WTF with Marc Maron (it's a podcast)

is there where we talk about the television show? i watched a couple episodes last season and thought it wasn't really good but my dvr recorded the season premiere and i figured i'd check it out. i thought it was legit funny! maron was even relatable! i even thought his philosophical musings about how we are all recreating our parental relationships in our romantic relationships was pretty insightful (and i loved when he concluded w/ "and if the original cast didn't do a great job, the remake isn't going to be any better")

Wyne Kramer seemed super into it too. Gotta say, he's been on a good roll with the music interviews lately - I'm actually even digging the constant looping around to his touchstones ("Just got that on vinyl", "Keith Richards biography - it's surprising!", "When you first heard Robert Johnson, didn't it seem like something from another planet?", etc.)

next time there's a "what is rockism?" debate on ILM someone should just transcribe some WTF rock talk

but I'm being a jerk - recent music interviews have been top shelf

yeah,it always amazes me when people say, "that Keith Richards, he's like a real writer!" It was ghostwritten by James "White Mischief" Fox in the Keef voice, from their taped conversations.

but his memory is so good! and you wouldn't think so because all the drugs!

Laser-like insight from Marc on today's interview with Rhys Darby: "Asians are er, uhh, ahh everywhere! It's kind of amazing though... makes a lot more different food available!"

a few years ago he used to mention on every fifth show that he was "uncomfortable" around Asian people. But I guess their foodstuffs have turned him around.

oy his "why is there tension between India and Pakistan when they both have the same kind of bread?" bit is excrutiating too

he's been trying to patch together this "funny" overarching food/race "funny" theory for a long time, should really give it up

Is "alt comedy" where you say a bunch of stupid things about the world in your stand up, and everyone thinks you are otm bc you are on stage and hey that was a callback to an earlier joke?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_comedy

i think it's mostly stone temple pilots jokes

oh man. mike burbiglia's stand up is practically a youth pastor's sermon.

i don't really get him at all

but apparently it's not "alt comedy" that bugs me, because Todd Barry is in that wiki. Barry is able to effectively tell jokes in his stand up w/o going for otm observations about too large subject matter.

xp I shouldn't be so harsh, because I did like his movie. his latest stand up was just too motivational speaker for me.

I wish just one of these guests would ask Maron if he knows what a "political reactionary" actually is

Birbiglia really is a great storyteller but I agree - his tendency to tie things up all tidy with a lesson learned is getting more and more grating. The Captain Epiphany schtick just feels forced - motivated more by his own quest to find a perfectly symetrical story structure than a genuine experience.

yeah, that is well put.

it's because that's the this american life formula and he is (somewhat inexplicably) their chosen stand-up

The Moth formula as well

http://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/9403-marc-maron/

Good piece.

some of these would make good sad youtubes

Scott Aukerman in the NYT:

Your show airs right after your fellow comedy-podcaster Marc Maron’s TV show, “Maron.” You two are sort of rivals. He seems to prefer stand-up to improv comedy.

Marc actually has a goofy sense of humor, but he doesn’t do that in his own act. His own act is more a personal examination of his own psychosis and born out of a desire to inform the audience about how many 20-year-olds are inclined to sleep with him. In his mind there is a difference between the wacky people and the real comics. I don’t see the distinction all that much.

Then, predictably:

http://oi58.tinypic.com/vh3mu9.jpg

Haha. Maron got Saucermanned.

Has anyone interviewed Maron the way he interviews people? Ill-prepared, somewhat disinterested, constantly shifting direction when their attention span wanes?

someone should interview him and just keep asking questions about Sam Seder

rupaul on Monday! :D

innaresting!

sick burnerman

Aukerman seems like a prick

I could listen to RuPaul for forever.

Adam Scott openly questioned him on his "and on a brand new Maron!" schtick he'll do when announcing their IFC shows a few weeks back on their pseudo-U2 show. Can't remember his response, tho

Ru gave Maron the full Ru experience. Loved it.

Ha I've been wondering about the Aukerman/Maron relationship since they seem like polar opposites in terms of comedic style but have concurrent shows on IFC. The "on a brand new Maron" joke is clearly just about using the language of cheezy sitcom promos for a show that's supposed to be existential and awkward. The NYT zing was pretty mild but made me laugh.

I would watch Comedy Bang Bang for the guests, but I can't deal with Aukerman (and I'm waaaaay over Reggie Watts).

i dont think i can handle multiple-hosted podcasts. especially comedians, all talking over each other trying ot get a laugh in.

Aukerman is aligned with Tompkins too

Tompkins used to be on Best Show all the time, was buds with Scharpling

now he's a reg on Comedy Bang Bang

Maron is friends with Scharpling

so Maron vs. Aukerman is actually a proxy war between the Tompkins and Scharpling superpowers

yah

kevin_costner_donald_sutherland.jpg

Aukerman and Scharpling are cool; Maron and Tompkins are uncool.

Scharpling and Maron and Tompkins are cool

Aukerman is not

yep

also pretty sure Tompkins and Scharpling hate each other now

Aukerman is aggressively uncool
Maron wants desperately to be cool and is not
Scharpling is cool
Tompkins is genius who doesn't let notions of cool/uncool bother him

xpost yeah, they had a falling out after the tv pilot they worked on together didn't get picked up

FTR I think Scharpling is a genius too

no, but Wurster is

Yeah, the real sad part of this topic is that Scharpling and Tompkins aren't on friendly terms anymore, because they were great together.