Episode 1413 - Austin Butler

Austin Butler devoted the past four years of his life to Elvis, the last year of which has been spent promoting and talking about Elvis. So it’s a little bit of a break for him to talk with Marc about his cowboy heritage, being a shy kid, becoming a regular of Nickelodeon and Disney Channel shows, finding his calling on the stage, learning from Denzel Washington, and cracking up at Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio on the set of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. And yeah, they talk about the Elvis accent, too.

Episode 1412 - Daniels (Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert)

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert share a first name, a passion for filmmaking and now awards for Best Director. But the duo known as Daniels have backgrounds that are as divergent as the multiverse they invented for Everything Everywhere All At Once. They talk to Marc about their distinctions, such as growing up with undiagnosed ADHD versus being an academic overachiever, one being influenced by Rian Johnson's Brick, the other an acolyte of Tim & Eric, and various embarrassing moments of their youth that helped define their work.

Episode 1411 - Michelle Yeoh

Michelle Yeoh travels through the multiverse in Everything Everywhere All At Once. But when she was growing up in Malaysia, there was a universe where she continued her dance training and opened her own dance school. That all came to an end with an injury but it opened the door to another universe where she became a martial arts film star. Michelle and Marc talk about Yes, Madam!, Police Story 3: Supercop, Jackie Chan, James Bond, Crazy Rich Asians, Quentin Tarantino, and more.

Episode 1410 - Tim Blake Nelson

Tim Blake Nelson always impresses Marc with his acting and, since the last time he was on the show, he’s made more stuff Marc loved, like Old Henry and Nightmare Alley. But now Tim has also impressed Marc as a novelist. His first novel, City of Blows, is in the tradition of classic Hollywood fiction. Tim tells Marc how his own experiences as an actor fed the book’s morality tale and how he found inspiration in the old stories of Hollywood past.

Episode 1409 - Marc Summers

Most people know Marc Summers as the host of Double Dare on Nickelodeon and Unwrapped on Food Network. But his background makes him an ideal WTF guest. A Jewish kid from the Midwest who wanted to get into show business, Marc tried his hand at being a DJ, a magician, a comic, and eventually became a regular at The Comedy Store. Once Marc found success, he had to overcome numerous personal setbacks and health challenges. Marc and Marc talk about it all, including his new podcast Marc Summers Unwraps.

Episode 1408 - AEW (Chris Jericho, Tony Khan, Colt Cabana, Bryce Remsberg, MJF, Eddie Kingston)

As documented in the Wrestling With Marc series on The Full Maron, Marc undergoes a full immersion into the world of professional wrestling when his producer Brendan suggests Marc explore something totally new to him. With help from All Elite Wrestling, Marc learns the ropes and everything in between. Featuring talks with wrestling legend Chris Jericho (9:20), AEW owner Tony Khan (59:40), returning WTF guest Colt Cabana (1:33:30), referee Bryce Remsberg (1:37:35), AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman (1:45:40), and the Mad King Eddie Kingston (2:01:25).

Episode 1407 - Wayne Brady

Wayne Brady is making himself happy again when he’s performing. He makes other people happy hosting Let’s Make a Deal and being part of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, but only in recent years does Wayne feel like he’s combatting his depression and anxiety in a way that lets him enjoy his job. Wayne and Marc talk about the roots of those issues, as well as his early life in Orlando, playing Goofy and Tigger at Disney World, and that Chappelle’s Show sketch.

Episode 1406 - Dave Franco

Dave Franco is a successful actor but that doesn’t mean he was full of confidence when he began directing his first feature. Dave tells Marc how he overcame the fear of the unknown once he stepped on set to call action for the first time. They also talk about how the timing of the pandemic worked out for the release of that film, The Rental, and how his latest film, Somebody I Used to Know, started as a script he wrote with his wife, Alison Brie, during quarantine.

Episode 1405 - Radhika Jones

Radhika Jones just celebrated her fifth year as Editor-in-Chief of Vanity Fair and, as far as Marc is concerned, she plays a major role on the front lines of the American culture war. Radhika tells Marc why she remains optimistic about our current cultural moment, why print is not yet dead, and how a magazine like Vanity Fair can modernize and evolve in order to better represent our current times.

Episode 1404 - Brendan Fraser

Brendan Fraser is receiving awards and accolades for his performance in The Whale but his reasons for taking on the role go much deeper than wanting to earn well-deserved praise. Brendan and Marc talk about the many layers of pain, trauma and redemption that went into creating the performance, much of which was informed by experiences throughout Brendan’s own life. They also compare notes on their shared love of Canada.

Episode 1403 - Sarah Polley

Sarah Polley has a lot to say about memory, narratives and the stories we tell. That’s because she believes they’re all fluid, which creates a sort of moving target for a writer and director of films, as she is. Sarah and Marc talk about how this is represented in Sarah’s movies like Away from Her and her latest, Women Talking, and why she made a documentary about a particularly fraught and deceptive narrative from her own family.

Episode 1402 - Octavia Spencer

Octavia Spencer’s career started behind the scenes, as she worked in casting departments on film sets. Director Joel Schumacher said she should read for the role of Sandra Bullock’s nurse in A Time To Kill and set her on a path that would eventually culminate fifteen years later with an Academy Award. Octavia and Marc talk about how she’s had to resist typecasting, how she conquered stage fright, and how her childhood love of police procedurals is now her life, as she kicks off the third season of the crime drama Truth Be Told.

Episode 1401 - Todd Field

Todd Field toyed with many pursuits before he ever directed a film. First there was close-up magic. Then he went to school on a music scholarship. He also hoped to become a baseball player, working as a batboy for a minor league team. He helped invent Big League Chew. Then he became an actor and worked with Stanley Kubrick and Tom Cruise, who both offered Todd support as he made his first movie. Todd and Marc talk about the decisions that led him to each of his three films: In the Bedroom, Little Children, and Tár.

Episode 1400 - Andrea Riseborough

Andrea Riseborough can't lie. She's terrible at it. But she believes that trait helps her as an actor because there's no hiding her emotions. Marc can attest to this, having acted opposite Andrea in To Leslie, but she's been at it since she was nine years old doing David Mamet plays with other kids. Marc and Andrea talk about her background in theater, how Mike Leigh gave her a charmed entry into film, and how she's personally confronting the current challenges of film creation and distribution.

Episode 1399 - Katt Williams

Katt Williams is a one-of-a-kind comic performer, so it’s only natural he should have a one-of-a-kind backstory. Katt tells Marc about his travels as a teenager, trying to make it on his own in Florida, then in Haiti, then around the country in all 50 states as a door to door salesman. Katt recalls the days he was opening for comedians like Jeff Foxworthy and Dan Whitney, before he became Larry the Cable Guy, and he talks about some of his surprising inspirations, from Jack London to Don Knotts.

Episode 1398 - Colin Hanks

Colin Hanks knows there are public perceptions of him that are tricky to navigate. For one, the man known as America’s Dad is his actual dad. There’s also the fact that people have a hard time seeing him in roles other than The Nice Guy. And then there’s the way people still think of him as a young man even as he enters middle age with children of his own. Colin and Marc talk about the mindset he’s had to put in place to feel at ease with himself, much of which he had to absorb as he processed the loss of his mother.

Episode 1397 - Ben Foster

Ben Foster was 14 years old and when he had what he calls a breakdown. Ben had a moment while acting where he completely lost himself and he needed to get back to that place at all costs. Marc talks with Ben about how he chased that feeling from the set of a Disney Channel sitcom into dramatic work in movies like Hell or High Water and Kill Your Darlings, where his commitment to the role is never in question. They also get into his two most recent performances in The Survivor and Emancipation, where he felt a deep responsibility in depicting both the victim and perpetrator of human atrocities.

Episode 1396 - Eric McFadden

Guitarist and singer-songwriter Eric McFadden is a blast from Marc's past. They knew each other when they were teenagers growing up in Albuquerque, fostering their creative passions in art studios, record stores and guitar shops around town. After coming in brief contact with each other throughout the years, Eric and Marc finally sit down in the garage to talk about what happened when Eric left New Mexico, how he wound up working with George Clinton, Bernie Worrell, Eric Burdon from The Animals and others, as well as launching his own solo career.