Stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer and actor Marc Maron didn't know what to expect when he started his podcast, WTF With Marc Maron, in 2009. Eleven years later, the podcast has a loyal listenership with more than a thousand episodes and counting. In WTF, Maron conducts off-the-cuff, long-form interviews with fellow comedians, actors and musicians.
The success of his podcast and his growing audience led to more acting opportunities, including his IFC series, Maron, and the Netflix series GLOW. He continues to tour as a stand-up and his latest special, the very-coincidentally-titled End Times Fun, was released on Netflix this past March.
Recorded remotely during the coronavirus pandemic, NPR's Ask Me Another host Ophira Eisenberg and house musician Jonathan Coulton talk to Maron about his podcast, his growth as an actor, and his new stand-up special.
Later, Maron, a cat lover, plays a true or false game called, "Did This Happen In The 2019 Film Adaptation Of The Timeless Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical, CATS?" (He has not seen the movie.)
Highlights
On Naming His New Netflix Special
"[End Times Fun] wasn't the original name for the show, but it was the same idea. I was very dead set on calling that show 'Jeremiad' and [Netflix's director of Original Comedy Specials, Robbie Praw] was like, 'We're not calling it that.' 'But that's what it is, it's gonna be a Jeremiad.' And he was like, 'I don't know what that is! No one's gonna know what that is!' ..Then I was like, 'End Times Fun.' That's what it is."
On Starting His Long-Running Podcast, WTF With Marc Maron
"It was not a popularized medium, nor were there any methods of making a living that you could bank on. But there were a few guys doing something, and I was coming out of radio, and I needed to do something. We figured out how to do it but, the early...community of podcasters had to learn as we went."
On Getting Recognized
"I got to be known as an interviewer — people would love me as an interviewer, but I would be like, 'You know I do stand-up?' ...A lot of people still don't know who I am or which me is me. A lot of people still can watch GLOW and be like, 'I didn't know he was a stand-up,' or, 'He has a podcast?' Those questions are asked around the world every day, alongside, 'Do you think I have it? My throat hurts.'"
Heard on Marc Maron & Aimee Mann: End Times Fun.
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