WTF with Marc Maron Podcast

Marc Maron welcomes comedians, actors, directors, writers, authors, musicians and folks from all walks of life to his home for amazingly revealing conversations. Marc's probing, comprehensive interview style allows guests to express themselves in ways listeners have never heard.

A Message From Marc 07/14/2022

A Message From Marc Just a quick message from Marc to let you know that this app will be retired soon. More than 800 WTF Episodes are now available for free on all major podcast apps. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23741324

Episode 1344 - Laura Veirs 06/30/2022

Episode 1344 - Laura Veirs Singer-songwriter Laura Veirs has something to prove with her latest album, Found Light. After divorce ended her 20-years-long collaborative relationship with her producer husband, Laura not only needed to prove she could create a new album independently, but she needed to be sure of who she was in the world going forward. Laura and Marc talk about love and loss and the power of therapeutic mushrooms. They also talk about how Laura suffers from imposter syndrome when she’s around her other collaborators, k.d. lang and Neko Case. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23585105

Episode 1343 - Atsuko Okatsuka 06/27/2022

Episode 1343 - Atsuko Okatsuka Comedian Atsuko Okatsuka has familiarity with garages. But unlike Marc, she didn’t start a podcast in one. She lived in one with her mother and grandmother for seven years, as three generations of immigrant women dealt with cramped quarters, eating disorders and schizophrenia. Atsuko tells Marc how she was unaware as a young girl that her trip from Japan to America was going to become permanent and how her discovery of standup comedy helped her find her voice. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23546816

Episode 1342 - Dana Gould 06/23/2022

Episode 1342 - Dana Gould Dana Gould is in his 40th year of doing standup. He and Marc talk about what they’ve learned in their decades of comedy, how they came to accept their limitations, and how they see themselves in today’s standup environment. Dana also explains why he went back on stage after years of giving it up to work on The Simpsons, why he feels that progress in comedy means knowing when you were wrong, and why he always goes back to George Carlin. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23516087

Episode 1341 - Kate Berlant 06/20/2022

Episode 1341 - Kate Berlant Kate Berlant’s comedy defies easy categorization. That’s okay with Kate, who thinks people use a lot of empty terms to pin down comedy. Kate and Marc talk about how growing up in the art world helped Kate take a different approach when she got on the comedy stage as a teenager. They also talk about Kate’s sketch work with fellow comedian John Early, the inspiration she took from the late Brody Stevens, and why her Bo Burnham-directed comedy special remains in limbo. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23479844

Episode 1340 - Jen Statsky 06/16/2022

Episode 1340 - Jen Statsky When Jen Statsky and her collaborators were creating the show Hacks, they knew they needed to nail the portrayal of life in standup comedy because comics will quickly know if they got it wrong. Marc talks with Jen about how they did, indeed, nail it. They also talk about her work at The Onion and on shows like Parks and Rec, The Good Place, Broad City and Lady Dynamite. Plus, Jen and Marc talk about stuffing your feelings, getting better at acknowledging them, and understanding why growing up in Boston might lead you to ignoring them. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23443235

Episode 1339 - Greg Proops 06/13/2022

Episode 1339 - Greg Proops Marc has a very direct question for his old friend Greg Proops: “Did we lose?” In the fight for the heart and soul of comedy, there is real uncertainty about the current trajectory. What legacy did the alternative comedy movement leave, if any? Did the Obama years create a false sense of security for popular comedians that made them drop the ball? Will a there be a counterforce to the dominant strain of reactionary backlash comedy? Marc and Greg interrogate these questions and their own roles in the past three decades of comedy. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23408018

Episode 1338 - Lara Beitz 06/09/2022

Episode 1338 - Lara Beitz For a while, Lara Beitz could only get on stage to do comedy if she was hammered. She’d drink to feel less nervous but then there wasn’t a time when she didn’t feel nervous, so she was just always drinking. Lara and Marc talk about their shared experiences with addiction and recovery as they were developing their voices as comedians. Lara also looks back on an upbringing that was clouded by the specter of alcoholism and how she had to come to terms with it later in life. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23374172

Episode 1337 - Phil Tippett 06/06/2022

Episode 1337 - Phil Tippett Oscar and Emmy-winning visual effects artist Phil Tippett is responsible for some of the most memorable effects in movies history, like the alien chess match in Star Wars, the giant robot walkers in The Empire Strikes Back, the ED-209 in RoboCop and more. And because his work is almost always rooted in stop-motion animation, Phil tends to be meticulous. It’s why, as he tells Marc, he started his first film 30 years ago and it’s only complete now. They talk about the creation of this movie, Mad God, and how it drove Phil to the brink. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23336141

Episode 1336 - Jesus Trejo 06/02/2022

Episode 1336 - Jesus Trejo Jesus Trejo knows he put in the work to become a paid regular at The Comedy Store, spending years doing open mic spots and performing at 1am for a handful of people. Not to mention paying his dues unclogging toilets at the club and putting up Mitzi Shore’s Christmas tree. But even with all of that behind him, Jesus still breaks out in a sweat when he tells Marc about those times he completely bombed as he was trying to learn the ropes. Jesus also tells Marc about being a caregiver for both his parents and what gave him the courage to work that real life scenario into his act. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23302826

Episode 1335 - Rosie Perez 05/30/2022

Episode 1335 - Rosie Perez Rosie Perez initially thought success would paper over her trauma. But the emotional ramifications from the abuse she went through as a child were never going to stay hidden for long. Rosie and Marc talk about how acting is still risky for her but now she has tools to help work through the high-wire act of tapping into dark places. They also talk about her friendship with Spike Lee, her reasons for working a lot, and her two current series, The Flight Attendant and Now & Then. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23266286

Ray Liotta from 2018 05/27/2022

Ray Liotta from 2018 From 2018, Ray Liotta talks with Marc about getting his start in soap operas, the debt he owes to Melanie Griffith, and the emotional filming of Goodfellas. Ray died on May 26, 2022 at age 67. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23250728

Episode 1334 - Joey Camen 05/26/2022

Episode 1334 - Joey Camen Joey Camen left a dysfunctional home in Detroit as a teenager and, thanks to an ad he saw in a Playboy, knew exactly where he needed to go. He went straight to the brand new club on the Sunset Strip, The Comedy Store, and quickly became one of the club’s first regulars. Joey and Marc talk about those early days of the Store, living in fear of Mitzi, and becoming friends with the likes of Paul Mooney and Richard Pryor before falling under the tutelage of legendary voice actor Daws Butler. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23233586

Episode 1333 - Marc Goes To Washington w/ Dr. Dwandalyn Reece and Lance Mion 05/23/2022

Episode 1333 - Marc Goes To Washington w/ Dr. Dwandalyn Reece and Lance Mion This is an episode about history. Collective history and personal history. Marc finds himself in Washington, DC on the latest leg of his standup tour, a place imbued with symbolism, both for what we want it to be, but also what we really are. And it’s where Marc’s college roommate lives. First, Marc reckons with a history of injustice at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture with curator Dr. Dwandalyn Reece. Then Marc tries to piece together his own past with his old roommate, Lance Mion. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23196683

Episode 1332 - Michael Che 05/19/2022

Episode 1332 - Michael Che Michael Che wanted out his life on the Lower East Side, but his initial path was not comedy. It was painting and fine art. Michael tells Marc how he became enamored with standup while living in his brother’s basement, how he came to love the grind of building an act, and how he puts everything he’s learned into his sketch show, That Damn Michael Che. They also talk about the growing pains of doing Weekend Update on SNL and why hosting award shows isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23162840

Episode 1331 - Sandra Oh 05/16/2022

Episode 1331 - Sandra Oh Sandra Oh spent much of her career believing certain opportunities weren’t going to come her way because they’re just not afforded to Asian actors. Sandra and Marc talk about what she found in herself to overcome that sense of externally imposed limitations and how she built a body of work including Grey’s Anatomy, Sideways, Killing Eve and The Chair. Sandra also explains how she’s drawing inspiration from John C. Reilly in this next phase of her life as an actor. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23121899

Episode 1330 - The Doobie Brothers / Steven Jenkins 05/12/2022

Episode 1330 - The Doobie Brothers / Steven Jenkins The Doobie Brothers is a band with almost twenty official members throughout its five decades of existence. But Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons have been playing guitar and performing vocals for the band since Day One. Tom and Pat talk with Marc about how their family-like band has grown and evolved throughout the years, particularly during iterations with members like Jeff “Skunk” Baxter and Michael McDonald. Also, during his time in Tulsa, Marc pays a visit to the new Bob Dylan Center and talks with its director, Steven Jenkins. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23079920

Episode 1329 - A Tribute to Dan Vitale 05/09/2022

Episode 1329 - A Tribute to Dan Vitale Marc remembers the life and comedy of Dan Vitale, a comedian whose raw and unapologetically personal style of stand-up was a big influence on a young Marc Maron. Marc talks about how his perception of what it meant to be a stand-up comic changed while watching Dan, how their talk in 2014 exemplified WTF, and how the connection they maintained in the following years helped Marc through the darkness. Marc also shares the entirety of Dan’s episode from March 2014. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23046446

Episode 1328 - Nicole Holofcener 05/05/2022

Episode 1328 - Nicole Holofcener Nicole Holofcener has trouble breathing. She finds herself holding her breath for too long, which could be a result of allergies or a byproduct of sleep apnea. But it’s also an apt metaphor for the life of an independent filmmaker. Nicole and Marc talk about what it takes to make films with small budgets, casting conundrums, and deeply personal subject matter. They discuss the films she wrote and directed like Walking and Talking, Lovely and Amazing, and Enough Said, as well as her contributions to The Last Duel and her reasons for continuing to work on episodic television shows. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/23013206

Episode 1327 - Tony Hawk 05/02/2022

Episode 1327 - Tony Hawk Tony Hawk walked into Marc’s garage on a broken leg, the result of a recent skateboarding trick gone wrong. It’s everything about Tony that’s on display in the new documentary Tony Hawk: Until The Wheels Fall Off, distilled down to one cracked femur. Tony and Marc talk about why it’s so hard to stop doing what you love, the fear of being seen as washed up, and the feeling of being a kid and finding something that you know you want to do for the rest of your life. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/22975373

Episode 1326 - Trombone Shorty 04/28/2022

Episode 1326 - Trombone Shorty It’s normal for everyone to call Troy Andrews by his stage name, Trombone Shorty, because he’s been playing the trombone since he was a tiny, four-year-old boy. Troy and Marc talk about the musical culture of New Orleans, growing up in the Treme, touring with Lenny Kravitz right out of high school, becoming the frontman of his own band, making the trombone a featured instrument, creating a musical education academy, and recording his new album, Lifted, which is inspired by his mother. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/22937630

Episode 1325 - Vanessa Bayer 04/25/2022

Episode 1325 - Vanessa Bayer Vanessa Bayer knows her comedic talent comes from a decidedly unfunny place. Vanessa’s teenage cancer diagnosis focused her comedy skills, which in turn allowed her to help people process, understand and laugh at horrible things. Vanessa and Marc talk about how her natural optimism guided her through this health crisis and also put her in a great headspace for the Saturday Night Live audition process. Vanessa also explains why she incorporated her real life medical history into her new comedy series, I Love That For You. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/22896788

Episode 1324 - Aaron Blabey 04/21/2022

Episode 1324 - Aaron Blabey Children's book author Aaron Blabey can measure success by the more than 30 million books he's sold. But that success was a long time coming and in many ways felt like it was never in reach. Aaron tells Marc how the popular art and culture coming from outside Australia made him feel dissatisfied with his own life, how his excursions into acting and painting left him empty, and how he accidentally fulfilled all his creative impulses when he came up with The Bad Guys books. They also talk about The Bad Guys movie and what it was like to have Marc playing one of his characters. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/22849823

Episode 1323 - Robert Eggers 04/18/2022

Episode 1323 - Robert Eggers Robert Eggers was never into Vikings or hand-to-hand combat or macho stuff. And yet he just made the Viking movie to end all Viking movies, filled with brutal violence and macho posturing. But as he tells Marc, making The Northman was all in the service of his quest to transmit the sublime. Robert and Marc talk the meticulous attention to detail he brings to his films, how he’s fascinated by the search for belief amidst ritual and fantasy, and how he grew up loving comic books but would now rather make movies like The Witch and The Lighthouse than a superhero story. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/22814360

Episode 1322 - Harvey Fierstein 04/14/2022

Episode 1322 - Harvey Fierstein The guiding philosophy in the life of Harvey Fierstein is simple: Say yes. As he put together his new memoir, I Was Better Last Night, it was clear to Harvey his extraordinary life relied on saying yes to opportunities, yes to activism, and yes to his own self worth. Harvey and Marc talk about the challenges of dealing with the past in memoir writing, the importance of telling the stories of gay culture in the ’60s and ’70s, and the evolving understanding of gender and identity. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/22789142

Gilbert Gottfried from 2012 04/13/2022

Gilbert Gottfried from 2012 From 2013, Gilbert Gottfried talks to Marc about his comedy peers, his one-year stint on SNL, the times his jokes got him in trouble, and more. Gilbert died on April 12, 2022, at age 67. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/22777355

Episode 1321 - Bonnie Raitt 04/11/2022

Episode 1321 - Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Raitt doesn’t feel the need to slow down. With the release of her 18th studio album and the start of an eight-month world tour, the prolific singer-songwriter knows what it’s like to make the most of your opportunities. Bonnie talks with Marc about growing up in a musical home, falling into the Laurel Canyon music scene, struggling with substance abuse, getting sober in her late-30s and having her first hit album in her 40s. They also talk about Bonnie’s continuing work with James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Mavis Staples and Lucinda Williams. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/22747076

Episode 1320 - Zazie Beetz 04/07/2022

Episode 1320 - Zazie Beetz Zazie Beetz and Marc were in three things together - Joker, the Netflix series Easy, and the new animated film The Bad Guys - but they’re only now meeting each other for real. That makes for a good opportunity to interrogate their respective anxiety issues and compare their coping strategies. Zazie and Marc also talk about her German heritage, why she’s not an LA person, and how she sees her work on Atlanta as being part of an overall reflection of Donald Glover’s real life story. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/22711187

Episode 1319 - Adam Ray 04/04/2022

Episode 1319 - Adam Ray Comedian Adam Ray was a high school athlete, a musical theater performer, and an acting student with his eyes on Hollywood. But one thing he never could shake was the feeling of being an overweight kid when he was younger. Adam and Marc talk about how doing comedy helps keep feelings of insecurity at bay and why the two of them struggled to get over their fears of being on stage. Adam also talks about playing Jay Leno on Pam and Tommy, Vince McMahon on Young Rock, and Wolverine at the Universal Studios theme park. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/22670060

Episode 1318 - Guy Torry 03/31/2022

Episode 1318 - Guy Torry Comedian Guy Torry spent 13 years creating and running the most famous all-black comedy night in America at The Comedy Store. And now Guy just spent another 13 years making a documentary about that influential weekly comedy show, Phat Tuesdays. Guy and Marc talk about the limited opportunities for Black comedians in mainstream clubs and how the racially divided climate of 1990s Los Angeles highlighted the need to fill a comedy void. Guy explains the importance of comedian Robin Harris in mentoring young comedians and how comics like Martin Lawrence, Bernie Mac and others thrived in the new environment. /episode/index/show/wtfpod/id/22632086

WTF with Marc Maron Podcast

TOPICS