I've Been Tense

Hello, fellow humans.

I’ve added some dates to the tour schedule on the site. Going to Troy, NY, New Haven, CT, Charlotte, NC, Durham, NC, Chicago and Nashville. Check here for dates and tickets!

There’s a lot of drama in the house at the moment. Cat drama. I have this sweet little crazy kitten, Buster. All he wants to do is play. Unfortunately, my two old cats are not quite into it. I think they will be but now it’s just a heartbreaking little cat drama where Buster gets met with hisses and growls and an occasional swat. He is very persistent and refuses to see these gestures as anything but a temporary misunderstanding. I hope he’s right. I can’t take it. I project all kinds of human emotions onto to these dumb animals. If I’m not careful I could possibly go out and get two more kittens just so Buster doesn’t grow up an only kitten with really old foster parents that had no choice in the situation but to be there.

I’ve been tense. I’m not sure why really. I guess it just happens. I’ve been cranky and hostile and a little angry. Wait, there’s plenty going on the world that would make me those things. Oh, yeah. I internalize some things because I don’t feel like engaging. Then, I engage. I start talking about politics on stage and there is a tone that comes out of me that is familiar to me. I lived in it. It’s intensity, anger. It was the tone I used a lot in my standup when I was a younger man. Then the tone starts to permeate my life. The anger starts to bleed into everything, like I am being consumed by it. Then I am walking around defensive and hostile. There is self-righteousness to it. Some righteous anger is genuine and necessary. Some of it is a justification for something else. Something scary or a pattern I know needs to be corrected in myself. Something I am protecting even though it is not good for me. How do I make the anger into the human feeling it is masking? That is always the challenge on any level with anger. I’m on the other side of it now, a bit. I have to communicate it personally and creatively with some compassion and hope I am not annihilated by the vulnerability. I know this is vague but it makes sense to me. It’s abstracted so I don’t get too angry.

I have been engaging trolls, though, and that’s like anger crack. 

Great talk with Jane Lynch today. I really admire her and like her and think she is one of the most uniquely funny people alive. On Thursday I talk to a man that ALWAYS makes me laugh, comedian Brian Scolaro. Funny people this week.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

People Dug It.

Good times, People.

I’m tired. I’m so tired I’m a little cross-eyed. I got up really early to get a really small plane out of Salt Lake City. We were stuck at the gate for a bit because the pilot told us there was haze in Burbank and we might need to circle. We didn’t have enough fuel to circle so they needed to put more fuel in the plane. Then we waited longer. Then the pilot told us that the fuel trucks were out of fuel and they went to put more fuel on the trucks. Eventually the fuel trucks fueled up and fueled up the plane. I appreciated the honesty of the pilot. It was still a bit annoying.

Again, I want to say how thrilled I am that so many people have responded so positively to the last season of ‘Maron’ on IFC, specifically the finale. That was a hard episode to write and execute just like I envisioned it. I wrote it and Rob Cohen directed and I was nervous about it. I didn’t want to direct it. It takes a lot of time and replay to direct myself and we usually don’t have the time. Rob had directed plenty of episodes so I knew he could do it but I was a little obsessed, particularly with that last scene with the kid and me on the park bench. I needed that to be framed and feel a very particular way. So, I got behind the viewfinder a bit and tweaked it so it was just right. As a few people have commented and picked up on, I had the final shot of The Graduate in mind. I really needed that sense of ambiguity and closure. I feel like it worked and from all the feedback it seems like it did for viewers too.

I didn’t get any Emmy nominations for the show. I kind of knew I wouldn’t. It would’ve been nice but on another level, who gives a fuck? It’s sort of a rigged system and the network didn’t step up to pay the necessary money for promotion and do the necessary politicking for the show. Instead they did absolutely nothing. It probably wouldn’t have been nominated even if they had. So be it. The show lives. I love it. People dug it. Onward.

Got back from Salt Lake City this morning. I really like it there. It’s odd. It’s odd that I like it there and it’s an odd place. When people ask me what it’s like I realize there is really nothing to compare it to. It is its own thing. It is pleasant and weird. There is an energy there, a feeling of space and calm that is partially the desert and partially the Mormon factor. It is their town. No doubt about that. It seems now though there are more non-Mormons there and more coming. Like they’ve loosened up somehow. I don’t know that they have but maybe there’s more business in the city and enough lapsed Mormons who still live there to give it some balance and make it feel almost like a normal place. I’ve always liked it. 

I’ve been there to perform like four times. The audiences are always good. I always visit Temple Square to feel the energy at the source and to visit Space Jesus. I like walking around there. The heat beats down and it all seems almost hallucinatory and there is a certain type of brainwashed person that is actually very nice.

Today I talk to the revered and amazing James L. Brooks about most of it. Like Mary Tyler Moore, Taxi, The Simpsons, Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, Albert Brooks, etc. Great talk. On Thursday I talk to Chuck Klosterman about a lotof thinky things. It’s exciting.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

I Hope I Can Handle It.

Be careful, People!

Humans of any age are sucked into the allure of controlled explosions and sparkly things. If you are an adult among adults be as stupid as you want but factor in the amount of alcohol you consumed. If you are an adult among children introducing them to the fun of fire and noise be alert and careful and try to show them the safe way to play with dangerous shit.

Think about freedom and sacrifice today but remember there’s no reason to sacrifice your fingers for fun.

So, the kitten, yes. I think I told you that a little tiny black kitten showed up on my front porch last week, crying at 2:30 in the morning. I went out there, but it ran off. I assumed it was feral but it really didn’t look old enough to be totally wild. I have seen no other kittens in the area so I don’t know where it came from or why it chose me but it did. I fed it a few times and monitored it on my fancy surveillance camera and figured out when it was coming around. Then Sarah came over with her trap. She is an expert cat trapper. She got it first try. We brought it over to her house for quarantine and entry into domesticity. Turns out he wasn’t old enough to get all mean and wild and he’s a sweet guy. I named him Buster. 

I have been getting my second bedroom room prepped to take him in. You need to really limit the things that a kitten can destroy because they can destroy literally everything. It’s been a while since I’ve had to deal with a kitten. They are so cute and when you turn the lights off to say goodnight you really can't even anticipate the havoc they can wreak. You get up in the morning and open the door and shelves are destroyed, floor boards are up, all your shoes are garbage, light fixtures are dangling and things you forgot you even had in the closet have to be thrown away. In the middle of it all is an adorable, sleeping kitten. Little fuckers. So, Buster in coming to live here today, I think. I hope I can handle it.

Very excited about today’s guest. Jeff Goldblum is just one of those people who I feel I’ve known my whole life. He always seemed familiar and genuine and around. I was thrilled to find that he is the guy you would think he is. He is very true to himself and fun to talk to. On Thursday I talk to John Caponera. He’s a hard-working comic who I used to love watching at The Comedy Store. Chicago guy. Real deal. Good talks, both. Also on Thursday I talk to Adam Devine about his new movie ‘Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates’ which I am in for a few minutes. It's the opening scene, so that’s all you are required to watch.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

I Earned That.

Yes, Humans!

Hey! Emmy voters! I know that’s only a few of you, if any. I just wanted to say that my EPIX special ‘More Later’ is up for consideration in a few categories as is my IFC show ‘Maron.’ Voting ends today, Monday. So, if you weren’t going to vote or if you have a few slots you haven’t filled in yet keep me in mind. I’m very proud of both and it’s the best work I’ve done to date. Thank you for your consideration.

Tour dates are up at wtfpod.com/tour. Spokane, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Bloomington, Rochester and Salt Lake City are available and there are several shows at each venue so you have sitter options. Hope to see you somewhere.

I have a bit of good news that I’m almost embarrassed to share. After all my complaining and anger and panic about the frequencies pummeling me from the AT&T cell tower that is above my office, I have closure.  After several teams of people came over to assess and decide and try to explain the problem, a couple of dudes from a subcontractor actually solved it. They were cool guys, young guys, nice fellas. When I told them my dumb problem and amplified the noise on my stereo to show them it was coming from their equipment they did some troubleshooting to identify the source and figure out a plan that involved some seriously high-end copper mesh. They laid that shit down on the roof, soldered, grounded and protected me from the frequencies and, more importantly, enabled me to listen to records without going out of my fucking mind. They enjoyed the challenge of it which I thought was cool. People who like their jobs are nice to deal with. 

I know not everyone has the ability to get the attention of major corporations who run roughshod over our lives everyday and don’t follow up with customer service or even address complaints. I do. Sometimes. I earned that. It took me a long time to have a voice that I could put out in the world without anyone dictating what I could or couldn’t say because of this or that sponsor. So, I use it sometimes.

In all honesty it made me a little nervous because I’m a little paranoid and I didn’t know how annoying I was really being. Where do they draw the line before I’m Tilda Swintoned, Michael Clayton-style. All it takes is one middle manager afraid of losing his or her job to consider you an obstacle. And when it becomes impossible to hide or blame, who the fuck knows what they will do? They could’ve just turned up the juice and fried my brain. Didn’t happen, yet. So, thanks AT&T for dealing with the issue. Please help others who have problems with your, at times, bad service.

I had an amazing talk with a reluctant John C. Reilly that is up today. Enjoy that. There’s a little bit of me and Brett Gelman talking about race as well. There’s nothing better than two white, liberal Jewish guys talking about race. Enjoy that, too. Thursday is a double-header of genre film directors with Joe Dante and John Carpenter.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

Good For the Brain.

Drifting, People.

I have a lot of comedy club tour dates coming up in Pasadena, Spokane, Bloomington, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Rochester and one night in Albuquerque. You can see them at wtfpod.com/tour Come if you are around! I will be touring more extensively later in the year. I think. We’ll see. I’m drifting.

I was just out in Desert Hot Springs for a few days with Sarah. I’ve been going to a place called The Sagewater Spa for years. It’s a small, seven-room motel with a hot springs pool. There’s something magic about it. We just go up there, bring a bunch of food to cook, and hole up and soak. I think I really relaxed. It’s hard for me to tell but my mind just eased up and spread out. It was relatively quiet in the head. It felt odd but okay, like I should do it more often. We went out to Joshua Tree and took a nice hike and took in the expanse. Desert Space. Good for the brain. Spreads it out. Makes the life seem small and the problems of the day-to-day seem silly and tedious. It levels the mindscape. It’s nice to have that space but the issue that arises for me is if that space is available, why not leave it open? Why not just mark it as a personal park in the mind? No buildings.

I start to fantasize about another life when I got out to the desert. Not necessarily a desert life because that would involve desert people at times and that’s not always a good thing. It’s interesting, sometimes scary, but challenging. But what if I became a desert person? How long does it take to scare people, most of whom are there to relax, with your intense gaze and leathery skin?

We visited Sarah’s friend, Andrea Zittel, at her compound in Joshua Tree. I think that would be the way to go. To have a spread with the space to do the work we do and the land to mind our own business while doing it. Or, we thought, maybe to buy a spa and just live there year round and run it. Maybe both! Then it would be hard not to become the desert equivalent of B & B owners. Which is not great. 

Then I started thinking about my life revolving around the two restaurants and one or two stores that are close and I started feeling isolated in my fantasy and wanting out. Then I realized that I really only go to two restaurants and one or two stores in the city I live in. Then I decided I have to go out and explore and do other stuff where I already live. Phew. That was close. Almost moved to the desert.

Today I talk to the mythic but very real Neil Young. Yes. It was intense for me. On Thursday I have a blast of a talk with the comic Deon Cole. We also check in with Dweezil Zappa and the struggle he's up against with his new tour. Great week! Great talks!

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

It's Tragic On All Levels.

Horrible, Folks-

I feel bad. The fact that mass shootings have become something we live with is fucking awful. The fact that some people, including legislators, just see it as the cost of doing business and the price of ‘freedom’ is ridiculous. It really seems like nothing can change because of a baseless paranoia that has become ideology thanks to a persistent, hypnotic messaging that feeds on the fear of the hateful. If it didn’t change when a bunch of six-year-olds got killed it’s not going to change when a bunch of adults at a gay nightclub get killed. And now the argument to arm everyone and/or ethnic purging is hammered by the same messengers because the shooter is one of 'them.'  It’s tragic on all levels.

My sympathies go out to everyone in America. My condolences got out to everyone who lost someone. My frustration and anger remain.

How do you justify your troubled mind? What beliefs do you hold to get you through and are they moral and decent? The fact that this question can have answers that vary almost 180 degrees is so fucked up.

We’ll see what happens. Might be the end of the grand democratic experiment. But I have still have hope. Aggravated hope.

This week on the show I talk to the hilarious Louie Anderson on Monday about his career and its resurgence on ‘Baskets.’ On Thursday I talk to Chelsea Handler about her bold foray into the talk show formant on Netflix and other stuff. Good talks all around.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

I Have to Make It Happen.

I’ve almost had it, People!

Time to quit, again.

Time to get back down to the baseline.

Maybe if I write it out it will happen. Sometimes getting things down on paper is magic like that. I’m exhausted from what I am doing to my brain and my body. I act like it’s not a big deal and I don’t talk about it like I should talk about it but here it is. It's not that big of a thing but it’s starting to feel like it.

My coffee consumption is insane. I am drinking about ten cups a day. It doesn’t have the same effect on me as it did. I can now drink coffee an hour before I go to bed and still sleep. My nicotine lozenge consumption is nuts-- all day, almost all the time. I chase one with the other - coffee, lozenge - to find balance. When neither are working I use sugar. Its amazing what the addictive brain will do. I’ve found a nice little triad to spin around in all day long. Obviously those who have been listening a long time have been through this shit with me before. My stomach hurts. I’m almost always nauseous. I wake up groggy. It’s fucking ridiculous. I’ve been exercising so now I want to get my mind and inside my body in shape. I’m not sure when I am going to pull the rug out from under myself but I am thinking about it. A lot. I feel gross and I know I am in an addictive cycle that just won’t go away. I have to make it happen. All those dumb negotiations with myself around these various less destructive substances have to stop. So, I will make it happen. Not today, of course, but soon. Yeah, tomorrow. Shit. I don’t know if I can do it tomorrow either. You get where I am at.

In other health news, I’ve decided that the issue at my office is more than just about a buzz in my stereo. I’ve been doing some poking around and it seems that working literally inside a cell tower may be bad for you. Like, for your brain. So, I want it off the building in which I work. Given that AT&T cant seem to stop the horrendous frequency that is pounding into my equipment I imagine the levels of waves pounding into my person must be beyond acceptable. And who decides what levels are acceptable and provided the testing for said levels? I’m assuming AT&T. So, not really impartial. If anyone knows anything about testing levels of RF and other waves that are emitted from multi-platform cell towers please let me know. I really want someone to test my space.

Great shows this week. Today I talk to the amazing George C. Wolfe about his career in producing, directing and writing theater. I also talk to Daniel Nazer from the EFF about the status of the ongoing patent troll issue and why podcasters should still be concerned. On Thursday graphic novelist and comic book artist Daniel Clowes and I talk about creativity, comics, inspiration, etc. You know what I do. It’s a good one. Also on Thursday I talk a bit to Ezra Edelman about his new documentary, OJ: Made In America. 

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

This Is How I Gamble.

Enough already, People!

I’m talking to myself. Primarily about food but I guess that is my problem.

I’m just in it. I’m doing a lot of standup sets and some things never change. If there are a few guys around and we’re all jacked up from doing multiple sets, it's time to go somewhere not that healthy and eat at midnight. It’s just the way the life is. It’s a reward to a degree but most of the time it’s just to hang out where there are people and talk. It’s a beautiful thing actually but it may kill me.

It’s interesting how I justify food. Usually I go through time of not eating so well and then I kind of lock down and eat healthy for a few weeks then slowly slip back into the bad for a few weeks and it just goes on like that—for my entire life. The discipline to just eat moderately and healthy alludes me. I think it’s because it's no fucking fun and there is nothing better than stuffing your face with horrible satisfying garbage. And even if it's not garbage, just things that aren’t that good for you. I guess life is something you want to go on for as long as possible but when you are staring down at certain menus it seems like chocolate bread pudding and vanilla ice cream might be worth taking a few days off on the back end—I mean anything could happen, right? It might not contribute to your demise at all. This is how I gamble I guess and I’m not sure there is real joy in depravation. So, I will continue to negotiate with food and shame. That said, I hope you are having a nice Memorial Day and that you don’t burn your meat. I think that is good advice any day.

I’m doing as many sets as possible here in town. Almost exclusively at The Comedy Store and a few at Largo. It really is wild to realize that most of the nights of my adult life have been spent in rooms waiting for and watching comedians. Through everything that has happened in my life physically, mentally, emotionally this has been the constant. This has been what grounds and defines me. I understand it. I live it. How do I grow it? That’s always the big question.

Today I have an amazing talk with Chris Gethard.  I also spend a bit of time with Quincy Jones, the comic. On Thursday Joe Wong talks about doing comedy in China and Doug Stanhope talks about his dead mom. Great week.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

Again and Again.

I’m a little nuts, people!

It keeps coming around to that.

What the fuck is wrong with me sometimes?

I really don’t know why some part of my brain needs to feel shitty for me to create stuff but it does and I don’t seem to have much control over it. I’m just trying not to let it ruin the rest of my life. I hate even feeling this shit, let alone writing it down. Everything should be good. Things are good. I’ve got more than I need in so many ways and I’m doing good work. When it comes down to standup though that’s a different part of the brain altogether. I’m trying to figure out whether or not it is all born out of emotional sickness and whether or not it is actually correctable. Is there a place I can come from with my creativity and comedy that isn’t rooted in discomfort and anger? I don’t know. Would I want to come from that place? I thought I did for a few minutes the other day but then I almost bored myself to sleep and got angry about it. 

It’s all coinciding with my stupid self-awareness of being at this juncture, with these thoughts and feelings, again and again and again. Whatever growth I think I’m making is external in most of the core ways. Some things are great and have helped me feel like I’m doing good work and I feel good about that. I’m making a living, which is great. Deeper down it seems I really need to be not happy with myself in order to create. I know this is almost hackneyed in its conceit but I haven’t felt like I have been keeping myself unhappy or embracing unhappiness in order to do what I do lately. I’ve been feeling pretty good. The issue is I am looking down the wrong side of the barrel of the need for a new hour of standup. I guess I have to pull the trigger to get where I need to get with it and blow my brains out emotionally or make my life difficult or …TRY NOT TO. 

Maybe that’s the struggle. But that’s always the struggle. I really need a new way. I really need to be saved or I need to save myself or at the very least just be okay with the process. Be patient. Stay open. Sounds awful.

Great guests this week on the show! Today the angelic mystical genius of the harp Joanna Newsom is here. I love her. On Thursday I talk to playwright Stephan Karam about his process, his experience and his hit show ‘The Humans’ which is now on Broadway. Also on Thursday Josh Brener, my assistant guy on ‘Maron’ (and Big Head on 'Silicon Valley') will hang out a bit.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

I'm Living in It.

Some sadness, folks.

I lost a difficult friend today. For those of you who listen to the opening of the show, you know I had a mystery blood issue on my front porch. I assumed it was one of the feral cats I feed. I was hoping it wasn’t the one I knew the best, a guy I call Scaredy Cat. He was AWOL for a day but he eventually showed up seemingly fine. I still don’t know where all that blood came from. When you feed ferals you have to be prepared to deal with death and injury. Sometimes you can't help them at all. Sometimes they disappear for months and come back. Point being, I’ve grieved for a lot of cats that have come back, some from the dead I thought. 

I got a message from my neighbor across the street on Friday morning that the cat I had been feeding was hit by a car and she had moved the body onto the ledge of my next door neighbor's house. She was sad. I had just gotten up. I had no idea which cat it would be but I was hoping it wasn’t Scaredy. He’d been around a long time. I always found relief and strength and hope when I saw that guy. I went to look and there was no cat there. I called her. She described the cat. It sounded like Scaredy but there was another little cat that looked like Scaredy that had started coming around. I called him Scaredy 2. When I went back out to do some detective work I saw Scaredy 2 walking down the sidewalk. The one who died was the old warrior, Scaredy. 

I asked my neighbor Dennis if he had seen the dead cat and he said he had when he pulled out at 5:30 in the morning. I guess another animal came and took the dead guy and he is going to re-enter the ecosystem that way, the wild way. I really don’t know how he could’ve gotten hit. He’s been out there for about a decade with coyotes and cars. I think maybe he was sick. Maybe that was his blood. Maybe he was bleeding internally. The neighbor said he was intact, not smashed or smushed, just lying there. I’d like to think that he dropped dead of natural causes.

It's strange. Boomer disappeared and I never really got closure on what happened to him. Scaredy, though I know it was him and he is dead, I didn’t see his body either. He will enter the mythic in my life mythology now. I only know him alive. I feel the absence. Some life that was there in my life is not anymore. We collect absences. They become a sad place, a room in our heart, that we can visit when we can handle it. This absence is very present now. I’m living in it. I’m sad. I brought his water dish and food dish in last night and this morning Scaredy 2, who is only an occasional visitor, showed up on the porch. So, I filled the bowls and put them out for him. And the cycle of life continues.

RIP Scaredy.

Today I talk to the lovely and funny Natasha Leggero. It gets good and weird. On Thursday I talk to rock veteran Terry Reid about it all. Literally all of it, rock.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

Trying to Help Out.

Yes, folks!
 
The Trepany House tickets are moving fast for the entire run in May/June. If you want to come be part of the power-floundering workshops, get tickets now. You can get them here or go to wtfpod.com/tour and get the link to tickets there. 
 
So glad that the responses to the new episodes of ‘Maron’ were so varied and good. I knew it was heavy. I knew it would be hard to watch in parts. I knew it was funny but I didn’t know what everyone would think. It affected everyone who watched it differently. I can say this: The Marc on the show does get a bit better but things in his life get even weirder. That’s all I’ll give you. 
 
I was nervous about depicting recovery. Having been in recovery for 16 years in row, and on-and-off before that for another eight, I learned to be very protective of the secret society. You learn that it is a program of attraction rather than promotion. I know all that. I get it. I also understand the disease and what it means to people when they are stuck in it. There is a way out. Rehab and recovery are realities that many people deal with in one way or another. The challenge for us as writers was to respect and honor both addiction and recovery and be funny. 

There were three of us in recovery from addictions on staff and one of us who had done some co-dependency recovery. The beauty was that we were all working from direct experience. Obviously, I hope, we are doing a comedy but I think the addiction/recovery elements rang very true. Some of the funniest things I have ever heard are stories from people who have have gone to hell and back, or almost back, with drugs and alcohol. That is a truth. Most of us eventually have a pretty good sense of humor about what we went through. Also, humor is good in depicting something that is mysterious, daunting and embarrassing to most people. I couldn’t be happier with how we handled the recovery episodes and recovery in general as an underlying theme of the show. I am very public about my sobriety. I don’t represent a program. You can do whatever works for you but if you need to do it, do it, or it will do you. Just a heads up. Trying to help out. 
 
Today I talk to Clark Gregg about acting and his start and the beginning of The Atlantic Theater Company. It's another important pocket of the history of modern acting and theater. Good talk. On Thursday Sturgill Simpson and I talk country music and the journey we take to get to ourselves. Love that guy. New album is stellar. 

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

There Are Greater Forces at Work.

Furious, People.

I am livid. I am angry because I am sick. I know that is not the best mode to be in when your body is trying to fight something but it is the mode I am in. I am fighting anger and sickness. I’m not terminally ill or anything. I just have a cold and my voice is all fucked up. I’m supposed to do The Tonight Show tomorrow and my voice is bad. Maybe it will bounce back. I don’t understand the timing of these things. I guess assuming that there are greater forces at work that dictate the timing of obstacles is probably not helpful. When shit is bad that is not the time to start believing that God exists and exists solely to make your life difficult. That seems a bit self-centered, not spiritual.

I have done a few things while I have been here in NYC. I got tickets to see Shuffle Along, or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed. It’s a musical. It was pretty amazing. I went because I was given the opportunity the talk to the theater director George C. Wolfe. It was an exciting conversation that I will share with you soon. I’ve enjoyed being given the opportunity to see theater the last few times I’ve been here. This is the first musical I’ve seen in years. All the things that happen to me at musicals happened. I got excited, I cried just because there were so many people dancing and singing, and I found myself really thinking about staging and choreography because I knew I was going to talk to George. It’s an incredibly accessible but very deep show about theater, race, art, relationships, aging, death, dancing and show business among other things. Theater is so fucking real. You can feel it, even if its bad, but this was great. So, look forward to that chat.

I also saw Don Cheadle’s movie ‘Miles Ahead.’ I don’t know what the critics are saying about it but I thought it was a blast. It was kind of all over the place and kind of hallucinatory but I think that was exactly the point. It was also very funny in places. He was able to make Miles Davis a broken, comedic character, at that period in his life when he was reclusive, drugged out and not making music. The entire movie was like a wild meditation of what a secluded, blocked Miles would’ve been like with tidbits of truth spread throughout but it was more of a riff on Miles not riffing. It’s definitely worth seeing.

Today I talk to Garry Marshall about the history of Garry Marshall in show business. He’s done some things that molded many young minds. Open Mike Eagle also stops by on today's show to talk about his new album. Thursday I’m very excited to have Ali Wong on the show and she does something that has never been done in the garage and something I have never been part of or seen. No spoilers. Her new Netflix Special, ‘Baby Cobra’ premieres May 6th and it’s one of the best standup specials I’ve seen in years.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

He Picked Me Over Them.

Hey, Folks!

I will be doing workshop sets at the Trepany House at the Steve Allen Theater in May and June starting May 10th. You can get tickets here.

It a rough week for a lot of people. There’s been a lot of sadness and death around. There is everyday, I guess, but when it hits us all at once it's daunting. Prince is dead. He wasn’t one of my guys full-on but I certainly recognize his genius and love his work. It’s a big void when the big geniuses leave this plane. We have a lot of his stuff though, so that’s good that he left it here.

A friend of mine is going through a real tragic loss and it’s just so random and unexplainable when horrible things happen and you realize how fragile life truly is. Devastating at times. My heart goes out to him and his family. 

I’m on my way now to a Garry Shandling memorial service. Unreal. I believe that it will be a sad but funny celebration of his life. Grief is horrible but necessary. I’m not sure I know how to experience it.  Humor helps. There’s a lot of death around lately. I don’t like it.

I was able to help at least one person this week with grief. I was pulling out my driveway and heading down my hill. A car was coming up the hill and it stopped beside me. There was a couple in the car. The man was driving. He said they were feeding a deaf black cat for month and it just disappeared. He asked me if I had seen it or if I knew the cat. I said, “Yes, he lives under my house. He’s getting all fat. He’s doing fine.” The women in the car seemed relieved but upset by this. She said, “Why would he go away? We were feeding him for so long.” She was hurt. These feral cats just don’t care who they hurt with their shifting loyalties. I know they come and go. I’ve had some around for months and then they disappear for months. I thought Deaf Black Cat was dead for a while but it turns out he was just hanging out with them. I guess I feel good that I got him back but I’m sorry they went through not knowing what happened to him. I think they are relieved he is not dead but kind of mad that he picked me over them. I’ve got the good food. The high-end shit. The crack for the wild guys.

Today I talk to self-destructive prank clown Steve O about some pretty deep shit. Great interview. Solid dude. On Thursday I talk to Rob Reiner. I haven’t done it yet so we will all find out together how that goes.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

I'm Being Summoned.

People!

First off, LA and surrounding areas and people visiting LA, I will be doing my workshop/riffing shows at The Trepany House at The Steve Allen Theater most Tuesdays in May and June starting May 10th. If you didn’t come to any of these shows when I did them last year, basically what happens is—I talk. I work through stuff that I am thinking about in hopes that it reveals itself as material. It will be funny and real. It will be a cheap ticket that benefits the theater and me. So, get your tickets at wtfpod.com/tour.

So, I have to go in for jury duty today. I am full of dread. It’s not that I don’t want to be a good citizen but it’s kind of a pain in the ass. I was just called in for the lower courts a few months ago and didn’t get put on a jury. Now, I’m being summoned by the Superior Court and apparently it’s a different pool and word is out that I am one of the people that actually responds to the summons. A go-to guy. So, we’ll see what happens. We aren’t asked to do much as citizens. I like to vote, but the jury duty thing is a drag. Also, I just don’t have time. But who does, I guess. Because I haven’t done if before I just assume I’m going to be forced to be a juror for something comparable to the OJ trial. Though I definitely wouldn’t be a good juror for that because I can't keep my fucking mouth shut and it's my job not to. I will go, though. The guilt worked. I was terrified when I forgot to call in the last time for this summons. I actually thought I would be the first person imprisoned for not responding to a jury summons which I don’t think would get me much respect on the inside.

I’ll let you know what happens. If I make the selection process, I will tell the judge that I will let you all know what happens and hopefully what happens is he tells me I can't do that and I say I can't not and then the attorneys don’t pick me. So, I have a plan.

Today I talk to Susan Sarandon not about politics, maybe a little, but mostly about movies. Thursday is our 700th episode and I will be talking to Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Fun stuff.
 

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

I Tightened It Up.

Folks!

I’m sitting in a hotel room in Kansan City dealing with a post-BBQ malaise. I went to Arthur Bryant's which I know will cause some of you to get upset because this is a city where loyalties are deep and lines are drawn around smoked meat and sauce. It was good. I liked going there. I feel good about it mentally. Physically, not so much but that is par for the course.

These shows in the Midwest have been amazing. I was really anxious about doing them because I hadn’t been doing the long shows for about six months, but they were great. I am writing this before my Kansas City show so let me rephrase that: Iowa City and Lincoln were great. I will let you know how KC goes on Thursday. 

Just as I expected I really opened it up during the first show out in Iowa City. I did almost two hours. I improvised a lot and it was amazing. It was a show that couldn’t be repeated AND I recorded it like a responsible comedian because I tried a lot of new shit and found some things while riffing. Now I just have to sit down with the recording, which may or may not happen. I tightened it up for Lincoln. I did about an hour and fifteen. I did a nice mix of newer stuff and some not so new stuff, not old, but not completely new and it was a great show. 

My old friend Ross, who I was avoiding, showed up at the show. It was great to see him. After the show I met him and his friends at a bar. It had been a long time since I was surrounded by very drunk people who were on their way to becoming very, very drunk people. Also, I don’t think I have ever had a loud, intense conversation with a drunken holocaust- and-global-warming-denying, anti-Israel, 9/11 conspiracist who is farmer before, but that is what my old friend has become. Fortunately, his emotional and mental instability is still charming and he’s pretty funny. I’m not sure it’s always on purpose but does that really matter. We go back, so on some level it was good to see him. He had invited me to the farm but I didn’t go. He wants me to come out for a couple of weeks but I am concerned for my mental well-being if I do so. Apparently he’s out there with his wife creating a solution to the worlds problem through agriculture and hopefully not some new take on the Final Solution, but I don’t really know. He has chickens, pigs and cures his own bacon and makes kimchi. That’s what I know, plenty of eggs and fragility out there on the farm. Oh, and he sold his goats.

Today I talk to Nikki Glaser, who I love. We had a pretty candid talk about eating disorders, which is something we share. It  helped me, maybe it will help you. On Thursday I talk to David Simon, the genius behind The Wire. It was an enlightening and relevant talk with a guy who came to show business through journalism and brings his values and moral righteousness to everything he does. Good guy, too. Great talk.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron

The Purge Continues.

Hey, People

So, this week I head to the Midwest. I’ve been talking about it. I’m a little nervous. I haven’t been out there doing the hour for a while but I’m sure we’ll make something happen together. It's going to be exciting. I believe Friday in Lincoln, Nebraska is sold out and Saturday in Iowa City is close. As far as I know there are plenty of tickets for my Kansas City, Missouri show on Sunday. So, that’s what’s happening. Looking forward to it all.

The purge continues. As some of you may have heard I solved the ‘what was that piece of furniture I threw out called’ puzzle. It didn’t start with a ‘C’, it was not a Credenza which many of you suggested. And thanks for all the help. It was a Buffet. That is what she used to call it. I think there are probably other names for it but that is what it was. I am so fucking happy it is out of my house. Now I can't stop getting rid of shit. I’m on a roll. I’m just throwing stuff away and giving stuff away at a pretty rapid clip. I did the Dining Room and Living Room--all the shelves and drawers. Clean. Went through all the bathroom drawers and just trashed all the expired creams and products that were mine or left there by a history of people who have lived at my house or given to me and never once used. Just threw out a bottle of BBQ sauce in my fridge that was dated 2013. It was just sitting there like a friend that never talked. I never used it. It was actually an ex-girlfriend’s. I really have to question why I keep stuff around.

I realized that I buy very few things. I’m not cheap. I just amass shit. I get stuff from people bringing it into my house. From people buying it for the house, like exes. Most of my clothes are left over wardrobe from my TV show. I get stuff from you folks, which I love, but as you can imagine my house was becoming museum of gifts and shit that was left here. I have a closet full of suits that I took from my gig as host of VH1’s ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks.’ Not only did no one see the show, nor was it picked up, but those are almost 20 years old, AND I don’t wear suits. But there they hang in my closet. They have to go. It’s weird. I am actually attached to them hanging in my closet and that show sucked. It was an awful experience. I have to really assess my shame artifacts and maybe on a deeper level why I need to sit in some kind of shame in general. Also, I can buy my own suit if I want. I should. I will buy a shameless suit. Soon.

Today show I was thrilled to have Richard Linklater stop by bearing a gift of Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak on vinyl. Class act that guy. It’s hard to find those things in good shape. The one I had was a bit beat up. We talk about his new film ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ Good fun movie. Also, I talk for a longer amount of time to Sam Rockwell. Great actor, great guy, fun talk. On Thursday the elusive and brilliant John Lurie comes out of his relative seclusion to hang out in the garage and talk art, music, the Lower East Side, drugs, film, painting. Good talk. Cool to hang out with him.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

I Kept Things Around.

Comedy, People!

I’m back at it. It’s weird when I get back to my life because I don’t really know what that means. I have been consumed with the TV show. Now, I am back to being a comic and podcaster. Which means thinking, eating, mentally struggling to pull thoughts out of the ether and make them into something. I was exhausted after the shoot and I really wasn’t sure if I had it in me anymore to do another new hour of standup. I didn’t see the point. Then, after a bit of rest, I remembered I do it because it is what I do. It’s what I have always done. It is daunting but the life of a comic is sometimes a waiting game. Waiting to engage with an audience, your life and your mind. So, I was just afraid and anxious and didn’t have any idea what was inside me. Now that I am out of the show for a couple of weeks, things have settled. Scribbling on pads, napkins, Post-its and actual paper has commenced. The obstacle of not blurting urgently has been overcome. It is happening. New material. Thank you, aggravated muse. Thank you.

I’ve been getting rid of shit. Throwing some stuff out, donating things. I’ve been through this before but not to this degree. I really want it all out. All of the haunted vessels must go. I never really believed that I kept things around because they were attached to emotions in my life, but I do. If you have something that represents a time or person in your life, you are in a dialogue with them as long as it remains in your periphery. I didn’t fully realize that. I thought I was just lazy and didn’t feel like getting rid of shit that served a purpose.

There was this giant piece of furniture in my dining room. I don’t even know what you call it. It was a cabinet with four drawers in it and a couple of big drawers outside the cabinet. It was my ex-wife’s. We brought it from NYC. It was in her apartment when I met her. She was hung up on it. She left it here. It has just been in my dining room filled with my random shit for years. I wanted to move it to my office to hold random shit. So, I emptied it and brought it over there. The drawers actually smelled like her old apartment. When I got it into the office I realized how big it was, how much space it took up. Then I realized it was really the only thing that truly represented my ex that was still in my life and it was taking up a lot of emotional space as well. I was ready to let it go. I put it on the street and within minutes someone was loading it into a car. It means nothing to them other than a thing they found. Now it is gone. It will not take from me or hold part of me in hurt. Haunted vessel.

Today I talk to Ethan Hawke. We cover a lot at a pretty good clip. Good stuff about acting and creativity. It’s probably the best actor interview I have done in terms of the actual process. On Thursday I talk to former child actor Quinn Cummings about being nominated for an Oscar for her role in ‘The Goodbye Girl’ when she was a kid and about all her books. She’s a writer now. I like her.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

New Information Has Been Revealed.

Good day, People.

Quick reminder for people of certain parts of the Midwest: I will be at The Mission Creek Festival at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City, IA on April 8th, The Rococo Theatre in Lincoln, NE on April 9th and at the Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland in Kansas City, MO on April 10th. Come if the spirit moves you or if you just want to see me.

Buzz update. As some of you know I am obsessed with a minor problem that is getting larger. There is now a multinational corporation involved and it may turn into a real David and Goliath story with me being David. There isn’t that much at stake, just my ability to comfortably listen to records, but there is a fight for some justice possible. We’ll see.

New information has been revealed. I did some troubleshooting. I brought my receiver down the hall to this guy Brian’s office and plugged it in. No noise. We brought his amp down to my office, plugged it in, noise. Yes! It must be the wiring in my office, right? Nope. Tried plugging it into all the outlets, some on different lines, noise. Then I hooked up to extension cord, plugged it in down the hall, put headphones on and listened while I walked around. As soon as I stepped out of the office, there was no noise. Is my office cursed? A holistic healer did occupy it before me. Then the electrician who came by to help gave me some new info. I knew there was an AT&T antenna on top of the building. I just assumed that it was for the building’s wi-fi. I also knew there’s a closet-sized room in the hallway that can only be opened with a security card and says ‘Keep Out’ on it. Never quite put it all together. It’s an old building. It was always kind of mysterious. Then I found out that AT&T leases space inside the building and on top of the building for A FUCKING CELL TOWER and all of the equipment that runs the tower on the corner of the building is housed in a fake brick structure directly above my office! I am being pummeled and drowned in GSM-style RFs. They are worst kind for trying to enjoy your stereo equipment. So, It’s going to be me and AT&T trying to find an understanding that will enable me to work in my office the way I want---listening to records AND using AT&T Wi-Fi. Fortunately, the landlady doesn’t really want the antenna up there anymore. It was there before she took over the building. I was informed by one of you that I could file a complaint with the FCC because the big corps aren’t really allowed to interfere with the little guy's life. Again, not a toxic situation but I’d like to get it resolved.

I talk to Todd Rundgren for a long time today because I wanted him to tell me why he is amazing and he was willing. On Thursday I will talk to Al Lubel about his strange, sad journey through life and comedy. Good times!

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,

Maron