Ty May 27, 2010 at 5:11 am

I found it interesting that he repeated the sort of weird, veiled threat that he used in the first interview.  It strikes me as being basically more of him trying to come off as the bigger man, which I think he does quite a bit when he’s not being contrite.  For some reason I’m really latching on to those two specific examples, though. 

If you missed it, at 1:01:30 he gives notice that he could probably have some friends KO some people at the Comedy Store if he wanted to, but he doesn’t because he’s a good guy.  In the first interview he let’s us know that he doesn’t plan on inciting hatred against white people at 58:30.  It allows him to stroke his ego and makes other people think twice about messing with him at the same time.  Some kind of defense mechanism, I guess.

I like that he didn’t use the “I’d have to be stupid to have stolen that on purpose and now be proclaiming my innocence so loudly” argument this time around.  At least, I don’t think he did.

Marc seemed to really turn off toward the end, disengaging from the conversation.  I believe that silence is the sound of not knowing a socially acceptable way to say “I don’t think I can trust anything you say anymore.”

I can’t say I feel totally satisfied by the conclusion to this little WTF story arc, but it was definitely an interesting ride, and I enjoyed it.

Thanks Marc.  Now back to the usual good WTF shows?

rastausty May 27, 2010 at 6:10 am

Thanks Marc.

seamus May 27, 2010 at 7:11 am

Mencia: He is who he is, he makes people laugh, but I think while karma’s a bitch and that while this issue is just a blip on the landscape, sadly, guy was partially leading with pity for himself. 

A great follow up btw.

Kiwi May 27, 2010 at 7:53 am

Gee, I hate to sound like a cynic but he really plays the “poor me” card don’t he? A lot of people come from difficult backgrounds but don’t use it as an excuse to shit on other people or steal their ideas. I have a personal issue with plagiarism and if you look at the Cosby joke, it wasn’t just the idea of the joke he stole - it was the whole story and build up to the punch line. That’s not an accident or coincidence.

I’ve met people like him in my line of work and they DON"T CHANGE. They’re SCUM pure and simple.

blah blah blah…and so the story continues…

MichaelPG (the original "MG") May 27, 2010 at 8:06 am

The comment that actually angered me from the last thread: “Who cares?” I think that at least two or three people either explicity stated it or implied it.
“Who cares?” is fucking killing us all.
Do you know who cares? The people who were the center and last piece of this human centipide’s torso—the unknown (and dead) comedians who will probably remain unknown.
This guy’s body count is immeasurable. He sits atop a pile of skulls. And now, as he demonstrated during this episode it basically boils down to “I couldn’t give a fuck…. but I apologize… no seriously.”
OF COURSE comedians need some sort of copyright laws- it’s fucking insane that they don’t exist. You say that a lot of it is “stock material.” Alright, great. A lot of music is “stock material,” yet a court decides when a musician has crossed the line. Everyone from Brian Wilson to John Lennon has admitted that they either knowingly or subconsciously crossed the line and stole material.
Beyonce stole “If I Were a Boy” from an unknown girl who lives in my apartment complex. I talked with her about it—she got a big settlement out of court. She isn’t going to die in her sleep from a drug/alcohol combo in a friend’s house (Mencia’s victim).
You’re telling me that comedians can’t do this shit? Maybe you can’t do it because, as you concluded, “we keep it private blah blah blah rationalization blah blah.” Well, someone shit all over your line, bro. You’re not solving it in public anymore—if you ever really were anyway.

“Who cares?”
Get fucked.

G-MAN May 27, 2010 at 9:35 am

WTF…!!!

Insignificant Comment May 27, 2010 at 9:39 am

I felt vague pity for Mencia until he said, “Especially comics at the Comic Store who don’t like me.  I want you to know this, seriously, I have a couple friends who want to come and beat the shit out of you.  For real.  Like fuck you up, and I tell them not to.” WTF.  For a moment I thought he was going to apologize and say something reputable.  I don’t get in a fight with my wife and say, “yeah, but…honey I could have gone out and had someone seriously injure you, and I didn’t.  So there’s that.  Fogive me?”  There were brief moments of respectable Mencia self-deprecation.  I understand the possibility that Mencia calling himself an “asshole” was a conscious effort to generate sympathy in the same way he realizes admitting he stole could generate compassion.  However, I would like to believe Mencia was trying to be honest.

Joe May 27, 2010 at 10:36 am

I have NEVER had such great anticipation for a podcast. Mark, thank you.

Dvlry May 27, 2010 at 11:13 am

Wow, what a self-absorbed turd Mencia is. His therapist’s eyes must have lighted up with dollar signs when he saw how deep Mencia’s self-denial runs.

MONKEY the CAT May 27, 2010 at 11:55 am

Great follow-up show!
Good to hear the truth from people that really know Mencia personally. His own people exposed him for the prick-thief he is.
Viva La Chupacabra!

PS- Stop bogarting the nip, Marc!

Brad in Ohio May 27, 2010 at 1:12 pm

Sociopath?

Felipe May 27, 2010 at 1:17 pm

If people didn’t hate him before…

MarMarFan May 27, 2010 at 1:27 pm

Vanity - that’s Carlos Mencia’s main vice. He essentially admitted that his sense of self is derived from his career as opposed to his career being derive from his sense of self.  He has been willing to deceive him self for his career because being successful is much more important than being authentic.

Mencia’s is smart enough to understand the big picture.  It’s obvious that even though he understands his predicament, he hasn’t internalized the lesson. The conversation with him is awkward, because he has answer for everything and the answers are laced with b.s./denial.

Marc, great job of pressuring him enough that the audience could see through his smoke screen, but not so much pressure that you were mean. Being mean probably wouldn’t have helped Mencia or allowed you to get so much out of the interview. 

He was obviously comfortable with you.  I think that it’s because you related to him as a person not a career.  Something, that he needs a little help with at times.

mike May 27, 2010 at 1:42 pm

all is not well at clown college… mencia IS a sociopathic dick! he is a lying, inconsiderate and unapologetic ass. his therapist is NOT getting through to him. his trip is money and the power it brings, simply put. if all the comics boycotted the venues that book him, the owners would get the message, then he’d get the message.

Trevor May 27, 2010 at 2:23 pm

Every time I’d start to feel just a tad for Mencia he’d go and issue a veiled threat…both podcasts! WTF indeed.

And I think the majority beef with Mencia is the fact he is a hack and found great success, just knowing that he’s regarded as a thief is icing on the old cake.

Record May 27, 2010 at 2:53 pm

Whichever way your judgement leans, that’s some compelling shit right there. Thanks for these two ‘casts Marc and especially thanks for the followup. This topic deserved more than one hour.

Ned's mom May 27, 2010 at 3:49 pm

Wow, Mencia is such a great guy! He won’t let his hoodlums beat up people who exposed him for his lies. I am a fan now ... nah fuck him.

R. May 27, 2010 at 3:52 pm

I was a little disappointed with the episode (still enjoyed it in a big way), but that was probably inevitable, as there was a part of me hoping for a painfully uncomfortable, confrontational approach on Marc’s behalf.  I’m sure it’s much better that a more cordial approach was taken. 

I was glad to hear that Mencia righted the perpetrate/perpetuate blunder he was all over in the first ep.

Niki May 27, 2010 at 4:11 pm

Seriously good stuff. I think more than the threats of violence, it was CM’s comment about how comedy means more to him than even his wife or his child that really got to me. That’s not a man in love with comedy, that is a man obsessed with it, and obsession is never positive, healthy or real.

Leo May 27, 2010 at 4:21 pm

Wow, so that’s how the shit went down.  Much like the others, my jaw more or less dropped when he came out with his “I coulda gotten people to beat yo ass but didn’t” bullshit.  Jesus Horatio Christ on two fucking sticks.  This goes beyond pathological denial, this goes deeper than cornered insecurity.  This motherfucker is a lost pathetic puppy dog.  I could not believe that you didn’t jump him for such a bizarre threat-as-apology, but I get that you were wielding some kid gloves overall, considering that he was at least making himself available to the interrogation.

In the end, the podcast was an excellent wrap-up…except for every minute when Mencia was talking.  He tried to wipe the shit off his face with a shit-soaked rag, and it was kind of wasted radio.  Your other contributors offered an excellent perspective on the issue at hand, even avoiding direct slander.

The Freddy Soto shit was hard to hear, I never knew the Mencia connection there.

Thanks again, Marc, you’ve got a new weekly listener.  I’ll hustle you some loot when I get a new job.

Trevor S. May 27, 2010 at 4:34 pm

Maron, I love that you put this guy on the spot. In the end, he’s simply a poor, pathetic, tragic asshole. He is a product of his own dysfunctional upbringing - bar none. There’s no science here. Besides, as big and famous as people say Mencia is, he’s a pimple on the ass of comedy’s real big names: Carlin, Hicks, Pryor, etc.

So let’s move on. Thanks.

mike May 27, 2010 at 5:55 pm

I said it before, I’ll say it again, Mencia is the prototypical sociopath:
1.) by not being OK with allowing YOU, Marc Maron, to control the parameters of your OWN podcast.
2.) to finagle his way into YOUR home/garage, where he intended to, and did, imtimidate you into allowing him to control the conversation.

As far as Rogan goes, Joel rightfully went to call him out on his sh*t, knowing that he (Joel) was probably the only one, physically big enough, to thwart Mencia’s typical verbal abuses (up to and including an intended THREAT of physical violence that goes hand-in-hand with such threats, real or perceived), because he (Mencia) would get stomped in a ‘mano y mano’ by Rogan and would only survive if he called out to his thug friends.

Tim May 27, 2010 at 6:10 pm

Slam Dunk Marc, masterful interviews.

RIP Freddy Soto

Oh, the banality of evil. He’s not sorry. He did it on purpose. He basically is a very bad human being, ‘bro’.

Pat May 27, 2010 at 7:09 pm

hi there Marc,

  First time poster, first time felt composed to write, and long time fan. [/cliche end]

  This has to be the most intriguing interview I’ve ever heard.  What I loved was the way you handled this interview.  You did not set it up as a trial, but instead you focused solely on (as you put so yourself) getting into the mind of Mencia. Just giving Mencia and his colleagues a chance to speak honestly about the way they viewed things.  Hearing them speak (unedited) allows the listener to form their own views on the speaker naturally.  Sadly in today’s television\radio atmosphere that is something of a rarity.  And for that I thank you Marc Maron.

  Here is what I draw from the interview.  He is a man with limited imagination and articulation.  But what he lacks in that, he makes up for in ambition, charm, and exuberance.  He is an entertainer not a creator.

  As for accusations of stealing, I am not fully convinced he is unaware of joke stealing. But hey, when your ultimate goal is to be famous\rich, you’d try hard to convince yourself too.  I am not even fully convinced that he feels bad for what he did, as he continuously attempts to justify it, sputtering small apoligies in between.  Apparently he does have a sense of regret, but I am not sure if its for being the pariah he is labeled, or sincere empathy for the comedians he’s hurt.  I’d have to go with the former on this one.

  As comic fan, I find all this depressing for two reasons:

1.  When you look at who the joke thieves are, you can’t help but ask who gets the luxurious life and who is living in tiny apartment hoping to make ends meet.  There really is no true justice in the comedy world. 

2.  The reality of the justice system pertaining to joke thievery is very hard to prove in court.  This opens all sorts of vulnerability to original material.

  Excuse the horrible grammar and whatever typo I may have, I haven’t written and been in school for awhile.  Once again, keep up the good work Maron.

Zounds May 27, 2010 at 7:56 pm

Mencia is a sociopath. He externalizes everything, nothing is his fault. Everything bad is someone else’s doing.

Scott May 27, 2010 at 8:02 pm

I honestly don’t know what to think about Mencia stealing jokes.  I will say that I find that he is very competitive, and aggressively and intelligently manipulative.  I can’t imagine a successful show-biz personality (or corporate CEO) who isn’t like that.

That being said, I don’t have a fire in my belly about Carlos Mencia one way or another.

Thad P. May 27, 2010 at 8:37 pm

Never anticipated an interview as much as this second part, and I don’t think I’d seen more than 2 minutes of Mencia before now so I didn’t really have a bias for or against him.  I just got caught up in it when you 1st, described the situation and then played the infamous clips back to back.  Then you end with there being another side of the story and that was coming up next episode.  Who’da thought you’d have a cliffhanger interview?!

mike May 27, 2010 at 9:03 pm

where is the live nyc show! post it!

fdfwlkj May 27, 2010 at 10:06 pm

wow. you see the ego-defense in the narcissist/sociopath (Mencia). I don’t know if I should trust him, simply because he still tries to defend his action. He spins it. Dude, he steps on the head of up-n-comers to make it. The end, i don’t know if it’s crocodile tears or just changing tactics to a person who calls his bullshit.

fwew May 27, 2010 at 10:19 pm

I know a guy like Mencia. His prescription towards the end, I’ll tell you how that would go”
“Hey, Mencia you stole from me”
“f$@k off. I didn’t steal”
“Here’s a video, time-stamped”
“Well I did it (trying to make a story) two months before that at the Yuk-Yuks. And fuck you. I’m going to bump you every time you go on stage”
You can still see him grappling with his narcissism. Sadly when his career goes to crap, he will change. However, he will begin to get narcissistic when he gets popular again. When his ego gets fed, his narcissism grows. Remember when you come to grips with a crap life and your grandiosity. Real change occurs. But when you feed that grandiosity with few real world examples, it grows again.

eJay May 27, 2010 at 11:07 pm

Thankyou Carlos Mencia for agreeing to be interviewed in depth.

PDX Robert May 28, 2010 at 1:03 am

This just reminded me why I don’t speak to my father.

NOAH May 28, 2010 at 1:26 am

Quotes from past posts

“Everyone from Brian Wilson to John Lennon stole”

“Wow, it seems like there is no justice in the comedy world”

and my personal favorite:

: MichaelPG (the original “MG”)
“Who cares?” is fucking killing us all.
Do you know who cares? The people who were the center and last piece of this human centipide’s torso—the unknown (and dead) comedians who will probably remain unknown.

This guy’s body count is immeasurable!!!!!!!!!!”

  ^
—- [] if your going to use a literary device, have it make sense.
Let me help you

Who cares? normal people who actually pay to go see comedians do their odd carnival road work all year long. And most of those people want to see a good wholesome show- something they expect!
That is what Carlos is:
People like coffee, dunking donuts does a great coffee.
Some people realized this and said if we dress up the package and serve this same shit just a little better with nice baristas =
Starbucks is born.

Carlos is the development of a shitty product, regular hack comedy into a corporate brand.
By using the “profit is everything model” that every Wall street or fortune 500 CEO uses, he climbed to the top.

The fact that WE the audience do not want the better quality product is our fault.

The comedy store still let him perform, b/c they are money greedy whores just like most of you. GREED is still popular in the USA, or did i miss something!!

YES, it is short sighted and eventually this model doesn’t work.
Fuck you can’t work forever, you have to learn to play nice with others—all true BUT

Look around you,
are the best people the most successful??!!
If you haven’t thought about this before: open yours eyes and realized your fucked.

WTF

Pete May 28, 2010 at 1:42 am

Mark, you really need to be given your own show on the tube now—your skills have become unparalleled.
Following Kimmel?

ttr3tg3 May 28, 2010 at 2:26 am

I realize now that my previous comment and all of the others diagnosing Carlos as a sociopath is not justified. I’ve never been wronged by him. why the fuck do I insist on writing negative stuff about him. I take everything I said back. I have no reason to judge. All I can do is sit back and watch the drama unfold. Man Marc has become my moral compass, as scary as it sounds. Mencia fucked over Marc and he still asks for civility and empathy.

disconinja May 28, 2010 at 2:28 am

mencia is like the christianity of comedians

Eric Raynard May 28, 2010 at 2:38 am

At the three - quarter mark of the first Mencia interview, my bull shit detector went off. Maybe it was the non - denial denial of lifting Bill Cosby’s “Hi, mom!” bit with, “Do you think I would ever ... ” or maybe it was something else.

It was a happy surprise at the end of the podcast to hear Marc say he was going to dig deeper.

Then in the second podcast, a couple of contemporaries go on the record to validate the truth about Mencia’s thievery.

Mencia coming back to the garage was classic. Confessional and crying one minute, conditional the next and then saying he’s not so bad that he’d let some (fictitious?) thug friends beat up the other comics.

These bookend interviews present a very deep psychological portrait of an abused child acting like the toughest guy in town. Thanks.

chad May 28, 2010 at 3:41 am

I don’t really care about CM one way or another, and this didn’t really change my opinion much, since he pretty much said what I expected him to say, but I do have to give the man credit for volunteering to come back in right away knowing that now there was going to be a slant.  And I have to give credit to Maron for giving him the chance, as well.  (Although I did find the bit about ‘the distance of a txt msg’ and hoping to do it over the phone amusing—I would have done the same!)

Joe Tily May 28, 2010 at 6:28 am

Mencia did not fight his corner well enough in my opinion. He sounds like he thinks he’s alot deeper than he actually is.  He just sounded insincere, like a politition. I think Marc summed-up the whole thing at the end really well.

Now - i’m going out to try to look mean walking a poodle!

Noah Stephens May 28, 2010 at 2:42 pm

Great podcast, Marc. Thank you.

Dan T. May 28, 2010 at 6:15 pm

When you do comedy, and if you take it seriously and try to do it well, you are an equal member of that club. It doesn’t matter if you’re at the emcee level or a headliner or one of the few who achieve wild success beyond the comedy stage. I’ve opened for comics most people have never heard of, and I’ve opened for a few “names,” and none of them treated me or any other comic in the room as lesser. Yes, there are some whacked personalities in comedy, but nearly everyone understands and acknowledges that basic kinship. Mencia does not, which suggests to me that he is not in it “for the love” but for himself. He thinks he’s in his own league, above the rest of the club. I don’t know if you plan on any follow-up commentary, Marc, but if so, I wonder if you would address that.

Xtina May 28, 2010 at 7:08 pm

Oh, man. I was actually feeling sorry for him until the end. “I could have friends beat the shit out of these haters if I wanted to”? What is up with Mencia and the veiled threats? He pulled that same stuff in the first interview too.

I think Marc was a little too easy on the guy with his conclusion. Sure, this issue could have been settled within the comedy community and not been made into such a huge deal, but hey, karma’s a bitch. I like the idea of justice in the world - that if you’re an adult and you consciously do shitty things that there’s a chance of that biting you in the ass big time later on. I mean, I’m sure other comedians have done as much and not been called out on it so publicly, and maybe Carlos is a “whipping boy” of sorts, but I know I personally believe he deserved every bit of it.

Michael PG (the original "MG") May 28, 2010 at 7:22 pm

“if your going to use a literary device, have it make sense.
Let me help you”

Someone who doesn’t use the contraction “you’re” correctly wants to “help” me write something.
Beautiful.
This is my life in a nutshell.

When I wrote that everyone from Brian Wilson to John Lennon stole something I meant to include that a) when they admitted it they gave the offended artist his/her due b) unlike Mencia, they didn’t base their careers on stealing, obviously c) they were forthcoming about it d) comedically I would never put Mencia in the same class as Lennon and Wilson musically—Jesus christ, no, 10 million times no.

You were offended by my use of the “body count” as a “literary device,” huh? I like it. Obviously it wasn’t literal.
Inarguably, he has ruined other people’s lives.
I forgot to include with the “body count” phrase that Mencia said, “dey tryin’ to take away mah livelihood.”
Dude… Shut the fuck up. You’re already ruined quite a few people’s opportunity at that “livelihood.”

Yeah, I was too eager to get to the part where I wanted to state that such issues should be addressed by a court.
I’m also surprised that so many people were impressed by Maron’s apologies for and leniency toward Mencia. I thought it was disgusting, and I lost respect for him. I didn’t expect him to denounce Mencia, but I thought he was entirely too soft on him and actually wound up damning the people who are offended by his theft. Unbelievable.

Hopefully Anonymous May 28, 2010 at 9:55 pm

An interesting side reveal is that people at the top (Marc Maron, Jim Norton) and bottom (Carlos Mencia, Carrot Top) of the comedy talent ladder don’t really give a fuck about “Bill Cosby ...  Himself” or other classic albums. I guess it’s the middle level talent that put themselves through self-study clown college.

Good future interviews: Dane Cook, Carrot Top,  Sarah Silverman, Patrice O’Neal, Jackie Mason, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy. All of these comediens with some I-fucked-it-up tragedy arc in their talent narratives.

D^2 May 30, 2010 at 2:37 am

Give ‘em enough rope, and they’ll hang themselves.

Well played, Mr. Maron.

fancynancy May 30, 2010 at 2:58 am

god why can’t he just fucking…own it
& who the shit does he think he’s fooling?
his fans i guess

Marc Temme May 30, 2010 at 3:37 am

Dig what you are doing with your show.  Killer ideas, this one was an interesting call.  Keep following your instincts you are really onto a cool fucking deal here my man.  Thanks for the great shit to listen to I am a total addict.  Hungry for the WTF.  Finally someone does something different and worthy.  Marc.

Glen May 30, 2010 at 3:46 am

I am gonna go out on a limb here and guess this “Original MG” bloke has a small cock.  Just a guess.

noah May 30, 2010 at 4:54 am

Michael PG (the original “MG”)
I fucked up the your, but English is my second language (no excuses though).
Point to the p"i"g. But come on

You can’t really blame Maron for trying to be civil, he will have to work with and see this guy int he future.
And I don’t think Marc rolls with an entourage like Rogan, so why would he really want to create a conflict?
He addressed the issues directly and told him how he felt, not once did i feel Marc fully accept the apology, even though Carlos did his best to evoke that out of him.

Shit is out there, Marc seems like he spent a lot of his career fighting the “good fight”, but in the end you gotta be realistic with it. Not agree! But respectfully disagree.
We don’t have to all like Carlos, but some people do and i won’t begrudge them for it. He has done some good comedy, that i have personally laughed my ass off to (HBO half hour??), maybe he stole it from someone, but it wasn’t me!! And if he did wrong to all these people in the past it should come around to him, which it seems like it has.

Marc got the real story, then he commented honestly- why would you loose respect for him?
Because he doesn’t share your exact opinion?
get bent

vpvn May 30, 2010 at 3:13 pm

I’ve got to ask one question: What is the point of comedy/satire?

It seems to be “to find and communicate the truth”.

As long as it happens, why does it matter who does it?

Is this dude simply gathering the best material or the material that fits best together? Would any comedians consider teaming up to write for one or a small group of dudes?

How many “styles” of comedy are there? How many ways can the truth be stated?

freelancer May 31, 2010 at 12:43 am

After these two interviews, I have a new impression of CM.

“Hey, homes…you know, you might be a redneck bro, if your house has more…no, shit dude, how did that go again? Oh yeah, if your house has more wheels than your car, which is up on blocks. Yeah, that’s it.”

He cannot have an eidetic memory for other peoples’ material, and then NOT remember where it came from. I feel sad for the guy, and no amount of success is ever going to change him.

sarvets May 31, 2010 at 8:23 am

fuck everything else. just listen to how a person says “dude” or “bro” and it will take you most of the way.the only thing that gets me is how he seemse to has split himself in 2 mentally. for 1) yeah i bumped people and fuck them. and 2) im sorry if did. But fuck them because im trying to elevate etc…  If you steal material and dont give credit to the source its just wrong. you an do it as an homage or whatever and people will give you respect for it.  am impressed at the amount of room you gave his views in the end in light of the shit that was more than out there. which leads me to believe that you have set this whole thing up. cant wait to hear your interpretations of latinos bro! get some pina colonics meng haahaaa! no really thanks for one of the most slow paced and interesting podcast out there. as a listener i really felt like shit was getting down to buisness and it blows my mind that it happened face to face. thats the real deal cause we all listened while you actually stood there and said “what the fuck?” on “what the fuck?” you know? with that said… muthafucka what the fuck? lets heal jamaica hahaaaaaa!

MKG May 31, 2010 at 10:51 am

even if anyone was falling for his bullshit - he screwed it up at the end with his “i have friends who wanted to mess those people up but i told them to stop”... sounds like a little junior-high kid trying to act like a big-guy high school kid :o|

Peter June 01, 2010 at 3:01 pm

Yeah, he’s just a compulsive liar. People like him relish the half-way apology. They have the emotional range and depth of squirells but are adept at imitating actual emotion.

Peter June 01, 2010 at 3:03 pm

Woah! The implied threat of violence at the end was creeeepy.

d June 01, 2010 at 11:12 pm

Excellent interview. Your take on it all at the end was fantastic. Thought the “I allow them to not be beat up by my friends” was really a wow moment.

Great, great stuff. It’ll be spurring a ton of conversation with a lot of my comedy nerd pals. I’ll be listening from here on out.

Alex June 09, 2010 at 5:11 pm

I was mesmerized by the interview that both humanized Mencia but also clearly showed his flaws.  I will pay for his show, he is definitely a better showman than most of his peers who are definitely jealous of the success he has….I also do think he stole some jokes (specifically the bill cosby one) but I think in his mind he feels that he can take anything and package it much better…..I’d rather take the better package than the mediocre one….also Joe Rogen was a little bullish in his accusations….

RoadLord June 10, 2010 at 2:08 am

I don’t read into this stuff as deeply as some people do. I could give a shit about Mencia’s childhood, Marc’s perceived “failure” to take him to task, blah-blah-blah. What I DID enjoy was a glimpse into the psyche of a guy who operates on a plane that MOST of us will never, EVER get to experience. And I dig how Marc brings that to us. He enjoys a unique position, as insider and commentator on the comedy scene, and the larger world of fame, celebrity, etc.
I don’t expect him to “change” Carlos, or anybody else he talks to, or get some kind of satisfaction out of these people. It’s enough that he ASKS the questions, attempts to give us insight, tries to entertain us at the same time.
Better than ANY of the “Entertainment Tonight/Jimmy Kimmels/Conans/Larry Kings/Actors Studio” dickheads will ever be able to do. If these people ever approached their subjects with a TENTH of the honesty, soul-searching-ness, directness that Marc Maron does, they’d be off the air in a fucking heartbeat, which is probably why WTF is still a podcast.

Oh, yeah, and the trailing comments Carlos made about “his boys” fucking somebody up? What a fucking idiot. Stupid thing to say, ‘cause you just NEVER KNOW who’s packin’ heat these days, baby.

Jack June 24, 2010 at 11:23 am

He really is a sociopath…

yavas williams July 10, 2010 at 3:41 am

Real interesting set of podcasts, I think one thing that’s evidence of his ‘machismo’, is how he always words his replies that makes it sound like he isn’t repeating what you said! It’s like if you ask him ‘so you’re saying you are sorry for stealing material’? And then he says ‘well, not really, it’s just I feel like I need to protect myself’. Something like that, I can’t follow his pathology of rationalization! But it’s like he can never outright say ‘yea you’re right’, he has to say something HE came up with, just to feel like he did it himself!

Dutch July 13, 2010 at 8:26 am

What kills me is the fact that he (clearly) steals Cosby’s joke and then makes it worse with his over the top contrived delivery. It’s like adding insult to injury.

The other thing that I find telling is how Carlos has responded from the start. Other comedians that have been faced with the same accusations and have responded with new specials filled with new material that (whether funny or not) is clearly original.

Thanks Marc, I really enjoyed both shows.

Oncount July 23, 2010 at 7:22 am

Astonishing. Why on earth would these people open like that? Powerful wizardry, Mr. Maron.

daniel July 31, 2010 at 5:09 am

“I’m sorry but my friends will kick your ass unless I tell them not to.”

pedalpusher August 03, 2010 at 5:17 am

Ran into this one by happenstance. For all the inherent sense of humor of the interviewer/interviewees, and the seriousness of the topic, it felt strangely cathartic (almost hopeful?) that such a powderkeg of a subject was able to be actually confronted and talked about in this way.

Hey Marc, I miss the hilarity from “Morning Sedition”! Always cheered my AMs up.

Dan September 20, 2010 at 5:58 pm

Hey, Marc, what’s the name of the piece of music that plays at 16:05 (after the first interview)?

Also: you own.  I love the show.  I’ll donate some cash when I get a job.

Katrina September 27, 2010 at 12:47 am

I just discovered this podcast, and am having a blast working my through them all.  They’re wonderful!

That said, the things that struck me about Mencia’s first interview and his follow-up response were his thunderously huge and hilarious degree of self aggrandizement.

The very idea that he could actually believe, with any degree of sincerity, that he personally has the power to get Latinos to rise up in a physical revolt against white people (which, lets face it, he was absolutely threatening he could do)is equal parts ludicrous and surreal.

Dude, what you say just doesn’t have that much weight in the real life, larger scheme of things, and that you could even begin to give credence to the idea that it might means that you’re surely surrounded by nothing but sycophants, toadies, and people who you only think are your friends.  In other words, people who only ‘large you up’ and never give you a mental hip check, because there’s no benefit in that.

“Gandhi, King,... Mencia”.

Looks even crazier in print, doesn’t it?

As for passively/aggressively threatening other comedians with physical harm, that was easily one of the most distastefully “ghetto” things I’ve ever heard anyone who was trying to convey how decent they actually are utter.

Unfortunately for Carlos, by my standard, neither interview reflected well on him at all.  As far as I’ve always been concerned, the answer to whether or not Mencia is a thief was to obvious to even bother asking.  Admittedly, I never thought him funny, but after his thievery came to light, he became impossible to respect just in terms of someone being able to make a living a something they love.

The physical threats have sealed it for me regarding the type of human being Mencia is.

He’s pond life.

Jennie Marie November 04, 2010 at 4:35 pm

And now Marc can add Investigative Journalist to his list of achievements. Awesome. Your podcasts are helping me get through the workday!! Woo hoo!

Timid Pimp December 23, 2010 at 7:53 am

I’m way late to the party, but wow, what an excellent couple of podcasts.  I could barely handle the awkward tension as Marc brought Carlos back in.

@ Dan, the song at 16:05 is “The Seed (2.0)” by The Roots.

Alex Adams December 28, 2010 at 12:25 am

Carlos Mencia is a total Sociopath. Charming, power tripping, wants people to feel sorry for him,.....

Bobby Perez January 10, 2011 at 12:09 am

Funny how Marc plays music from “Liar” by Henry Rollins as an intro into Carlos’ response. Did you not think anyone would catch that Marc? Too funny.

sp_Cantwell January 11, 2011 at 4:23 pm

This was phenomenal. Maron, in your own way your podcast has become not only the Comedian’s Safe Space but also the Comedy Point of Record.

Incidentally, at 52:04 Mencia say “I DO take responsibility for my shit” yet he’s spent most of his conversations making his problems everybody else’s fault.

However, this doesn’t mean anything.

b bridges March 26, 2011 at 1:34 am

Late to the party here but just discovered the podcast.  As others have mentioned, it’s just amazing to hear Mencia so completely out of touch that he first implies that if he wanted he could start some kind of Latino revolution and then in the next episode, that if he wanted he could allow friends to kick some comics’ asses.  And he uses both examples to somehow illustrate how much of a good guy he is. 

Incredible.

dave sootay July 19, 2011 at 2:55 pm

Is this guy still working? I haven’t heard his name or seen it in print since this podcast originally aired. Maybe there is justice, after all.

Jim August 14, 2011 at 3:10 pm

Just listened to this for the second time.  The part that really gets me is when Marc accuses Carlos of contributing to Freddy Soto’s “stress” and then stealing his jokes shortly after his death.  If someone accused me of that and I was innocent, I would be absolutely furious.  Carlos doesn’t miss a beat, and bats the accusation aside by claiming that he wasn’t in town that week.  A small thing, but it really clinched for me that this dude is full of shit.