastern seaboard was all anyone could talk about. I was ready to start looking at houses there.

It’s weird when you live in LA how relieving it is spend some time in a wet place that just seems to have water around and it's taken for granted. I’ve never surrendered to and enjoyed torrential downpours so much. It seems that LA is just slowly baking with no marinade and we’re all going to dry up there. It’s apocalyptic and frightening. I fantasize about living in a wet, rainy place.

I’m in NYC. I did the New Yorker festival where I was interviewed by Kelefa Sanneh. That went well. I’m heading out to Princeton to do a lecture on… me… I guess. I’ll let you know how that goes. I’m in the same hall that Einstein presented his Theory of Relativity. So, no pressure.

Speaking of art, I had a pretty revelatory talk with Peaches on Monday. I knew very little about her other then she puts it all out there and is very provocative in a sometimes challenging and off-putting-but-hilarious way. It was good getting to know her. On Thursday I talk to British blues legend John Mayall about music and many of the rock legends that started in his band. I also spend a little time with The Sporkful’s Dan Pashman. We go back to the Air America days. It’s always entertaining to put Dan on the spot about food, or anything, really.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

Some Things Have Leveled Off

Birthday time, People! Damn.

Somehow or another I’ve done it again. I’ve lived. Another year has passed and I am now fifty-fucking-two years old. I feel okay. Most things are going well. I understand that. There is part of my brain that insists that isn’t quite the case and has other plans. I am in damage control mode when there is no crisis. Exhausting. I have to figure out another mode.

It’s strange and I seem to be talking about it a lot one way or the other but I am getting older and sometimes I don’t know what to do with my life. I have spent so much of it driving myself crazy and pushing towards something and trying to make something work. I had a lot of faith that once I achieved whatever I was trying to do I would be all better. Now, some things have leveled off. I’ve achieved so much of what I set out to do and I am proud of it and grateful for it. I have to say I wonder what happens now. Do I just keep pushing or is there a time where I enjoy life? Or can I do them simultaneously? Or am I actually enjoying life? It seems that it should be clearer to me. More apparent.

Is it strange that I fantasize about moving off the cultural grid? Not the actual grid, just the draining, desperate, frustrated clutter of the end of civilization. You know, CONTENT! Media cancer. Clickbait. The grand fragmented distraction that people base their tragic, shallow perception on. I can't take it. That and fucking traffic. Yeah, I just would like to be on an island somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Sitting. Thinking, Walking around. Breathing. Figuring out what is important and what joy is. Is that a crazy dream? Maybe I can try it for a week. See how it goes. Maybe I’ll just keep it as a fantasy.

This week I talk to a man that grew up in show business and now has a very diverse career in it. Jake Kasdan, son of Lawrence, talks to me in the garage on Monday about directing, writing and producing. On Thursday the perfect Michaela Watkins. Amazing actress, amazing person and hilarious. Love her.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron