There certainly is no glamour to casino culture.

You good?

I made it through a weekend at Foxwoods Resorts and Casino without becoming a compulsive gambler and/or losing more money than I can live with. I lost a little but I don’t blame myself. Apparently casino gambling is not an even playing field. There is that part of me that thinks all I need to do is win a few hands and stop. I did that, then went back, lost, went back again, won, went back again, lost half. I did good.

The shows at Comix with Ryan Singer went great. I really want to thank the WTFers that came out. I know it is not somewhere you would go—ever. Thank you for the Cat Toys, Pumpkin Whoopie Pies and the Rhode Island regional gift bag. Much appreciated.

There certainly is no glamour to casino culture. It is definitely not America at its best. Just a parade of fat, oxygen tanks, desperation and women who don’t know how to walk in heels. I had moments when I asked myself, “Where the fuck do these people come from?” Do they live beneath the ground where they sit in subterranean caves eating and watching American Idol? When the weekend comes do they crawl out of manhole covers and walk en masse like zombies to the slots? I sat at a Black Jack table with an obese women, a guy with a tank smoking, three Asian men and a compulsive gambler who was playing 500 dollar hands, losing, while watch a baseball game on a small screen at the table. The reason they pump oxygen into the rooms is so people who have any self-awareness won't become suicidal and ruin the fun for everyone.

The Bell House shows were amazing. Thanks for coming out! The first show was hot and weird but awesome. The second show was mind blowing. Look forward to those.

This week on the show the long wait is over. Brian Posehn hangs out in the garage and talks for an hour. I swear we have maybe spoken for 12 minutes over the entire 15 years I have known him. I actually didn’t know if he could talk for longer than that. It was great to hang out with him. Also on the show this week, Ahmed Ahmed talks about being an Egyptian comic, his family, doing comedy in the Arabic countries, and his new documentary that opens this week.

Hope you dig it.

Love,
Maron

P.S. I’ll be at The Comedy Works in Denver for the first time June 16-19. Come down if you are around.

I guess my hood is getting hip.

Hello, Supporters.

Sorry about that greeting. I must’ve gotten all NPR on you for a second. Goddammit! I can let this get to my head. The ten-part WTF series that myself, Jesse Thorn, and Nick White produced for PRX is being picked up by some NPR-affiliate stations. These are re-edited interviews from the show with some new intro and segue material. That’s right! The show that I do in my garage, car, and people’s apartments is going to air on WBEZ in Chicago starting June 5th. It was also picked up by WNYC in NY and KCRW in LA, though I don’t know the exact dates. This is exciting. We did it. I feel like we just broke into a library or something. Very exciting. Who knows—maybe I’ll be on the lecture circuit soon. Hah.

I had an interesting experience when I went to get my eyes examined. I went to this optical shop here in the neighborhood that I have been driving by for years—The Society of Spectacle. I was amazed. They had a great selection of stuff and Maria Bamford’s CD was on the counter. She lives by me. I guess my hood is getting hip. I asked the woman who owns the place if she knew where I could get my eyes examined. She referred me to an optometrist right down the street from me. She said the guy was cool and that he was a trumpet player. I thought, "Okay…how is he with eyes?" So I go to his place and again, I have been driving by this storefront with its hand-painted sign for years and just thought it was a crappy little place. Turns out, the guy is a real jazz musician. He was probably in his late 50s. Jewish, from Indiana, and he played out with his sextet all the time. Who knew? We talked about Lenny Bruce, Art Pepper, Lord Buckley and Gil Scott Heron. He dilated my eyes and gave me his CD—"Hippy Chicks on Acid – The Elliot Caine Sextet Live at Alva’s." WTF. My optometrist swings, man.

This week I will be at Comix at the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut if you are in the region and want to come out and watch me and Ryan Singer do the funny thing. I am sorry about selling out The Bell House shows so quickly if you didn’t get tickets. We’re doing another two on July 25th.

This week on the show I am excited to feature the creator of Community, Dan Harmon. Dan is a very intense and brilliant dude. Think you will dig the show. Also this week I talk to the very talented Iris Bahr about Israel, Jews and her webseries, Svetlana’s World. You can check it out here www.svetlanasworld.com.

Okay. We good?

Maron

If this is Hell on Earth, I’m Pretty Comfortable.

Greetings to the damned-

We made it through another Rapture. I think this was my third and it was certainly the most disappointing. I wasn’t expecting much. I wasn’t expecting anything actually. I knew it wasn’t going to happen. There were no fireworks in my hood. If anything big is going to happen here, there are fireworks leading up to it for weeks sometimes. Fourth of July officially starts June 12th, here in the hills of the barrio. Looking forward to it—all three weeks of it. Maybe the Rapture did happen and there were only a few people worthy of being picked up by the Jesus ship. The sad thing about that is if this is Hell on Earth not much has changed since last week and I’m pretty comfortable.

The day the Rapture was supposed to go down my buddy Dave sent me Nonzero by Robert Wright. I have no idea what it is about but he can’t shut up about it and we like to talk. It looks like it’s one of those books that explains everything. I have no idea what to expect out of the first 17 pages, which is probably all I will read. I am also pages away from finishing the Keith Richards book. He is talking about food a lot. I am savoring it. I don’t want it to end, and it is one of the rare things in life that doesn’t have to as long as I don’t read it.

There is a big Live WTF at The Steve Allen Theater tomorrow, May 24, 8PM. I have a great line up! Joel McHale, BJ Novak, Dwayne Perkins, Allan Havey, Eddie Pepitone and Jim Earl. I don’t know if is sold out but the link is here. It will be fun and I will bring some of the new Cat Negotiations shirts.

Big shows this week. Garry Shandling came by and we had a sweet talk about stuff. Good guy and funny as hell. I have a lot of respect for him. Live from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is going up on Thursday, so quit asking me about. It was a blast. I hope you dig it.

Happy to be on earth!

Love,
Maron

Cowboy hats, guns, Republicans and Austin.

Howdy, Partners (Sorry, I’m in Texas) -

I’m sitting here naked in a hotel room in San Antonio writing this. I am feeling bad about dumping a massive Chicken Fried Steak into my system at 1am. Rough morning. I can’t erase the past. I guess I’ll have to live with it. Hopefully I will be headed to the Tejano Conjunto Festival in a bit and maybe I’ll lay down a podcast somehow. I love that music. I remember when I was growing up in New Mexico there was always an AM station playing what seemed to be one long Mexican song that involved accordion, horns and a polka beat. It was consistent, reliable, always there to stop the dial on for a quick burst of Latino excitement. I am also thinking about going to the Alamo because I really have no sense of the history of Texas (or much of anything other than me for that matter). I just judge it. Many of those judgments are solid but there is certainly an authenticity to this state. It is what it is. Cowboy hats, guns, Republicans and Austin. Austin is so close but seems so far away. Thanks for making the trip btw, all you Austinites. Austinians? I dunno, but thanks. Also, thanks to all of you that made the drive from Houston. That is a haul. I hope you had fun.

This week we get back to some less emotional casts but provocative nonetheless. Steve Byrne finally decided to share his side of the Dane Cook essence-stealing debacle. It took a while for him to come to the decision to set the record straight from his side. For those of you who didn’t listen to the Dane Cook episode, Dane accused Steve of stealing his ‘essence’ early on in their careers. Aside from this fiery tidbit, Steve is a great comic with an interesting life and story to tell. Hope you dig it. Phil Rosenthal is also on the show this week. The co-creator of Everybody Loves Raymond talks about his documentary, Exporting Raymond. Phil went to Russia to help the Russians produce a pilot for their version of his show. It is a compelling and hilarious documentary and a great story. Phil can be a little annoying but that comes with the territory.

Looking forward to being home at the Cat Ranch for a bit. I’m going to get into the writing. I have a book to make and a speech to give. More on that later.

Adios,

Maron

P.S. Cat Negotiations shirts are flying of the racks or out of the boxes or off the shelves…whatever it is, people dig them. I’m glad.

The lingering is how they get ya.

Back at the ranch, Partners-

Hey gang! I can’t tell you how it great it is to be home for more than 3 days. It feels like it has been months. I’ve been doing some work around the house and outside. I actually went to IKEA the other day and only bought things I needed. I had to do it quickly. The lingering is how they get ya.

I thought is would be fun to do a weekend down in Irvine at the Improv. I figured its nearby, go do some shows, make a few bucks and see a few WTFers. Man, was I wrong. I had some good shows but it was not fun. The only fun thing about it was seeing some of you guys down there and playing to you--pockets of WTFers amongst a sea of free ticket holders at a a shopping mall in a corporate club in Orange County. WTF was I thinking? We did okay. If you came down I urge you to come see me again in a club that has a soul.

But, again, thanks for coming out and thanks for bringing cookies, candy and stuff. Thanks to whoever had flowers (ProFlowers at that) sent to me as a Mother’s Day gift from Monkey, Boomer and LaFonda. Very clever.

I am very excited about the show this week. As some of you know I went up to Santa Barbara and spent an hour or so with Jonathan Winters at his home. I was quite nervous and a bit in awe of the comedic genius that is Winters. He is 85 but is still firing on all cylinders. I hope you dig the talk. Also this week, in honor of George Carlin’s birthday, I talk to Sally Wade. Sally was George’s partner, significant other, girlfriend, however you want to say it, she was with him for the last decade or so of his life and has put out a very touching and fun book about their relationship, The George Carlin Letters: The Permanent Courtship of Sally Wade. These are shows in honor of true comedy legends.

I will be in San Antonio at LOL Comedy Club this weekend May 13th, 14th and 15th. Come down if you are around.

New website is coming (it’s actually here but it is a ‘soft launch’). You will be able to listen and download from the site. It is beautiful, fun and will have everything WTF/Maron related. Check it out.

Adios,
Maron

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