WTF with Marc Maron (it's a podcast)

marc needs to stop saying ginseng the way that he says it in whatever ads

lol I kind of like that.

Today he admitted that he and Sarah the Painter broke up a short while ago. I knew his energy had been different lately, but 10 years ago he'd have been standing on the ledge of a building, so that's improvement!

Listened to a few episodes this weekend for the first time in months. Really enjoying both Letterman and John Turturro, both of whom talked a lot about specific ways their parents shaped them.

Perry Farrell, on the other hand, is unbearable.

that was kind of a given imo :)

Yeah, it was the worst of L.A. encapsulated in a single conversation.

Yeah, listening to Perry talk about his first "feeling up" experiences made this the first WTF in a loooong time I've bailed on.

I dipped back in for the first time in awhile. Enjoyed Anjelica Huston, Letterman, and Lisa Kudrow, Timothy Olyphant was disappointingly boring (way too much on growing up and rock bands and not enough Deadwood), and I know better than to listen to Perry Farrell.

Should I listen to the Colbert ep? I've totally cooled on SC to be honest but if it's interesting/if he talks about Strangers W/Candy I might be down.

nah

It was a pretty surface level talk. If you've ever heard him talk about his faith, family tragedy, and start in Chicago, then you can skip it.

I enjoyed it but it's more about his family and faith than career.

The Steve Sweeney one was good too. Started listening to the eve ensler one and while it's fascinating, talking about such heavy levels of abuse, I had to stop halfway through and think I'll pick it up again later.

I feel like wtf has been a lot better recently*. Like maron has mellowed a bit and it makes him a better interviewer.

*I think I stopped listening about 2 years back and only came back to it about a month ago

yeah I hadn't listened for a year so until recently, he definitely seems to improve as time goes on. still has that awkward lurch-n-jab question/shift/unrelated question thing occasionally but with some guests that seems to work.

will skip the Colbert one most likely, thanks.

The Brent Butt episode Thursday was nice. I didn't know anything about Corner Gas, but I may watch it now (or at least check it out).

I stopped listening regularly a couple of years ago because it seemed to be turning into whatever celebrities I can book thing. Similar to Colbert trajectory, not bad but I don’t really care

The Bashir Salahuddin episode was pretty engaging ... I like that dude. Plus Maron talks about his attempts to book David Berman.

Haven't been listening much at all but I'm definitely going to tune in for Stephen Root

Colbert had him on his show a couple of nights back.

Quite enjoyed the few episodes I've listened to recently but I only discovered the WTF show recently.
Listened to the David Lee roth episode then put on Colbert and found Maron was on there.

Plus Maron talks about his attempts to book David Berman.

This was cool but then he read a poem by the wrong David Berman.

lol ouch

sad lol

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.