How’s it going, Folks?
Hope everything is okay. Good enough. Not horrible. I miss status quo. This fanatical Christian racist authoritarian clusterfuck is exhausting most days. I hope the voting works when it's time.
Other than that, and the perpetual state of self-criticism I’m usually in, everything is pretty good. I know it sounds like a small sliver of a wedge of good in the Maron psychological pie chart but that’s generally what I am working with. Seems to help with my creativity, sadly.
I’ve been doing a lot of comedy. Right back into the bit-making process. After I dump an hour-plus into a special those bits usually just naturally die in my mind. I don’t think to do them anymore. At least not in the same form I had. Some ideas recur throughout my entire career it seems. They are parts of what I guess is my ongoing conversation with the world OR an indication that on some level, probably emotional and psychological, I am spinning my wheels. I guess if I spin them in new ways that feels like growth. Get that car rocking forward and back a bit to get out of the mud. Seems like that is my life’s work. Maybe eventually I will jettison myself out of this slippery hole and keep moving onward up the mountain. Fortunately, there is plenty going on around me so my perception is being hammered at daily and that gets me thinking and trying to make sense, trying to understand and make it funny.
I’m happy new bits are coming so I have them for upcoming dates in Europe and they can create a bed of material to work from as I develop the new chunks. I want to revisit some big bits that were never really released in the world and get them on the record so to speak. I also had some kind of mental breakthrough around how I approach material while I was dehydrated and lost on a hike the other day. I set out again to learn about the massive park by my house. I looked at a map of all the hikes and embarked on a loop which seemed manageable but there was no mileage scale. I put Miles Davis on in my head and got lost in that and then, before I knew it, I was in a no turning back situation in the middle of an 8-mile loop with a little bottle of water. I felt that jazz, the structure. Start with a phrase you can come back to and maybe some sense of an ending and just depart in between on the riffs. I have thought about it before but it never quite made sense to me in what I do with comedy in such a clear way.
We’ll see what happens. Oh, and I made it down from the mountain.
Today I talk to Heather Graham about her new movie ‘Half Magic’ and her career and a couple of bad situations. Plus, a short talk with the returning Sebastian Maniscalco. On Thursday I talk to Duncan Jones about writing and directing his new film ‘Mute’ and I try, unsuccessfully, not to bring up his dad too much. Also, my buddy Brendon Small stops by. Great talks.
Enjoy!
Boomer lives!
Love,
Maron