MARC MARON performing at JFL42 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre (190 Princes’), Tuesday (September 24) at 7 and 9:30 pm. Passes $69-$299. JFL42.com. See listing.
Marc Maron is living proof that you should never give up on your dreams.
A few years ago, the comic was at a low point. He’d put in decades in stand-up, tried his hand at political talk radio and TV, written a book. He’d made it through addiction and recovery. But his career just wasn’t going anywhere. And then, in September 2009, he began a twice-weekly podcast called WTF With Marc Maron, a loose and intimate series of conversations with comics and other entertainers.
“I’d basically let go of the dream, and I was trying to survive,” says Maron on the phone from the garage of his L.A. home, where he continues to record WTF. “I thought my comedy career was washed up. I’d written off the possibility of doing anything. It was an outlet to keep busy.”
Now, more than 400 episodes later – the podcast gets millions of downloads a month – he’s a new man and busier than ever.
He’s got a book on the bestseller list, an IFC TV show (which, alas, doesn’t air in Canada) and is headlining two gigs at this week’s JFL42.
“I think this might be the actual beginning of my career,” says Maron. “If a career is based on finding your groove and becoming relevant and making a living, I think this might be it.”
When I suggest this is a new golden age of comedy, when entertainers can reach audiences on various platforms, he’s cautious.
“It seems like a boundary-less age of over-accessibility,” he says. “There are enough platforms and opportunities for comics to seek out and perhaps find the people who’ll enjoy them. On the other hand, you can get pummelled by all this access. The appetite for content and controversy really is greater than the human ability to generate either. So that’s a dangerous paradigm.”
Maron’s had virtually every major living comic on his program. Albert Brooks, he says, is a holdout, and some artists have politely turned him down – even his friend Daniel Tosh, who says he wants to keep people at a distance.
One of the show’s highlights was the coming out of his friend Todd Glass, which generated lots of attention when it aired in January 2012.
“That took a lot of planning,” explains Maron. “He’d called me months before, saying, ‘You’re the guy. I want to do it!’ He was battling with himself, building up the courage. And I was honoured he chose me.”
Since then, Glass occasionally calls him up to tell him he’s still gay.
On the subject of his own personal life, Maron’s always been candid. Remarks about his two exes have figured in his stand-up and podcasts.
He’s involved with a woman now, which he says requires some sensitivity.
“You have to negotiate things about how and what you’re going to put out there in the world,” he says. “You have to determine the line you can cross and when something becomes disrespectful or uncomfortable. But it’s always my point of view.”
Does he ever tire of using his daily life for material?
“There are some hours in the day and the week when I’m just sort of moving through life without being watched,” he says. “I eat, fill the hummingbird feeder. I do have a bit of privacy.”
Interview Clips
Maron’s advice for aspiring comics:
On how his life changed after a trip to Toronto:
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