Thank You.

Thank you, Listeners.
 
I mean that. Thanks. 
 
I’ve gotten literally thousands of emails from you and it really helps. I’m not great getting my emotions to the surface once they’ve started to submerge themselves. Knowing you all are there helps me feel like the space is there to do it. I appreciate that. 
 
I’ve been dealing ok. The feelings come in waves and sometimes I get consumed with the sadness. This last week had been horrendous and harrowing. I’ve had to move through a lot of stuff—like her actual stuff. Just heartbreaking. 
 
I’m not going to write too much here yet. Just know I am feeling the feelings. I am not drinking or using drugs. I am not using nicotine. I am in touch with people who love me many times of day. I hope that addresses some of the concerns that some of you have. 
 
I believe I will be okay. I believe I will be funny again. I believe I won’t fall permanently into a pit of crushed-hearted sadness. 
 
Lynn wouldn’t have wanted that. 
 
I talk to Sam Bee today, from before the horror, and Kenya Barris on Thursday, from before the horror. Great talks. 
 
Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

Testing.

How’s it going, People?
 
Another week of weirdness and fear and not knowing. Tiring. Though I think I’m getting used to it. I don’t know if that’s good. 
 
It was a quick adaptation to wearing the mask outdoors in the world or shopping or whatever. Doesn’t bother me too much. I’ve figured out how and when to take it on and off when I’m running. Mostly for other people’s benefit, sometimes for mine. Does this mean I’m just a frightened sheep doing what I’m told? I guess. I don’t want to get sick. I don’t want to be a frightened sheep with COVID-19. That would be baaaaad. 
 
It’s been a rough week. Lynn Shelton is staying with me and somehow, she got sick. Really sick. So, right when the symptoms started--sore throat, fever, low energy--I freaked out. I was sure we had the sickness. She went out and got tested at a drive-up operation behind our union clinic. Yes, you can just do that here in California. Get tested. Which is what the entire nation should be able to do so we can fucking know what we are up against and where we are at. I digress. What an amazing thing, to be able to get tested. I am very happy to be living in this state at this time. She said the test was not great. Swabbed. She said she felt like she got her brain tickled. 
 
She tested negative. No COVID. For some reason I thought that was only sickness you could get now. Like all the other sicknesses were laying low. I couldn’t figure out or accept how she could get something. In the rare instance we do anything around people, like food shop, we mask up, glove up, keep a distance. Her getting sick is a testament to her uniqueness, but more importantly a lesson in the fact that we can’t see or stop these fucking bugs, bacteria, viruses. All we can do is be as safe as possible. I’m sorry she’s sick but relieved it’s not the thing. Who the fuck knows what that thing is? What it can do. We know so little and are learning new scary shit every day and there are so many dumb dumbs that assume they know enough and don’t give a shit. Annoying.
 
Riding it out. It’s really not getting much better out there. I’m getting used to it. Weird. 
 
Monkey is doing better btw. 
 
Today I talk to Cate Blanchett. It’s the second time I talked to her. The first time it didn’t record. I’ll explain that on the show. On Thursday I talk to film director Eliza Hittman about her new film Never Rarely Sometimes Always and all her other films. Also, a little bonus short chat with Dan Savage on Thursday. Great talks! 
 
Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

Something Has Relaxed.

What day is it, People?
 
What time is it?
 
Does it matter? No.
 
It’s an odd feeling when no day is any different than the other. At least for me it isn’t. There is something freeing about this pestilent pause. The baseline is fear, layers of fear, fear on top of fears for many, no end to the fear. Around us is a degree of quiet that I don’t think I have ever heard in a city. It’s peaceful and horrifying simultaneously. 
 
I feel no pressure to do anything other than try not to get sick (or fat). I’m not going stir crazy. I’m not even bored. My sense of time has spread out relative to the pace of life now and my days feel full. I’m spending time with Lynn here at the house and we’re not even driving each other crazy. At least she says that I’m not. 


I’m going through my shit. I’m throwing shit away. I’m arranging, organizing, thinking and doing the work.  Something has relaxed in my mind during the day to the point that when I wake up in the middle of the night freaking out it’s pretty pure. 
 
Waking consciousness is a wide-open state. No filters and a blurry line between reality and dream. It’s there that I get terrified about my own mortality (including getting sick and dying), the future and whether or not my cat is going to die soon. I tend use all of my fears as bats to beat the shit out of myself with. In every scenario. Somehow, it’s all my fault. 
 
Just to let you know, the only way out of this beating is some fairly dramatic self-talk like, ‘I’m done.’ Done with what exactly? Whatever it is that I think is causing me anxiety. Work, living in this country, eating, life, cats, etc. It really doesn’t mean I am ‘done.’ It’s just comforting. I am working on some other ways to deal with it in the acceptance realm. I’ll let you know how that goes. 
 
Today I have an amazing conversation with actress Laura Linney and it was done over the video interface platform thingy. It was encouraging. She is a truly lovely person. On Thursday I have a courageous conversation with Whitmer Thomas about his new comedy special ‘The Golden One’ and his life. Heavy. That talk wasn’t courageous because of the content, it was courageous because he came over. We kept the appropriate distance. Great talks. 
 

Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

Counterintuitive.

Jesus, we’re still in it, People.
 
Will be for a while it seems. 
 
It’s strange. I just realized I have not watched one of the President’s briefings. Not one. I’m not even avoiding them. I don’t even know where to watch them. The point is I give zero fucks about anything he has to say. Zero. Am I angry? Absolutely. Do I need to ignite that as often as possible? Absolutely not. I read some news every day. I get up to speed. There’s a bit less now. Just horror show real life nightmare news about this plague and the death it is causing and how this administration doesn’t care and will not provide leadership or supplies. Those are the two news threads. The rest is just celebrities showing up in boxes on your computer doing things. Sometimes alone, sometimes together. 
 
It’s moving, don’t get me wrong. 
 
Also, I just want you to remember that the charade you are seeing as right wing pushback in the form of protests in front of Governor’s mansions is theater. Bad theater. Privately-funded-by-rich-conservatives bad theater. It’s the same play wherever it shows up. Angry morons in a variety of threatening and/or racist uniforms or militia/townie rock garb with Trump paraphernalia saying their freedom is being infringed upon by legally enforced restrictions to stop the spread of a deadly disease. Just remember this isn’t what America looks like. It’s not even what half of America looks like. It’s a few confused, angry, loser stooges who will never get their minds back doing blind capitalism’s bidding. They just cant wait. Fucking children.
 
I get that some people are really in trouble financially, as is the whole economy. It just seems counterintuitive to keep spreading the disease. 
 
In other news I listened to the new Fiona Apple album like every other high-minded, broken, sensitive, soft-hearted aesthete looking for some genius. It does not disappoint. Solid record. I though her last one was difficult to listen to because the emotional rawness seemed out of control in a way that she wasn’t quite comfortable with. On this record she seems to have harnessed all that she is and tethered it to an eclectic palette of rhythms and grooves. The poetry is solid. There is no shortage of risk taking. The vision is clear and she is grounded as fuck and it's beautiful to hear. 
 
I have nothing against Bob Dylan. I love him like a grandfather. I just try to remind myself that just because someone is a genius doesn’t mean that everything they do is a work of genius. I think Bob has been honing his last words for the last few years supported by a great band and we are getting closer. I’m not sure how sage he is at this point, despite boomer overreaction, but he is nostalgic and getting quite good at illuminating his own dimming. 
 
Lynn made me watch a movie I had never heard that was amazing. I thought I should share. It’s called Locke and it stars Tom Hardy. It was made in 2013 and the entire film takes place in a car and it is emotionally riveting. Hardy is a fucking acting wizard and the direction and cinematography are stunning. The writing is also amazing. Check it out. It’s a unique piece of film art. 
 
Today I talk to Rosie O’Donnell. This is the first interview I did via video link up. I will have to get used to it. I think it sounds fine and it is good that I can have eye contact with the guest but it is certainly not the same as them walking through my life into my garage and creating that kind of intimacy. The connection of being face to face in the flesh. We have to make due and we will. On Thursday I talk to cinematographer and director Barry Sonnenfeld about doing both those things and his book. Great talks given the shift. 
 

Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

Squirrelly but Grateful.

Getting squirrelly, Folks?
 
Yes. It’s getting a bit weird. People are coming untethered. People are starting to snap. Many people are in big trouble financially. People are sick. People are dying. People are trying to save and help people. People are showing up for people. Some people are in a good bubble, some in a bad bubble. 
 
Some people are doing okay. They are doing fine. I am fine. I am lucky. I am grateful to be in the position I’m in. I can forget why this is all happening some days because my quality of life is fine. Good, even. It’s weird how quickly I adapted to wearing a mask, spacing myself, standing far from people I am talking to on the street on a walk, staying at home, mostly. 
 
I have to remind myself to extend my mind and empathy to the situation in our hospitals and all the people tirelessly trying to help in the midst of the viral shitshow of death. I also have to remember to extend my gratitude to people who are just doing jobs that sustain what we have left of our way of life and our survival. THANK YOU!
 
I’m selfish. I get lost in myself and my immediate reality. A few days ago I tweeted, ‘It’s still okay to just drive around with no destination for a few hours on a beautiful day, right?’
 
OMFG. It started a divisive Twitter shit storm of reactions that ranged from ‘NO! IF YOU GO OUT AND GET IN AN ACCIDENT YOU DRAW RESOURCES FROM PEOPLE WHO NEED THE MEDICAL ATTENTION FOR COVID!’ to ‘Fuck yeah, man! You have to get out for your sanity!’ Which is why I wanted to go. 
 
It’s a reasonable reading not to go out unless you need essential services. I get it. I ended up just driving to the supermarket by way of the 101 then the PCH back up the 10 to the 110 over to the 5. I needed to go to the supermarket. 
 
I know. I’m a monster. 
 
I’m grateful to my vet and the people that work there. I had to bring monkey in for a steroid shot for his asthma. I parked around back, called reception, someone came out and grabbed him, gave him the shot,  I paid on the phone, they brought him back out. I didn’t need to see a doctor but if I did, they were consulting in the parking lot. Monkey is doing better. 
 
This week I have my first two face to face talks with six feet between us with Taylor Tomlinson today and, coincidently, her boyfriend Sam Morrill on Thursday. Both funny comics with unique stories.
 

Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

Ventriloquism.

Chaos and quiet, People. 
 
Interesting combination. 
 
Here in the house and out on the street, peace. Down the street in the ER and in the hospitals and urgent care clinics, chaos. Pain. Death. Not in my house. It could happen to anybody though. That is becoming clearer. 
 
So, make your masks, keep your distance, cook some good things, think about what happens now and who you are. Be objective. Honest. If this ever passes, it will be nice to enter the new world being true to yourself and knowing who you are and what you are made of. 
 
All that being said, I talk to a ventriloquist today. I know. You’re wondering why, perhaps. Well, it’s some kind of closure for me.
 
I’ve certainly known of Jeff Dunham practically since I started doing comedy. We started around the same time I think. He was the puppet guy. I was a ‘real’ comic. He fell into the category of prop comics, guitar acts and hacks. He became huge. I floundered for years in obscurity. Of course I did. I was the ‘real deal.’ He was the guy with the puppets. Pandering. 
 
There was definitely an ‘us and them’ mentality for some of us when it came to a certain type of act. Now that I’m older I can see the performers that have found their place. He’s a very popular act. He has been for years. He’s an entertainer. He came up in comedy clubs. He’s not a ‘shitty’ comic. He’s an amazing ventriloquist. I knew that years ago. I also knew that when you watch him you can’t help but be impressed and wonder, ‘How the hell does he do that?’ It’s like watching magic. I don’t really watch much magic or ventriloquism but when I happen upon it I’m always impressed somehow.
 
So, when Jeff was pitched as a possible guest the old me thought, ‘Fuck no. The puppet guy?’ The new me thought, ‘Why not?’ Then I had to sit and think about how I would approach the talk. I got honest with myself.
 
When I was a kid, probably 7 or 8 years old, I was obsessed with ventriloquism. I imagine that’s when most kids are. I talked my parents (or maybe my grandparents) into getting me a dummy which was a pricey toy at the time. There was really only a couple available then. Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. Edgar Bergen’s dolls. It was an outdated, old timey type of show business when I was kid but there was something about the idea of ‘throwing your voice’ that was exciting. I read about the real dummies being made out of wood and I wanted one of those. I was, in that moment, more fascinated with the doll itself than learning how to use it. My interest waned and eventually the dummy ended up stripped of its clothes and eventually just a head in a high school art project. 
 
The point is, I loved ventriloquism for a while as a kid. So, I went back to that place as an adult and started there to get mentally ready to talk to Jeff. It was a great talk. 
 
On Thursday I talk to Fran Drescher about being Fran Drescher. Good talk. 

Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

Nothing But Time.

Lock down, People

I don’t even know how long it’s been but I know it seems like it’s been longer. 
 
I do like the quiet. I like knowing I’m not missing out on anything. I like that I’m not sick. I feel bad for people who are. It’s a nasty bug. Deadly. 
 
I’m worried about my mom down in Florida. I just feel that it’s about to get really bad down there. I know it will be bad everywhere eventually but it seems that leadership there is a special kind of stupid. Proudly belligerent. All the seniors down there. So many people. Densely populated. Just worried. Hope for the best. 
 
We’ve been doing okay here at the house. I get dressed in the morning. I feel busy. Doing shit around the house. Cooking. Reading a little. Watching stuff. Running. I usually hike but they’ve closed all the trails so now I’m just running on the hard asphalt. I have no choice. 4 mile a few times a week. Dealing. 
 
I wish I was writing more. I wish I could get in touch with how I am feeling at my core and not just as a reaction to all the incoming garbage. I’m tired of commentary and speculation. I know it’s bad. I know how to stay safe, or as safe as I can. I know I have no control over most of what is happening. In that gap between incoming garbage and knowing what I can and cannot change I will have a life, in quarantine. I will think, assess. Figure out where I stand with myself and with this world. The big work. Godless. Grounded.
 
I watched The Passenger last night on The Criterion Channel. It’s an Antonioni movie. I have seen Blow Up and Red Desert. In all honesty, when I saw Red Desert I was in a film history class in college and had no idea what I was watching or why. I remember it was stunning and colorful but not unlike most art I felt like I was missing something. The genius or meaning was eluding me. It’s great to watch this stuff as an adult. I thought The Passenger was stunning and uniquely shot and conceived. I thought the way the story was stripped down was effective. It made me think. Many of the shots resonated in my mind. 
 
It was made in the seventies and it had a bleak ending. It explores existential themes like what is the self, meaning, courage, purpose, masculinity, truth. All the good stuff. Jack Nicholson stars in it. It’s always exciting to see the early work of a great artist for the first time, now. 
 
Today I talk to Ben Sinclair from HBO’s High Maintenance about being who he is. I thought he was a bit off when I watched the show. Turns out we have a lot in common. On Thursday I try to follow comic Byron Bower’s seeming stream of consciousness conversation. Great talks! 

Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

Find Out How You Can Help.

Let’s keep it together, People!
 
It’s hard not panic. For many reasons. Almost a bottomless pit of reasons—a rapidly evolving rabbit hole. 
 
I’m in and out of freaking out that I may have it. I don’t know if my chest gets tight because of the virus of because I’m freaking out which is something that happens to me. I carry almost all my stress in my chest. I wonder if I would know if I had it. When I think I do have it I hope its mild. When I read about the way the virus works the existential panic sinks in and nothing but bleakness fills my consciousness. That’s me being selfish. 
 
Because the real awareness has to be of the realities. Which are hard to wrap one’s brain around because our brains don’t want to do it. Most fears are selfish. ‘What’s going to happen to me.’ Or the selfishness of belligerent fearlessness based in ignorance, ‘I’m not going to get it and even if I do it’s not a big deal.’ In the first example, you very well could be doing all the right things. In the second example, there’s no way you could be doing anything good. In between these examples is just the basic human inability to really absorb what is really happening because it’s never happened and it’s utterly terrifying. 
 
We are all somewhat isolated in our lives outside of the pandemic. We have our circle of people, our work, our bubble. How connected are we really to the bigger picture, whatever picture that may be? We spend a lot of time looking at our phones, divvying up our time, distracting ourselves, prioritizing what info we’ve decided will define our reality. We don’t check in on the dead or dying or hospital workloads in our regular life. It’s something that happens outside of us unless we are sick or someone in our family is sick and even then, its within our personal bubble. 
 
These escalating numbers are not abstract. They are people who are sick with a virus that is highly contagious and everywhere around us. That is the reality whether we can handle it or not. We have to act appropriately in the face of it but also make sure the people in our lives are holding up okay. Check in with your friends and family often. Not about the virus per se, just to approximate closeness and connection, send some love and concern. We can do that now. We have the technology. 
 
Figure out how you can help. Most of the time just managing our lives is all we can do which is fine. Just trying to get my head in the right space of herd mentality and altruism by telling you. 
 
Today on the show I talk to Dan Aykroyd. I try to keep him in the room and not in outer space. On Thursday I talk to a Go-Go. Kathy Valentine talks about her journey in one the most famous and profitable female rock bands ever. Good talks. 

Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

Stay Inside.

Lockdown, People!
 
Self-sequestered, quarantined, holed up indefinitely. 
 
I hope the supply chains hold up. I mean, I got a lot of food. I feel like I was a little late to the party getting the necessities and by the time I got on it there was just no toilet paper left anywhere. So, I focused on food. Froze a bunch of fish and chicken. I bought some hearty vegetables. We made stock. Got as much dry goods as I could but quinoa seemed sparse and rice was gone. I don’t eat a lot of carbs anyway. We have plenty of canned fish. I figure it’s probably good to be fortified with food and the poo residue issue will solve itself if it becomes a problem. Also, I have enough TP for at least two weeks. 
 
The struggle is between the lizard brain and the ego, as far as behaving in relation to the facts—selfishly, like a belligerent child, either ideological or just selfish, or doing what needs to be done to save the herd, the species, slow the spread, take the hit and not get to ‘hang out’ and do what you want to do for a while. I’m relishing this dark time of chaos and horrific anticipation. I have spent most of my life in a state of dread and existential crisis. Much of it has settled down over the last few years but I have well-traveled neural pathways carved out by the tip of the anxiety spear over just about every scenario. I’m grounded. Nervous, but grounded. Trying to do the right thing. 
 
The impulse to shop is deep. Just the urge to run out a grab something at the store. The stores are all so close to where I live now. None of them have anything. There was a line around the supermarket yesterday. I just need some black peppercorns and mustard powder to pickle my beets. Not anymore. Those days are over for now. Eat the beets as they are. 
 
As for work, well, GLOW is down, The Comedy Store is closed, but my garage studio is open for business and we will be up in your business with our business when you need us. The show, the WTF podcast, must and will go on. I will ride this out with you in close to real time with a new show every Monday and Thursday as usual. If and when guests don’t want to leave their homes, I will talk to you, one on one, for however long feels right. We aren’t there yet. 
 
In the meantime, stay safe, stay away from crowds. If you are sick, stay inside. Stay fed. Stay in touch. 
 
Today I talk to Thandie Newton about her life, Westworld, trauma, love and other stuff. On Thursday I talk to Utkarsh Ambukdar about all kinds of shit and he raps to my riffing at the end.

Truly great talks this week. 

Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

Dark Relief.

Coming out of it, People!
 
I am feeling much better. It actually didn’t stay too bad for too long. I feel almost back to normal. I did the big hike a couple of days in a row. Sweat it out. My energy seems better. It was a cold. It came on hard though. 
 
As most of you know, my standup special 'End Times Fun' drops tomorrow on Netflix AROUND THE WORLD. Crazy times we live in. People around the world can watch my special. That’s cool, right? But Netflix will never tell me how many people have watched the special, or anything I’ve been in on the platform, because that’s how they do business. Don’t tell the talent anything about the numbers or we may have to pay them more or something. 
 
Who knows? Maybe they’re protecting me from profound disappointment. Either way I’m excited that it will be out there. 
 
I watched most of the special again recently and I can honestly see everything that has gotten me here on that special. It’s like an homage to earlier me in parts and there are many definite tips of the hat to the people that influenced me since I was a kid. I can see it in specific jokes though I wasn’t thinking about it while I created the bits.
 
I’m a little nervous. I would say that I am at the top of my game in this special in terms of the material, structure and how I presented the stuff. I really hope it doesn’t just disappear into the churning cloud. I’d like it to be reviewed by some smart people so I can see things I can’t see, being the one who did it. I want it to rattle some folks and create a little fury here and there. In all honesty if this special doesn’t get some kind of aggravated attention I will really have a more honest sense of my relevance as a comic. I am prepared for that. 
 
I am aware that people may get offended. I’m not sure who but there are a lot of possibilities for that. I’m also aware that I don’t present to offend which would make it even more exciting if people find it offensive. It’s hard to explain. I just hope it gets some kind of reaction. 
 
I hope you all watch and get something out of it—dark relief.
 
Today I talk to Don Cheadle. I really enjoyed talking to him. On Thursday I talk to veteran Boston comic Don Gavin. He was around when I started. I used to open for him down the Cape at Johnny Yee's. Those kinds of stories. Great talks. 

Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

Sick.

I am fucking sick, Folks
 
Hate it. I don’t think it’s the thing but I’ll keep you in the loop. I guess it would be kind of exciting to be in the first wave to get the thing and get through it. I think it’s just a nasty head cold. 
 
My eyes feel like they are going to pop out and my head feels like it’s about to pop off and I I’m tired and feverish. Damn. A lot of liquids going in. A lot. Yesterday I think I drank about three gallons of water with electrolyte powder in it. That night I soaked the sheets. Like, soaking. I felt like my body was processing the sickness, working well. 
 
So, I’m sick and my cat Monkey is on the mend a bit. I thought he had a lung infection but the antibiotics were making him sick and didn’t seem to be helping. I brought him in and got him a steroid shot for potential asthma and filled him up with subcutaneous fluids and he seems good. Meanwhile….
 
I got my MRI results back and my back is a bit fucked up it turns out. I have some protrusions in between some vertebrae. Dumb. I did it to myself. Stupid vanity injury. I don’t need to be doing heavy, heavy squats. I’m not competing. I have nothing to prove (maybe a little). I remember when it happened. I was about to squat some big weight and I set the bar on my vertebrae. DUMB. It was a form issue and I heard the pop of whatever happened. The protrusions. 
 
I could be just hiking and doing yoga and some light workout. I’m 56 for fuck sake. Now I’m permanently hurt because I’m an idiot. So common. 
 
Today I talk to my old roommate and big shot film director, Pete Berg. He directed the new film Spencer Confidential which I was in. On Thursday I talk to Thora Birch. She wanted to come on, I said sure and we did the thing. Good talks!

Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

A Way to Go Out.

Hey, People!
 
It should all be over by the time you read this. The mourning for the 75 minutes that will be the special airing on Netflix starting March 10th will commence. It will exist in the form of the special but probably not performed as one piece ever again after last night. 
 
And what a way to go out. The last leg of the Hey, There’s More Tour was eventful and fun and pretty unhealthy, really, food-wise. Somehow, I got it into my head that I would just have a fuck it all attitude and fatten up a bit for GLOW. Sam was a little too thin last season. I didn’t mean to do that. This season he’ll be a little meatier. 
 
Delray and I had a blast eating, doing comedy and driving down I-95. We started in Portland, ME. We had a full day there so I got up early and went to a joint called Tandem and ate an amazing biscuit slathered in butter and jam with some pretty perfect light roast coffee. For lunch we were planning on going to Eventide Oyster Co. I wanted a Brown Butter Lobster Roll, whatever the fuck that was. When we got there we thought the place next door looked more amazing, The Honey Paw. It was one of the best meals we’ve had. Asian, interesting. It turns out the same people own all three restaurants in the building and they actually share a kitchen. One of the owners came out and told us this and I asked him to hook me up with a lobster roll and he did it. Beautiful. Best one I’ve had. We had dinner at Scales which was another insanely good meal. Fish Stew. 
 
The show in Portland that night was great. Nice crowd. I did a good mix of new and old stuff. 
 
On the drive from Portland to Providence we stopped at Empire Guitars where I started a relationship with a 1960 Les Paul Jr DC. I don’t own any vintage electric guitars. I have never bought a vintage electric guitar. I can now say I have. It’s an amazing instrument that just spoke to me. It’s being shipped to my house as I write this. I hope we still feel the same about each other when it moves in. 
 
The show at the Columbus Theatre in Providence was beautiful. Two hours of stuff. Some reflections about performing in Rhode Island at the start of my career and learning certain lessons. I did not get my car back. The one that was stolen in Providence in the late '80s is still gone. 
 
Ate late night Italian in Providence. It was awesome. I never eat Italian. On the East Coast though you can go into almost any Italian place and it will be at the very least pretty good. It’s where it comes from. Italians. 
 
New Haven was crazy. A fan of mine name Dean Falcone and his wife Shellye hooked us all up at Sally’s Apizza and it was so good it was stupid. He had made a doc about the pizza in New Haven which is its own thing for sure. We had plain Italian tomato, white potato, sausage and hot pepper, and clam and bacon pies. Insane and amazing. Then we went to Lucibello's and I had a sfogliatelle and honestly it was the best I ever had. 
 
Great show at the College Street theater in New Haven followed by two cheeseburgers at Louis’ Lunch. Supposedly where hamburgers were invented. Weird old vertical gas grill machines from the 1800s are used to make them. No condiments available. Just white bread, tomato and onion or straight up. Good meat. 
 
I’m sitting in a cheesy suite in a hotel on Long Island writing this. We just ate at Mamoun’s Falafel and it was amazing. The original one is next to the Comedy Cellar so I feel like a grew up eating it. So good. Doing the last of the shows tonight. Great run. 
 
Today I talk to Juliette Lewis and she is an amazing, singular talent. Loved talking to her. On Thursday I talk to Carol Kane about making movies in the '70s among other things. Great talks. 

Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

Favorite Things.

To Whom it May Concern… too formal?

Sorry. Hey, what’s up? Everything good?

I’m on a plane right now flying back from Tampa. It’s bumpy as fuck. Not great. I’ve been wondering lately when does the weather get so weird and screwed up that the winds are faster and harder than they used to be and the current places aren’t built to take it. See where my brain goes when shit gets scary? It makes it scarier. I guess it just likes to keep things exciting and harder for me to feel anything but anxious. Good times. Neural.

Well, Florida is behind me. Dean Delray and myself dropped in, did the gigs, Orlando and Tampa, then got out fast, early, 6:35 flight. It’s not that I don’t like Florida, I’d just rather not hang around too long. 
 
We stayed in a hotel that I think was literally part of the Universal Resort. I don’t even know if Orlando is a real city or some corporate mirage. All I know is there was a Whole Foods close by which is an indication that there are at least a few people around who give a shit about themselves and have a little bread. So, a corporate mirage with at least one healthy option. The rest of the food around was shit. 
 
As you all know I was apprehensive about the gigs. It was really just me spinning out about ticket sales and the idea (false) that I really don’t have a draw in Florida and that it is not my state. It’s stupid to generalize because it turns out, I do. Great crowds came out. Hard Rock Live has a great vibe. I was surprised. The floor was filled up, like 900 folks, warm crowd. Great show. Some woman stared singing loudly some chant like song that I am told is sung at soccer games. She did it like three times. Wouldn’t stop. In the middle of the show. I had to do some big room babysitting. Handled it. Drunky lady had to go. No problem. Moved on. Killed it. So did Deano. 
 
Drove the rental car to Tampa the next day. We arrived amidst some weirdness all over downtown. People in costumes wandering around in groups looking at their phones. They were dressed in strange period outfits. Hundreds of them. Wearing suspenders, trench coats, smoking pipes, bowler hats, weird. I thought maybe a sporting event of some kind with several teams apparently. Nope, it was some global, real time Clue game. Board game nerd squads all over town. 
 
After a couple mediocre meals that made me feel like shit we walked to the Straz (strazzzz) Performing Arts Center. We hung out in the room after sound check and sat in some audience seats and listened to some songs on my pre-show playlist. It’s one of my favorite things to do. It’s like listening to the biggest, loudest stereo. 
 
Sold near all 1,000 seats. Great crowd. Again, there was some weirdness. Front row, stage right, bickering couple. Very distracting. Turns out the guy was shitfaced and his wife had bought him the ticket for a Valentine’s Day present. He got up at some point and was standing and leaning on the lip of the stage. I didn’t notice it until the audience started acting weird and I saw it as it was happening. They were having a fight and I asked what was up which is when I got the Valentine’s info. It was awkward dealing with drunken marital issues while 1,000 people waited for the show to continue but I made it funny and somehow negotiated with her to walk her drunk ass man out of the room. Good show. Exciting. Then the guy sitting next to them asked me, again in front of 1,000 people, if his daughter could move down from the balcony and sit with him and his wife. Not that the seats were officially empty, but I got her down there. He wrote me today to tell me it was the last night the family would be together before the daughter went away to school and she was last of four kids to leave. Touching. Weird how things work out. Glad to help. 
 
All around good times and bad food in the Sunshine State. We ran into Christina Pazsitzky at the airport in Tampa. Always fun to see fellow comedy travelers out there on the road. Love her. She was at the Improv. 
 
Today on the show I talk to Ronan Farrow about growing up in what he grew up in and his journalism. On Thursday I talk to Adam Pally about TV, movies, Jew stuff and the funny. Great talks. 

Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

I Went.

Heads up, People.
 
I don’t know who won. I’m writing this the day before the Oscars and the day before I attend the Vanity Fair party after the Oscars. I was invited last year and didn’t go. I couldn’t wrap my brain around going if I didn’t actually attend the Oscars. I still kind of feel that way but I’m going this year. I am not attending the Oscars. 
 
I almost didn’t go this year either. It’s actually still touch and go as I write this. I just don’t know how you don’t feel like a weird hanger-on, starfucker person if you aren’t part of the event. That’s how my brain sees it and me at this moment. Another way to look at is it would be fun to get dressed up and wander around saying hi to famous people I kind of know but not really. I still see myself as an outsider for some reason. A marginal character in the business. Even it Brad Pitt is a fan. 
 
I went to the Indie Spirit Awards last night with Lynn Shelton because our film, Sword of Trust, was nominated for Best Editing. I had a reason to be there. I have to say that Aubrey Plaza did a fantastic job hosting the thing. I had no idea she was a song and dance person. It was like a traditional awards show with a bit of bite to it, a little edge. You know, because it’s Indie, man. 
 
I did talk to a few people. I was excited to see the Safdie Brothers and chat with them for a few. Maybe they’ll come on the show at some point. I was also able to talk to Sandler for a few minutes. He won Best Actor and gave a fairly hilarious, touching acceptance speech. I was happy for him and that’s not always the case. People love that guy. 
 
I congratulated Greta Gerwig for making the best movie of the year, Little Women. Then I told her husband, Noah Baumbach, who was standing next to her, that his movie was good, too. Nicolas Cage presented him with the Robert Altman Award for Marriage Story and Noah gave a very touching speech about making movies. He also won the screenplay award where he gave an honest talk about the pain of writing.
 
I have to say it was bizarre seeing Nicolas Cage there. I love the guy. He’s a great actor. He seems to have gotten away from us over the last decade or so. It’s sad to me. He seemed so lost and oddly out of place at an event where he should be the opposite. People’s desires and impulses and mental disposition can really mangle them. He looked like he wanted to be saved and returned to who he used to be, literally looked like he wanted out of his body. I’m sure I’m projecting. But I felt bad for him. I didn’t know if he was in on the joke or if he was making a joke or if he is a joke. I just felt profound sadness. 
 
Just a quick check-in on the American Authoritarianism front… it's happening. Full on. 
 
Today I talk to Ben Schwartz about his Ben Scwartzness. On Thursday stuntman Brett Smrz talks to me about stunt driving and the family business. His dad is a stunt guy, too, as was his uncle, who died doing it. 

Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

A Very Passionate Service.

Games, People.

I am currently not watching the Super Bowl and it is on. I am not saying that for any other reason than it is true. No judgement. I just get bored. I did watch the halftime thing and it seemed like a lot of dancers were employed. Good for them. The singing ladies put on a good show.

I’m back home for a bit.

I did my last day of shooting for Respect, the Aretha Franklin bio pic with Jennifer Hudson. Doing this movie was a great experience. I liked the time travel element of it. I liked living in a character based on a real person in the ‘60s and ‘70s. I liked working on the film. The people working on the film were great and I grew to really respect the director, Liesl Tommy.

When you are involved in a project you never really know how someone is going to work and you spend the first couple days feeling it out and passing judgement. Then it settles in. She shot the shit out stuff but it wasn’t for any reason other than her desire to get it perfect and I can respect that. Total competence and vision. I could feel it. It felt good to work in that environment. Even when I didn’t have much to do I was happy to do it… over and over. That’s a first.

I went from Atlanta to Cleveland and met Dean Delray. We ate at The Greenhouse Tavern with the chef, Jonathan Sawyer. I talked vinegar with him. That’s not a saying, we actually talked about vinegar.

Then we headed out to the Agora Theatre for the first show of our three day run. Great theatre, great show. It took me two days to recover from the dinner. Man, I stuffed myself.

The next day we drove the rental Jeep Compass from Cleveland to Grand Rapids to do a show at The Fountain Street Church. I was initially concerned about the turn out but we had more than one thousand people in this amazing space that has a long history of presenting compelling speakers and musicians. We had a fine congregation and it was a very passionate service. Thanks for coming out and witnessing (and laughing).

The next day we set out for Milwaukee. I have to tell you, I like Milwaukee. It has a deep warm vibe for a cold place. What’s left there of its history seems sweet and not sad. The Turner Hall Ballroom where we played is one of the best venues I’ve played in. Great old space, good ghosts, great live people. Wish I could’ve spent more time there just to see if my intuition was real. I like the place.

Today on the show I talk to Ashton Kutcher. Everyone who has talked to me about him told me he was a great guy. Turns out he is, although he said he’d introduce me to some people who think he’s an asshole. On Thursday, I talk to comedian and writer Dan Levy about comedy stuff, parents and the new show he created, Indebted. These are both great talks.

I’m also on Rick Glassman’s podcast that drops today, Take Your Shoes Off.
Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

Credit.

Hey, Friends.
 
How’s it going? I’m okay. A little brittle minded, dry. Could use a meeting. That would probably help out. I’m a little snappy.
 
The rapidly menacing momentum of the slide into actual bona fide authoritarianism here in America is hard to manage on a day to day basis. Feeling helpless in the face of it is awful. I guess that’s what happens in countries where this happens. The brain exhausts, fear takes over and people learn how to rationalize what is happening if they aren’t immediately threatened. Here, I think most people don’t know what the word means or implies and/or how it could possibly affect them. That’s terrifying. It might take a generation for people here to know it happened and that their freedom is totally limited and that many people they know have disappeared either literally or emotionally. Good times.
 
I want to give credit where credit is due and this is for a company that actually gave me credit—like refund credit. I know. I’ll explain. I have two cats on a kidney health diet now and I finally got them eating the same food. I had two cases of the food they won’t eat leftover so I called Chewy.com, which is where I buy my food and litter, to see if I could exchange it for the food they do eat. They said they don’t exchange food but they would give me the refund credit and I should donate the food to a shelter. That is just beautiful. What an amazing thing to suggest and do as a company. I felt bad for even asking for the refund. I'm going to donate a lot of stuff. I get a lot of pet related stuff sent to me that I just don’t use. I’m packing it all up and bringing it to a shelter type place when I figure out which one. I’ll probably take it over to Santé D’Or in Los Feliz if they’ll take it. 
 
I talk to Terry Crews a few weeks ago about his life and his odd path to a career in show business. You'll hear that today. On Thursday I talk to my comedian friend, Cash Cab’s Ben Bailey about all the stuff. Including aquariums. A lot of aquarium talk. Great talks.

Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

Back.

Back at home, friends
 
I shot almost the last bit of what’s required of me for the film Respect. I have one more day of shooting in a couple of weeks and that will be it. 
 
I really hope it comes together well. I have no sense of how a film will come together but one thing I know for sure about this one is there will be PLENTY of footage to choose from to assemble it. Liesl Tommy, the director, shoots the shit out of stuff. She’s chasing that perfect look, feel, sound, performance, movement, framing, etc. 
 
She’s good. 
 
I feel like I was too sedentary while I was away. I was for sure. I was trying not to exercise for a week or so to give my back a rest. So, I didn’t. At all. Now, I feel like shit. Blobby. Thick. Itching for something bad. 
 
That’s what I noticed the most. The itch. I haven’t exercised and I really want some nicotine. I think the routine I’ve been in keeps my dopamine levels correct. Now, no exercise, I just want some bad shit. I’ve been off the nic for almost five months. I think my organs, including my brain have leveled off and are operating at their correct frequencies. Cruising along. Granted I still do the caffeine, which isn’t nothing, but not nicotine or sugar. Yeah, too much sugar lately. Have to pull back. 
 
Bottom line is my back is still fucked. I am going to a chiropractor for the first time in my life. I was brought up to believe they weren’t real doctors and they were quacks and didn’t have what it took to get an MD. That’s what you learn growing up with a father who is a doctor. That, and getting a car for your 15th birthday is normal thing.
 
I need help. I’ll go to the bone cracker and then I’ll go to a real doctor and I’ll see what they say. DEATH BEFORE SURGERY is my attitude facing this situation. We’ll see. 
 
As some of you know I taped an episode of Finding Your Roots a while back. Well, its time has come. It will be on tomorrow night. Tuesday, 1/21 at 8pm on PBS. I know that’s what time it will be on here. Probably the same where you are. It’s me, Jeff Goldblum and Terry Gross. The episode is called 3 Jews. Kidding. Kinda. It’s called ‘Beyond the Pale.’ I’m excited to see what they rendered out of my 3-hour chat with Mr. Gates.
 
Today I talk to the amazing Brian Cox about his role as Logan Roy on HBO’s Succession. I also talk to him a bit about some of his other million credits. He's been at it a long time. On Thursday I talk to Josh Klinghoffer. I booked him before he got fired from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. So, we get to talk about that and guitar talk in general. Great talks!

Enjoy!

Love,

Maron

The Survival of Film.

Hello, Friends!
 
En route to Atlanta, again. It’s good. I like the place. I have another week and change on the Aretha Franklin biopic ‘Respect.’ It’s actually been fun. Focused. Working with great people. 
 
I’ve been thinking about film lately in a way I haven’t in a while. At least not as specifically. As art, with a context. 
 
I’m not a film nerd. I’m not a film academic. I’m not an intellectual. I know some things that get me by and enable me to appreciate film in a deep way with some historical context and some understanding of the medium and the art of it. I studied film in college, film criticism. I paid attention for a bit of it. I watched movies. I read some of the books, mostly. Over the years I’ve been able to expand my appreciation and understanding of art and film in a general way. I don’t seek out the art as much as I should or think I should. 
 
A guy I kind of know, a fan of the podcast, a musician and film archivist, Peter Conheim, reached out to me about a program he was involved with. It’s a series at the UCLA Film and Television Archive called American Neorealism Part One: 1948-84. Peter has been reaching out to me for years with stuff. I’ve tried to wrap my brain around his band Negativeland and all the other stuff he does but it’s been hard. This seemed doable. Go to a movie at The Hammer Museum.
 
Peter had restored the film Spring Night, Summer Night by the director J.L. Anderson. I knew nothing about it. It has been called a lost masterpiece and this was the first time it was screened in the form the director wanted it to be in, maybe ever. It was made in ’67 and is basically an independent film with a convoluted history including being recut and released with lurid content to make it appealing at B-movie drive-ins. The process of getting it to this screening took 14 years. 
 
I went to the screening which was well attended. The mission of the Archive is to save old films and television programs from disappearing forever. It is a life’s work for some people. Saving films and integrating them into the intellectual history of film and presenting them, making them available. Noble stuff. 
 
The entire series is about establishing American Neorealism. I know a bit about Italian Neorealism, Rome Open City and The Bicycle Thief. I saw the movies. I did some of the reading. It was just the passion of the people involved in presenting and salvaging and celebrating the movie that I respected. It’s necessary for the survival of film as art but also for educating and inspiring appreciation which I sometimes forget. 
 
It’s a dark, beautiful film. Obviously done on a tight budget with unknown and some non-actors. It had a rawness and energy to it that comes off the screen. It was a rare experience and I dug it. It rejiggered my intellectual appreciation of non-mainstream films from another time. It triggered all the buzz words from my limited art crit education: montage, mise en scène, new wave, etc. 
 
I’m glad I went. 
 
It also coincided with me screening Nashville by Robert Altman in preparation to talk to Lily Tomlin, my guest today. What an astounding movie. As are most of his films. Lily is an amazing woman. It was a real honor chatting with her. Thursday, I talk to Randall Park about his journey to acting and writing success. Great guy. Solid. Great talks. 

Enjoy!

Love,

Maron