WTF with Marc Maron (it's a podcast)

yikes! who is the other david berman?

http://www.thehypertexts.com/David%20Berman%20Poet%20Poetry%20Picture%20Bio.htm

Guessing Marc googled "david berman poems" and found this, which has poems by both of them: https://www.poemhunter.com/david-berman/poems/

knew there was something wrong with that poem

Guessing the Walt Goggins one is good?

Not particularly

http://www.thehypertexts.com/David%20Berman%20Poet%20Poetry%20Picture%20Bio.htm🕸

Guessing Marc googled "david berman poems" and found this, which has poems by both of them: https://www.poemhunter.com/david-berman/poems🕸/

I only discovered the WTF show recently.

He used to be *a lot* to handle. Now he's just a pretty normal dude with a lot of residual goodwill from old fans. Or me, at least.

Got several years of archive available on Spotify. Is there a specific point of change or anything?

woody interview is the new low

marc begins with a respectful fear in his voice. he then fumbles a clumsy projection about dads somewhere in the interview's center that shuts woody off for the rest of the thing. and then marc keeps falling back into the comfortable talking point of trump.

Woody is rarely an engaged interview subject, and does suggest that he's high at that moment. Probably could have edited a decent 20-minute chat out of the hour.

but then we might have missed the story of poor marc being anxious about trump in hawaii that he's told eleven times. there's also a "greg from succession" vibe to marc's behavioral shift with hollywood interviewees as marc's been accepted into the fold.

Last one I dipped back in for was Danny DeVito, that was surprisingly engaging

yes, DeVito was great.

yeah skipped huge chunks of this anytime politics came up, if there were ever two ppl i didnt need to hear discuss trump its these two.

worst part though was woody mentioning playing chess and marc practically swallowing his tongue with amazement at the idea of someone enjoying chess as a hobby: "you play CHESS?! are you GOOD at it?! Its about PATTERNS, right? Memorizing PATTERNS? Different PATTERNS of MOVES?!" He reacted as if Woody said he built tiny working nuclear reactors instead of a board game that many children play.

hes always so bewildered and awed when people engage with things that code as old-fashioned "smart" like chess, classical music, etc

Shakespeare, jesus

he then fumbles a clumsy projection about dads somewhere in the interview's center that shuts woody off for the rest of the thing.

this made me think Marc had interviewed Woody Allen tbh

loooool

ooof

one piece of lol/rolleyes info I enjoyed gleaning from the Woody interview: that he spent years rejecting Zombieland 2 scripts until......... he finally convinced the studio to actually hire the writers of Zombieland. what a notion.

Woody seemed like the main problem in that interview imo. Just really boring and stoned-dumb. Terrible all around.

That bit about how he got in a random fist fight with some stranger walking down the street in NYC because they were both giving each other looks was funny though. “No words!”

Marc casually mentioning Trump’s idiocy and Woody being very “OH, don’t discount him, he’s very shrewd” for several minutes was painfully a few steps behind everyone else’s awareness of the situation.

Brad Pitt & Leo DiCaprio interview is fun — they totally get off on what a kook he is, which makes it much more fun

fun fun ugh

Pitt to Maron: “I’m here just to see you lose your shit.”

Who are Leo's guys?

I like the dynamic between them in interviews in general, they have a kinda older brother/little brother feel

I was off Maron for a long tie, but I listened to & enjoyed this and the Brittany Howard one.

Ronan Farrow: I listen to audiobooks.
Maron: I don’t.
Farrow: You find it takes something away?
Maron: I don’t know where everyone finds the time, man. It’s not a matter of taking it away.
Farrow: So you’re not reading the physical books, either.

Imagining Farrow starting what is going to be an hour-plus interview and realizing at the start that Maron hasn’t cracked the book.

Maron: I don't think I know anything about the day-to-day work of a diplomat or even an ambassador.
Farrow: Well, Marc, I've got a book for you It's called War on Peace.
Maron: It's your book! I'll read it!
Farrow It's about the day-to-day work of diplomats and ambassadors.

Ha how many interviews have started with people commenting on Marons book collection

He's notoriously lazy about research, especially when he's scrolling through wikipedia of the IMDB credits of actors as they talk. That said, with two interviews a week and since the show seems to be just Marc and one editor, I don't know that I fault him for not reading multiple books for every guest. Doesn't bug me that much since he's still generally good at drawing out interesting conversations (NB - I haven't heard this Ronan one yet).

on the one hand i dont fault him for not reading multiple books for every guest, but on the other hand like maybe that means he's not the guy to interview a bunch of authors

He doesn’t, really. I still listen to nearly every one of these out of habit during commutes, even though it’s like 85% autopilot and the guests are getting thin. Enough engaging nuggets buried throughout to keep me there, I guess.

I’m mostly interested in the apparent marathon one he did with David Fincher that DF doesn’t want him to release and wants to re-do. Ultimate Very Much in Character.

Sounds like I should listen to Ronan Farrow on the Longform podcast this week instead.

Farrow’s as graceful as can be and his work and education experience are compelling if you haven’t heard him talk about them elsewhere. Maron’e main points of reference are Woody and whether he is Sinatra’s kid (not mentioned overtly), so it’s less fulfilling if you want to get why Farrow won the Pulitzer and was more or less tangled in espionage to get his stories to light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4dFCdWmN_c

A masterpiece.

Filmmaker Lynn Shelton (Marc’s girlfriend) passed away tragically the other day. Was not prepared to listen to the podcast posted this morning.

as someone who cares a lot about marc after all these years, i was surprised and grateful to hear his voice this morning (i heard the news last week)

He's stronger than he lets on. I'd be curled up in a shivering ball for a month.

Hadn't checked my feed, honestly didn't expect a new episode today. Wouldn't blame him for taking a break for a bit.

I just listened to this, recorded only a few days ago. Not only does she clearly lay out the timeline of the relationship with Marc, but ends the interview talking about not knowing how much time she has left and wanting to live her best life and make the world a better place—all speculatively, but given what happened soon after it's kinda haunting.

She seemed like such a dear heart.

This was such fun! Thanks for having me, Scott! https://t.co/eua1sgjc2I

— Lynn Shelton (@lynnsheltonfilm) May 13, 2020

ugh that really sucks

I was relieved to hear Marc this morning, too. Everything about their relationship seemed honest and open, even up to the image of him rocking out with some music pros with her dancing along in the recording booth. I am crushed for him.

Fuck. Crying again.

Haven't listened and don't know if I can, but that's just awful.

It was heartbreaking to listen to that, but Lynn Shelton's infectious spirit in that WTF interview helped me to appreciate what a devastating loss Marc must be feeling. She wasn't at all the kind of person I would have expected him to find love with. And after all that they had each been through before they men, to have such a short time together. It's sadder than anything I can imagine.

before they MET