I Love NYC.

People!

I’m on a plane watching ‘Best in Show’ as I write this. Hilarious. Fred Willard is a genius, but so is everyone in the movie, actually. Just thought I’d tell you that. In case you didn’t know. Also, I’ve interviewed three of the people in the cast. I’m going to try to get Christopher Guest, Jane Lynch, Eugene Levy, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge and John Michael Higgins on the show. See, there are a lot of people I want to interview. I’m sure I’m missing a few just from that film.

I have a few dates coming up across the pond. I will be in Dublin at Vicar Street on September 2nd and in London at Southbank Centre on the 3rd and 4th. I’m excited. I’ve never been to Dublin and it’s been years since I’ve been to London.

I’m flying back from Fort Worth, Texas. I gave a little talk/interview at Podcast Movement. It was great. There are a lot of people excited about podcasting. Before that I was in NYC for a couple of days. I went head to head with Charlie Rose on his show. Well, that’s a bit dramatic, but he interviewed me. It was exciting to me. He is the interview guy. The smart, long-form TV interview guy. We had a good talk. It was kind of wild waiting to go on, sitting in the green room area, watching him talk John Sununu. There was no beat between the two of us. They finished. I walked in the room. He said goodbye to John and I sat down. I watched Charlie look at his cards, load up his head, look up at the camera and mispronounce my name in the intro. I corrected him. We started over and had a nice chat.

That night Brendan McDonald and I went see Annie Baker’s ‘The Flick' at the Barrow Street Theatre. I can’t remember the last time I saw a play. I forget that it’s fucking essential to see theater a few times a year, at least. It somehow connects me with myself. The vulnerability and immediacy of the experience of seeing a play is elevating and completely organic simultaneously. The play itself is very subtle, very funny, but very challenging in its simplicity. It won the Pulitzer so it has to be reckoned with and we reckoned with it. It was a good night in NYC. We had a couple of slices, saw an award-winning play, walked across town talking about it, broke it down, hashed it out, did the big work and called it a night.

Then I hung out at the bar at the hotel and ran into Jason Segel, who was staying there as well. We had some laughs and I crashed. I love NYC. The next night I had some breakfast with guitar’s Matt Sweeney who brought along Matthew Johnson of Fat Possum Records. We talked blues, ate Moroccan food, then went to Rivington Guitars, played some classic rigs through some old tranformers and Sweeney laid some riffs on me. That night I saw Blake Mills summon the tube spirits at City Winery in a fucking wizardly one-hour 15-minute set closing with a cover of Dylan’s ‘When I Paint my Masterpiece.' Spectacular. Did I mention I fucking love New York?

The last time I was in NYC I ran into Harmony Korine, the filmmaker. He was in town for a screening of the film ‘Kids’ on the 20th anniversary of the film. Some of you might recall he did a live WTF in Austin that was a little dicey. I asked if he wanted to do the show and he agreed. It was a good talk that I put up today. On Thursday Jason Bateman and I have a loose, funny talk about the challenge of growing up in show business among other things. Good talks.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

Back to the Drawing Board.

That’s it, folks-

I did the last two dates of my ‘Maronation Tour’ this past weekend in Colorado. I had a great time doing the shows. I want to thank you all for coming out if you did. It was my first ‘theater’ tour and we did good. I had no idea whether or not I could get people out in the numbers I did and it was exciting. After spending more than half my career toiling in relative anonymity it’s pretty amazing to perform for big crowds of people that want to see me.

The hour and half I was touring with will be trimmed up to air in a special I did for Epix in Chicago. It’s called ‘More Later’ and will begin airing in December.

I will be doing dates in London and Ireland in September. Vicar Street in Dublin on Sept. 2 and Southbank Center in London Sept. 4-5.

Now, it’s back to the drawing board.

It’s always daunting to face having to build a new bunch of bits and chunks of comedy. I never think it will come but it does. I just start thinking out loud and talking it through on stage and it creates itself over time. I believe I will take a break though. It’s been a crammed few months and I feel like I need to give my brain a rest. I can’t even find the mental energy to tweet my thoughts. I know, tragedy, right?

Denver is a pretty great city with great food. Dean Delray and I had fun. Great record stores. There’s actually a couple of shops where you can find rare shit that may not be worth anything but they’re just records you don’t see much. We went to a place called Black and Read. It was a classic cluttered-stacks-of-stuff-of-all-kinds store. Thousands of records, books, toys, t-shirts, DVDs. It was nuts. I usually run out of steam (and hope) when I go to place that overwhelming. We were there for a couple hours I think. I picked records I had never seen before but thought I should have and some I’ve seen before but don’t have and some I have but bought again just because… who the fuck knows? I got: A few old Humble Pie, the first Richard Hell and Voidoids, Lou Reed’s Blue Mask (another copy - that’s three now - I don’t know why), Renegade by Thin Lizzy, a Nicky Hopkins solo record (what?), some band called Black Pearl, a Bongwater album and Dr. John’s Night Tripper. Crazy.

Then we went to Wax Trax and I picked up a Rank and File record. It was at Wax Trax I had the realization that I am not alone. I’ve had it before but for some reason it just stuck this time. We were going through the bins and I found an Earl Slick record and I couldn’t remember where I knew his name from. Dean said, ‘Bowie’s later band.’ I said, ‘No, I don’t think so.’ Then some bearded guy that looked roughly like me said. ‘Yeah, it was.’ Then I looked around and there were no less then four dudes that looked like me digging through bins trying to remember and feel like they did when we had no other choices. There was even a guy standing there trying to explain to what must’ve been his six-year-old daughter the difference between the two ‘Some Girls’ covers. ‘Lucille Ball didn’t agree to have her picture used…’

There might be something sad about the whole vinyl endeavor and what it implies about my generation of men drifting into their fifties and wondering where it all went but I’m having a good time. I love holding, looking at and listening to the records. When we were walking out I saw that dad at the listening station with his daughter. She had headphones on and she was holding ‘Sgt. Peppers.' He said, ‘Getting her started on the good stuff.’ I said, 'Don’t let her fall down the rabbit hole we’re in.' He laughed.

I talked to Jason Segel for today’s show. I’ve always really liked him as an actor. I felt like we would have a lot in common for some reason and I was excited to talk to him. He’s playing David Foster Wallace in a new film called ‘The End of the Tour.' It’s a new kind of role for him. We had a good talk about DFW, work, drink and Judd. On Thursday, Sinbad and I talk about his amazing journey in comedy, music, Cosby and a few rough gigs. Great shows this week.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

It’s a Deep Feel.

Hey, People.

I will be in Boulder this weekend on Friday, July 24th at The Boulder Theater and in Denver on the 25th at The Paramount Theatre. These are the last two dates on The Maronation Tour. It was a great success. Thanks for coming out to the shows if you did. If you didn’t, you missed some good shows.

I was saddened to hear that the great character actor Alex Rocco died. I was honored to have worked opposite him in his last TV role. He played the agent in the first episode of ‘Maron’ this season. He was really a great guy and an amazing actor. He really got a kick out the role and made it hilarious and real. It’s not easy to make a stroke victim funny. It may not even be right, but he locked in and had a great time. He will be missed.

I’ve spent quite a bit of the last week signing books and posters. Yeah, I signed 1000 books. I sold out of the surplus I had. Geez, I should’ve bought more before they were turned into pulp or whatever they do with them. The paperback is still available but I guess people wanted these hardcovers. Damn. Oh, well. They’re gone now. Plenty of posters left.

It rained a lot here in LA the other day. We needed it. I get weird when it rains. My mind drifts. It’s not necessarily bad but it’s not great. I can't really put into words what happens but there is sort of a romantic, hopeless feeling to it all and it’s okay. I need it. It’s a deep feel. I don’t think I could live somewhere where it rains all the time though. It would be hard not to become goth.

I’m pretty excited about the shows this week. Today I talk to Sir Ian McKellen. I’ve seen a lot of his work, not all of it. I have not seen almost any of the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings or X-Men business. I mean, I get it. I get Gandalf. I get Magneto. That wasn’t that interesting to me though. As some of you know, I have an issue with Shakespeare. It’s obviously my problem not Willy the Shakes. I took the opportunity to talk to Sir Ian specifically about Shakespeare for a bit and how I may be able to connect to his work. It was an amazing conversation that covered more than I could’ve hoped for about everything. The end of our talk was probably one the most powerful WTF closings I’ve experienced.

On Thursday I talk to comedian Wyatt Cenac who was actually on one of the first WTFs before it was even an interview show specifically. He was in town for a few days and he came over. It was a great talk. I could relate to his family issues and what they did to him emotionally but I think the most interesting part of the talk was about what things have a profound impact on your developing mind and life for good and bad. He talked about struggling in show business and about how a college professor changed his whole way of thinking by talking about Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ (which I bought immediately after the talk). We also talk about his time as a correspondent on The Daily Show.

Good shows this week!

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

Enough Business.

Okay, People

Just going to put this out there again. Colorado! I will be in your state at The Boulder Theater on July 24th and at The Paramount Theatre in Denver on July 25th. I haven’t been to Denver in a bit and I’m not sure I’ve been to Boulder in recent years. Or ever, actually. I’m bringing Dean Delray. These will be killer shows. Come out if you can.

Flying back from Portland as I write this. We had great shows up there. The two venues, The Aladdin Theater and Revolution Hall, are really unique and cozy theaters for their size. The crowds were sweet. Thanks for coming out. I also got the opportunity to work with some local artists. The wizard that is Aaron Draplin designed the posters and Brian Jones was hocking the famous hand thrown WTF mugs. We sold out of everything. It was great. You might be able to pick the poster up at Draplin.com and the mugs at brianrjones.com.

Also, the signed hardback editions of my book ‘Attempting Normal’ are flying off the shelf. There are some left at wtfpod.com/merch. Help move these. I have no more room. Also, check out all the tour posters from The Maronation Tour.

Enough business. I have some really creative people on the show this week. Today I talk to Robert Kirkman who created The Walking Dead with Tony Moore. As most of you know it was originally a comic book. I had long given up reading comics by the time they came out. I was never really a ‘comic book’ guy. I dabbled. I didn’t get strung out. I came to it late. I’m not really susceptible to the powers of superheroes, so comics weren’t part of my youth. I did like dirty comics and would read them whenever I could get my hands on them. The first time I ever saw what sex looked like was in a Zap comic. Always loved R. Crumb as far back as I can remember. I didn’t really venture much into mainstream comics until the late eighties. I only went a few flights down the rabbit hole with a few titles.

Hellblazer was the gateway, to a depth I don’t really like admitting. John Constantine, the main character, was sort of an inter-mystical plane magician and troubleshooter. He moved through the reality we perceive and the dimensions of good and evil that we can't perceive. He was tapped in to the big mysteries. The reason I took to him was because at that time I could relate. I was still shaking some cocaine psychosis from my stint in Hollywood and I was pretty sure I was tapped in to voices and movements of the unseen forces. So, I saw ‘Hellblazer’ as a kind of tutorial. I was out there.

From there I got to ‘Swamp Thing’ and ‘Sandman.’ Allan Moore and Neil Gaiman. Genius stuff. I read a fair amount of graphic novels and expanded out to other titles. Alt-presses. Off the grid stuff. Got hip to Clowes, Burns and Bagge but eventually petered out. I’m not sure why. I think it may have been a good thing at the time.

Anyway, you'll hear me and Kirkman talk about comics and lots more today.

Vince Gilligan created one of the greatest television series ever, ‘Breaking Bad.’ He talks about that, working in film and his new show, ‘Better Call Saul.’ Great guy. Loved talking to him. You can hear that on Thursday.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

NEW MARONATION TOUR POSTERS!

A Slippery Slope.

Back to it, People.

Getting back to the ebb and anxious flow of being me. It had to happen. It’s okay. It’s good. I’ve got some good stories. You’ve all heard them but there are people that haven’t and I will corner them at parties and tell them.

If you live in Colorado I will be in Boulder on July 25th at The Boulder Theater and in Denver on the 26th at The Paramount. You should come. You should come even if you don’t live there. Take a drive. It’s summer. It’s nice. COLORADO!

I hope you had a good day of blowing shit up or avoiding shit blowing up or trying to comfort your cats and dogs while shit is blowing up. It was crazy here in Highland Park. CRAZY! There were more fireworks and explosions than I can ever remember. It was exciting. I love fireworks. I do. I didn’t get to light any this year but it’s probably better off. It makes me manic and childlike which isn’t great in terms of acting responsibly around fire.

Instead, I went to a nice grown up party with other grown ups and some of their young children. It was up in the hills here in the HP at my buddy Dan’s house. He’s the guy who owns Gimme Gimme Records. He’s my vinyl dealer. He’s my primary supplier. We hadn’t really hung out socially. It was cool. There were good people there and his wife made some amazing pulled pork, but in the back of my head I just needed to see his vinyl. The stash. The good stuff. I was casual about it. I didn’t press him until right before I left. He took me down in the basement to the room. There was a lot of records there but not like ‘this guy has a problem’ numbers. I was actually relieved to know that the full-on record nerds I know aren't complete hoarders. I know two. The other one is reasonable as well. It was disconcerting to see that the amount of records wasn’t too far off from the number I have, but I have a lot of re-issues and unnecessary records. I can feel myself transitioning into one of those dudes that is collecting as opposed to enjoying and I am nervous. I don’t want to spend my last days alphabetizing and limiting my plays because of wear. That is an all consuming hobby. I’m against all consuming hobbies. They are a slippery slope. They can be pathological.

Today I talk to Laura Jane Grace from the band Against Me!. Their album Transgender Dysphoria Blues was sent to me from I don’t know where. I listened to it. I felt it. I listen to a lot of records… once. I get a lot of records. I could hear some real urgency and feeling in that record. I had no idea who she was or who the band was. Upon further research I found out she is transgender and recently transitioned. I was curious about her trip. We found each other on Twitter and made it happen. I was nervous because I never talked to someone who had gone through what she went through and I’m not always sure if I am correct in my way of talking about things that are relatively new to me and different than my life. We did good. It was a great talk.

On Thursday I talk to the cantankerous legend that is Ed Asner and I spend a few minutes with Adam Goldberg. Good week.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

The Groove of Me.

Coming down, People.

It has been a fucking whirlwind of events and emotion since last week. The response has been amazing. It’s really very surprising to me that the reaction to the POTUS interview has been almost all positive. At least the reaction I can gauge. Which is in person, in the form of people coming up to me on the street or people I know emailing, texting and calling, and the reaction I see on social networking platforms, mostly Twitter. The point being that the tone of my conversation with the President resonated. I really think it had been a long time since people listened to him in any active way. People had forgotten why they liked him. The people that don’t like him had forgotten that he actually is a person. The people that hate him never seem to forget that but there are always going to be those people.

I have actually not watched ANY television since I talked to the President. I have been on a few shows talking about it but I have no real sense of what the momentum was around the clickbait/button-pushing reaction to the part of the interview that the media chose to focus on. I just have my experience and the way I chose to frame it. It was the first time I really detached from a frenzy. I generally gravitate towards them but I felt no need. With Brendan McDonald’s help, I was able to limit press interaction and stay detached and cherish and reflect on my own experience of the event. I didn’t really want it to be about me or what they decided to focus on. The story should have been what the President said in the broader sense, how it felt to hear him in an intimate format AND that he was on A PODCAST and how amazing and crazy the reality of that is.

I am glad he chose me though.

So, now getting back to what we do. I think it’s going to be a couple of weeks until it doesn’t feel like I’m done. Like I did it. Like, what else is there to do? Like, how do I go on feeling like an outsider and discontent given what has happened over the last few years? I imagine I’ll get back to it somehow but right now I feel not so much content but that I have done something amazing. That will always be there but I’m sure the excitement will fade a bit as the weeks go on and I will get back into the groove of me.

Today I talk to film director Penelope Spheeris about a lot of things that I didn’t know we would talk about including working with Richard Pryor and Albert Brooks and growing up in a carnival. On Thursday we are back to full-on comic talk with Rich Vos about the struggle of being Rich Vos and where that started. Both good talks.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

It Was a Privilege and an Honor.

Hello, Fellow Americans!

As some of you may know, last Friday, June 19th, 2015, Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America, came to my house to talk to me in my garage for today’s episode of WTF.

YES! It really happened. I sat with the President and talked to him for an hour. IT WAS INSANE! The conversation wasn’t insane. The reality of the situation was. I still can’t really wrap my head around it or believe it happened. I have moments when I’m just doing something during the day and a shudder runs through me in flash of excitement over the monumental fact that I hung out with the President and had a conversation with him in my garage. I shake my head and well up with emotion. It was an amazing and a completely bizarre experience.

I would like to say this: Whatever your politics are or whatever your opinions may be and however you think you would have handled it, I just have to tell you it is an overwhelming and beautiful experience, as an American, to meet and talk to the President of the United States. It was a privilege and an honor.

I kept it together the best I could.

We will post the entire interview with the President today. On Thursday my producer, Brendan McDonald, and I will share our reactions to the event and talk about how it happened and the lead up to the interview. I will talk a bit about the aftermath, both immediately following the talk with Obama and after it posted.


Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

Monday.

Monday.

Saw turtles.

Aloha, People!

I am on vacation. I’m not sure I feel like doing this right now. Maybe I won’t. I’m having an amazing time. I hope to see some of you in Red Bank, NJ, Huntington, NY, Port Chester, NY, BAM Opera House BKLYN, Boulder and Denver,CO and the shows in Portland, OR. Check out wtfpod.com/calendar for dates and times.

Okay, okay. I’ll tell you a little bit about my vacation. I’m in Kauai, which is were I always go. I’ve snorkeled, hiked, eaten, freaked out, been blown away, napped, read, recorded on the beach, saw turtles, almost threw up, took a few pics (check marcmaron on Instagram) and basically tried to level off a bit. It’s been a crazy few months. I think that’s it for now.

Next week is a big week. More later.

This week is fun. On Monday I finally sit down with Godfrey. He’s been bugging me for a while and we just couldn’t get it together. It’s a funny talk. We have a thing we do. On Thursday I have a rare return guest for the whole show in Judd Apatow. He came by to do a short one to promote a couple of things and we ended up doing a long one. So it goes. Good to talk to him.

I think that’s it. Did I mention next week will be massive?

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

It’s Going to Look Great.

Well, people. We did it.

The taping of the EPIX special went amazingly well at The Vic Theater in Chicago.

Before I get into that whole story I want to make sure the people of Red Bank, NJ, Huntington, NY, Port Chester, NY and their surrounding areas know that I am coming their way toward the end of this month. Please check the calendar for exact dates and come see the show!

So, this process of moving toward the special has been relatively fast. We chose to shoot in Chicago after the tour dates were already in place. In other words, it was kind of an afterthought. I could’ve waited and done it after the tour proper but we just made it happen. Bobcat Goldthwait was available to direct and we got on it. I had never been to The Vic but I knew that people had shot specials there before. It is known to be a good venue. EPIX hired a set designer, Bobcat got a crew together and it all came together in a matter of weeks.

I was in NYC shooting the pilot for the VICE Portraits series I’m hosting. I interviewed John Cameron Mitchell. Then I started to panic about the special. I flew to Chicago on just to do a walk through of the venue because I had never been there. It’s a beautiful old theater. Lot of ghosts. Good ghosts. Ate some heavy deep dish pizza, crashed, then flew to Cleveland. Had an amazing show at Playhouse Square and ate some very rich food at The Greenhouse Tavern which was also amazing. It was good to stretch out and do the hour plus again. I felt ready. I felt gross because of all the food but I think I need a little self-hate to fuel the machine. I flew to Chicago the next day and spent the day doing soundcheck and interviews and gearing up.

The night before the special Bobcat asked if he should reach out to Joe Swanberg and see if he wanted to come. I said not only should he do that but he should ask him if he wants to grab a camera and shoot backstage. We hadn’t really conceived of a way to bookend the special and we thought that would be amazing if he wanted to. He did. I love that guy. It was really just me and Joe wandering in the basement/dressing room area before both shows. It was great to have him around and shooting and talking before the show. It was calming. And he’s going to edit the stuff he shot. What a beautiful thing to have two great independent filmmakers working on my special.

The audiences for both shows, give or take a drunk lady, were amazing. I love Chicago crowds. I’m so fucking glad I shot there. It’s going to look great.

I think I nailed it first show and the second show was pretty free form. Of course Bobcat liked the second show. All I know is we’ll have a lot to choose from. Not that I paid very much attention to continuity issues that second show but we’ll see.

Today on the show I talk to the wonderful Constance Zimmer who played my girlfriend in the premiere episode of ‘Maron’ this season. She’s a pip. On Thursday the highly anticipated Mike Watt talk will post. He’s a genius. Look him up.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

No pressure.

Hey, Chicago (and everyone else),

I’m doing a few dates this weekend but I will be taping my special in Chicago this Saturday. June 6th. 7:30 and 10PM. Look, I know there’s a hockey game but it’s the second game in a best-of-7 series. It will be okay if you miss it. Or, better yet, just come to the late show. It’s at The Vic Theater and it will be good. I’d like to see you there. I expect to see you there. Just come. I don’t want to have to bring people in that don’t know me as well as you. I’m relying on you. I need you there. No pressure.

I’m heading back out to do some dates. If you live in Cleveland, Chicago and Minneapolis, I will be there this weekend. Check the calendar for the dates.

I get a little panicked when I have to travel. It’s not about the traveling so much as the shift. I just got my home legs back and I was feeling grounded. Getting into a routine and now I’m going out. My cats freak out. Well, Monkey does. LaFonda doesn’t seem to give a shit. I freak out. Even though I have someone taking care of shit at the house it’s still a source of panic. Maybe I like panic. At the very least I’m comfortable with it. I am tired of it though. Jesus, life is short. I guess I like to get as much worry in as possible.

Speaking of panic I was out of the prescription food that I feed Monkey. He has the bladder thing. I called my vet and they were out. They weren’t getting another shipment in for a week. I asked them if prescription food is like a people prescription and could they just call it in to another vet. Could I get the script and bring it to be filled by another vet that might have the food? They said that is exactly how it works. Now, mind you, we’re talking about food, not narcotics or even medication. Food. Look, I’ve had issues with my vet. Hell, I’ve talked about them on the show. Sometimes they are great, sometimes not so great for different reasons. The one thing I have always felt about my vet is that they care about people and animals. It’s about money to a certain degree and I have called bullshit on them but usually the do okay by me. So when I reached out to another vet just to fill a food prescription and they tried to play me I got a little furious. I had heard that The Village Vet was a good vet. When I hear "good" I take that to mean they give a shit about animals. I was in a bind. I called to see if they would fill the FOOD script and they said they couldn’t without seeing the animal. I told them I had a vet and the script and they said no. I was livid on principle. It reeked of a cash grab. Los Feliz Small Animal Hospital filled it immediately and said they would keep me on record if it happened again and they are right down the street from my vet. That’s good business and a good vet. Thanks for that.

Anyway, on today's show I talk to my pal Jerry Stahl for a bit and then me and Haley Joel Osment get into it about the child actor thing and surviving that. On Thursday the hilariously opinionated Kurt Metzger and I push the envelope a bit.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

Just Ask Mick.

Rock and Roll, People-

I’m about to get ready to go see the Stones in San Diego. I know you all heard Mick personally invite me to the show but it doesn’t seem like I’m getting any special treatment. I didn’t think I would. I’m getting tickets, which is great, amazing. That’s special. I hope they are at least great seats. I really wanted to go see them at The Fonda, a nightclub here in LA. That would’ve been amazing. I made a nuisance out of myself pestering every contact I had for ONE ticket. They got back to me but could not get me ONE ticket to go see them in a rare club appearance. So, I’m just going to the stadium like everyone else. I’m no Nicholson. I didn’t make a complete naïve fool out of myself and say, “Just ask Mick. He WANTS me to see them.” No, I just stomped around my house wishing I had more pull but kind of happy I don’t because then I would be one of those people. I was almost not going to see the show in San Diego because I felt dissed and bitchy about The Fonda. Dean Delray snapped me out of it. “Dude, did you see that set list?” We’re leaving here in a few. I’ll let you know how it was on Thursday.

Trying to get back in sync with my life. I actually love being on the road. I like hotels. I like new places. Hotels are peaceful and I don’t have to clean up. I do like be grounded in my life though. It takes a while to get back into life. Mounds of laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, going through mail and packages, re-introducing myself to the various animals indoors and out. I’m trying to exercise. I don’t want to believe that after a certain age you just never feel that great. I’m not sure I have ever felt ‘that great.’ I’ve felt amped up and manic but that didn’t seem organic or sustainable. I’d like to at least feel physically ‘pretty good.’ I just feel beat up a bit and never quite right. I’m trying not to assume the worst. I’m running up and down hills and eating my vegetables and taking my vitamins not in hopes of eternal life or even longevity. I just want to feel pretty good. That’s all I’m asking for.
These guys showed up while I was away and now live here. I think this is my third or fourth skunk litter I’ve seen up here.



Some people think they are pests. I think they are so cool looking. I just have to make sure the cats eat. They move on pretty quickly in my recollection.
On Monday I talk to my first ‘In Living Color’ cast member. Tommy Davidson and I chat about him coming up in comedy and how that show changed everything. The radio veteran Phil Hendrie also stops by to talk about what he has going on. On Thursday Kevin Corrigan hangs out in the garage. We talk movies, Scorcese, music and New York. He’s in the new Andrew Bujalski film ‘Results’ which is great. I loved it.

Enjoy!

Boomer Lives!

Love,
Maron

It happens.

Hey folks!

I'm writing this on my phone because apparently I am not keeping my shit together in these last few days of this leg of the tour. Somehow my computer is dead. I thought I plugged it in. I know I did. See, I'm losing it a bit.

I wrecked a rental car Saturday on my way to the gig. Not good. I'm a bit shook up. Everyone is okay. Barely made the show. It's was fucked up but Hertz was cool, the cops were cool, the guy whose car I hit was cool. It happens. It's sucks, but it happens. That feeling of knowing you are going to hit another car is one of the most present, awful moments you can experience. It feel like time just bends and stretches before the sound of crunching metal and plastic. I feel that feeling when I wake up sometimes. I open my eyes and come up on the day too fast and just plow into it, wrecking it, and spending the rest of it all jarred and sketched out.

I love the South more and more every time I come down here. The shows in Asheville, Charleston and Atlanta were all great. The people were nice everywhere and the crowds were just awesome. I don't like using that word but they were. Thanks for coming out if you were among them. I'm writing this in route to New Orleans, the last show of this part of the tour. In a couple of weeks I start up again.
Check wtfpod.com/calendar for new dates in Portland, Minneapolis, Chicago, Cleveland, New Jersey, New York, Boulder and Denver!

Very exciting shows this week! On Monday we'll post my conversation with David Byrne. The former frontman of The Talking Heads had always been an artist I respected and it was amazing talking to to him. On Thursday we will post the live conversation I had with NPR's Fresh Air host, Terry Gross. She is the industry standard of what an interviewer should be. Terry is the best and she wanted me to be the one to interview her at the RadioLoveFest event at the BAM Opera House in Brooklyn. It was an amazing night and truly an honor to talk to her.
Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

Season 3 premieres.

Hi, Folks

I’m letting myself get pudgy. Just wanted to let you know. I’ll focus on unpudging when I get off the road. Just can’t worry about it or I’ll beat myself into a pudgy pulp.

Season 3 of my IFC show ‘Maron’ premieres this Thursday! Yay. Watch it on IFC if you can.

I am just a bit worn out from all the traveling. Something happens on the road, some kind of stupor. It requires donuts and sugar and bread so it won't crumble my disposition. It has to be stopped. I need to make some vegetables and run. I know I could do that on the road but I am not in the routine and it is hard to establish a routine. I am now exercising my ability to rationalize and justify my heart clogging behavior. I don’t want to live like this, but god, it is so good to eat donuts.

Seattle was amazing. Thanks to all who came out to The Neptune Theatre. They were loopy shows. It felt like everyone was loopy. There was a lot of riffing. Things happened that will never happen again. That’s the way I like it.

I am leaving Vancouver as I write this. I decided to take the train up because I thought it would be pretty. It was. It was still a train though. I wanted it to be relaxing but like any mode of transportation, eventually you just want to fucking get there. I am happy to report there were no problems at customs and the weather was beautiful but things go a little weird at the show at The Vogue in Vancouver. As I was walking to the show I ran into a pleasant young looking family who were on the way to see the show. The parents were excited to see me and introduced me to their teenage boy and girl. Apparently all shows in Vancouver are all ages. I didn’t know that. It shouldn’t matter except I get a little filthy on the road. I have reintegrated a bit of honest filth into the set. I like it. It feels good to be filthy. When I was talking to the nice family I told them I was happy they were coming but it will be filthy. They said what all parents say who take their kids to things that might be inappropriate, “I’m sure they’ve heard it before.” Well, I’m sure they haven’t. As they walked, the mom looked back and said, “How filthy?” And the dad said, “Clean it up, Maron.”

I did not. I wrestled with it but I was not going to change a club act to accommodate teenagers. ‘They have to hear it somewhere’ was my justification to me, my rationalization.

The bigger issue about the ‘all shows are all ages’ idea is that at some point in the first 25 minutes of my show a women with an infant sat up front. AN INFANT! It was astonishing and amazing. It made me uncomfortable and weirdly excited to deal with a situation I had not dealt with. I had an exchange with her. Asked her why she brought the baby. It was funny. Then the kid started making baby noises and she left. I thought. From the back of them room, sporadically throughout a good part of the show, you good hear gurgling baby noise from the back of the room. I was being heckled by a baby. That was a first. Thanks for that Vancouver.

Check the new tour dates on the schedule. See I’m coming to a town near you. Don’t bring your babies.

On Monday I talk to another SNL person. Kenan Thompson and I talked in NYC about the SNL stuff. I show him some video I acquired of Lorne Michaels on Canadian TV in the early 70s in a comedy team. Mind blowing. Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster also stop by the garage to chat about the stuff going on with The Best Show. On Thursday I do kind of a double header with Greg Proops and Richard Lewis.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

The 600th episode is upon us.

Yes, People, I’m in NYC.

I hope you are all not offended that occasionally I don’t tell you exactly what I am doing at every moment. I don’t mean to leave you out but there are some things I just want to experience privately and then share them. Is that okay? It’s going to have to be.

First off, there are tickets available for all of the shows I added to the tour. Click here for cities and links.

Secondly, I will be interviewing the amazing Terry Gross at a live event at BAM for Radio Love Fest. She should be interesting. She is the preeminent interviewer of our time. She is the inquisitive voice of NPR’s Fresh Air. She is the industry standard of modern interviewing and she has agreed to have me interview her. Should be interesting. I’m curious. You? I don’t think anyone knows much about her. It’s actually very exciting. We will post it as a WTF episode.

Thirdish, our 600th episode is upon us. This milestone will be marked by a standard WTF interview with a guy who was there before the beginning, Sam Seder. Sam and I were hosting a doomed streaming video show at the last incarnation of Air America when we were fired. They didn’t kick us out of the building and Brendan and I started doing WTF in the studios after hours. I’ve known Sam a long time. He’s really one of the funniest people I know and one of the most difficult to work with. Needless to say he wasn’t part of WTF, thank god, but he was there at the beginning and this interview was a long time coming. Sam will also be appearing on an episode of Maron on IFC this season playing himself. We have a pretty set dynamic. It’s not for everyone but it’s definitely a thing.

Fourthster, the third season of Maron on IFC premieres on May 14th. I don’t mean to offend any of you radical cord cutters when I ask you to get IFC for the run of my show. Watch it however you want. I’m very proud of this season. I think it’s the best one we’ve done and I just want people to watch. Ratings mean something to the network. I mean, I know you are going to watch it however you are going to watch it: iTunes, DVR, BitTorrent, Netflix next year, etc. BUT if you watch on IFC you get counted and I’d like the numbers to be good. So, if you can, do it. If not, no big deal. Just watch it. It’s good.

Lastly, the other reason I came to NYC is for the VICE newfronts. I will be doing a show for the new VICE TV network. It will be called VICE Portraits with Marc Maron. It will be an interview show. It will be shot out in the world. I will be talking to the type of people I talk to in environments that are either important to the subject or challenging to them. We will also be shooting the journey to and from the talks. Should be exciting. I’ve been looking for a way to try to do what I do in the video format and this feels like it. I will let you know more details like when and where you can watch when I find out.

Today on the show I talk to the amazing Parker Posey in my hotel room in NYC. On Thursday I talk to Sam Seder on our 600th episode.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

All meated up.

Howdy, Folks!

I’m in Texas. I’m all meated up.

I have a growing love for this state the more I come back. I grew up with a Texas aversion because I lived in New Mexico and there was some kind of unspoken tension. It’s all going away. The more time I spend here the more I appreciate the terrain and the people. There is nothing like the country of Texas.

The Moontower Comedy Festival show at the Paramount was amazing. Filled it up. The crowd was great. I did a nice, long, weird set. Felt good. I was also working on a belly filled with Opies BBQ. I went out there during the day with some comics. We had a full clown car going out there with me and Kurt Metzger and Todd Barry and Nate Bargatze. It a blast. I’ve said this before but the greatest thing about being a comic is hanging out with other comics. To be around people who are professionally funny and can’t help but be funny and brilliant is the best. The following night I had dinner with Blaine Capatch and Dana Gould. Again. Hilarious. It’s always great to spend time with friends you’ve known for decades but don’t get to see that much. I also caught Maria Bamford’s show. I hadn’t seen her stretch out for while. It was amazing. I can’t always sit through an hour of comedy but I didn’t want to get up AND I had to pee. That’s a great show. She is by far the best and most interesting standup performer out there. It was a real pleasure to watch her, except it makes me want to stop. She’s that good.

I’m adding dates to the Maronation Tour. Here they are. Tickets go on sale later this week.
June 5th - Cleveland at the Playhouse Square
June 6th - Chicago at the Vic Theatre
June 7th - Minneapolis, The Pantages
June 25th - Port Chester, NY at The Capitol Theatre
June 26th - The BAM Opera House in Brooklyn
June 27th - Huntington, NY, The Paramount Theatre
June 28th - Red Bank, New Jersey at the Count Basie Theater
July 10th and 11th - Portland, Oregon, the Aladdin Theatre and Revolution Hall, respectively
July 24th - Boulder, Colorado at the Boulder Theatre
July 25th - Denver, Colorado at the Paramount Theatre
I’ll keep you informed about ticket sales!

Today on the show I talk to Zach Woods. He is a brilliant comedic actor and improviser that you may know from The Office or Silicon Valley. Amazing talent.On Thursday you’ll her the conversation I had with the inimitable painter, Robert Williams, in the office of the Gallery at the Barnsdall Art Park where a retrospective of his work was hanging. Great talks this week.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron

Out doing the shows.

It’s growing back, folks.

My face is almost, once again, properly hidden by hair. Actually, it’s very covered. I will have to trim and carve out the configuration that has been established over the last few years. I kind of want to rock the full beard for a while though because I’ve put on a few pounds of road weight and maybe I can do the burly bear look for a while. Well, not that much weight. I’d be a slightly emaciated bear but a slightly chubby bearded me. We’ll see.

I’ve been out doing the shows on the tour. They are going very well. It is interesting to me to feel how it goes venue to venue and what makes one feel different than the other. Like I said, they are all going well but some are kind of magic and it’s hard to tell whether it’s me on a given night for whatever reason or the venue or the audience. It's probably some mixture of the three.

The best thing that can happen from where I am standing on stage is something that’s never happened before and probably won't happen again. I like to improvise and reach a level of stream of consciousness that is completely without obstacles I put there or the audience puts there (although that is really my projection, usually). It’s a comfort thing. Honestly, I can’t always get a crowd of 1000 or so people to come into the type of intimacy I really love to perform in. I can get them there 80 percent of the time but the other 20 I have to fight a little and push. I know that’s part of the gig and I’m not sure the audience would know that I am going through these deliberations unless I mention it, which I do sometimes. It’s probably all on me, right? There are no bad audiences. Hah. What a bullshit line that is. I’ve been lucky there haven’t been any bad ones on this tour! Some are a little more amped than others and some have intense expectations but none have been bad---quite the opposite. Some of the venues have been a little challenging sound-wise but we transcended. I really appreciate you all coming out for the shows! Madison was magic, Pittsburgh was haunted and magic and Detroit I had to rock hard. Writing this from Toronto. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Today I talk to my old friend Kevin Pollak for a bit about his new documentary, ‘Misery Loves Comedy’ which I am in. I wouldn’t talk to him otherwise and that’s why he put me in. Kidding. I would talk to him even if he didn’t put me in solely so I would talk to him. Also, the lovely Rose Byrne hangs out for a while to talk about acting and Australia. On Thursday the guitar virtuoso Blake Mills give me a lesson and talks music for a while. Wizard. For. Sure.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron