My Comedy Roots.

Back in Boston, People. 

The Fall is truly the best time to be in Boston. Flying into Logan seeing all the trees below in full red, orange and yellows was immediately disarming and meditative to me somehow. Nothing transports me to another mental/emotional zone like crisp air, clouds and the old architecture and strange spoke-like street layout of Boston. Several highways going the same direction at slightly different angles. 

Kind of like choices in life. Many of mine were dictated by that city. I learned how to think, have sex, be on my own, fall in love, write, freak out, understand art, fail, bullshit, write poetry, dress (kind of), do drugs, drink and do comedy as a job in that city. Among other things. 

It’s a defining city for me yet I rarely go back. It feels like a place of transition for me. It was. As I’ve said before, it also feels like a source of a full spectrum of early embarrassments and failures and mild to profound traumas. Why would I want to go back? 

This time was different. If you get old enough it’s just a matter of time before the memories fade or shift. If you don’t revisit them over and over again and give them life they lose their juice. I mean, I can still juice them up but it’s like seeing if an outdated piece of equipment still works when you plug it in. You’re amazed if it does but what difference does it make and it might blow up. It’s nice to have it on the shelf though. 

My old friend Jim happened to be in a nearby state so he came down to hang out with me. We spent the day walking around Boston and Cambridge talking like a couple of people that have known each other for forty years. Forty years! It was a nice reflective day but also nice to be alive and be the people we are now. 

That is usually what I do with my oldest friends when I haven’t seen them in perhaps years. Take a whole day and just walk around, eat, have coffee, sit, talk, let it unfold. It’s the best way to reground yourself in a friendship that has lasted for decades. 

The show I did was a benefit for the Cam Neely Foundation called Comics Come Home. It was a great line up and brought me right back to my comedy roots. Filthy, risky, raw Boston comedy. It’s the third or fourth one I’ve done. There have been 27. Denis Leary hosts. It was me, Burr, Robert Kelly, Tammy Pescatelli, Orlando Baxter, Alex Edelman, Rachel Feinstein, Lenny Clarke and Pete Davidson. It was at the Garden. It was packed. 

I had to follow Robert and Burr closed after me. It’s not that I am totally insecure and certainly I know I’m a pro but there are moments of a knowing panic that happen when I have to follow someone I know is going to destroy with a type of comedy I just don’t do. I mean, I was dirtier when I was younger, but now I keep it to myself a bit more. 

I love Robert. I like his comedy. But standing in the wings watching him crush with a lyrical barrage of Rabeleisian filth made me prep for tanking. Oddly, in the late eighties, I was doing one of my first ten minute guest spots at Nick’s Comedy Stop in Boston and I had to follow a younger Leary with his assault of high speed ranting. I thought I could hop on his wave. I could not. I bombed, bad. I’m sure that was what triggered the pre-Robert panic. That and years of doing comedy. It’s an old machine, though. I don’t need to plug it in to let it explode. 

I did great. Relief. Then I played with the band on the Asshole song. It was all pretty fun. 

Also, you know how I always talk about not being an arena act. It’s a good thing. I don’t really like playing arenas. 

Today I have a good conversation with John Wilson about art and his show How To with John Wilson. Thursday I talk to ambient music pioneer Laraaji about his works and Brian Eno and autoharp and spirituality and art. Good week. 

Enjoy!

Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!

Love,
Maron

Ice and Perfection.

Grief, People.

The spectrum of loss and trauma we are all on dictates almost everything that causes humanity's problems and may be the end of us all. This is not a scientific fact. It is a projection, a speculation, a desperate rationalization, a context of understanding and something I made up based on my brain’s needs and my generalized fear. 

The grief of specific loss comes and goes but usually I can manage it and not let it permeate my being. That certainly wasn’t true at the beginning. Grief gives you no choice. It will consume you. I’m not entirely sure I processed the grief of loss thoroughly. 

I am not consumed with sadness but given my lack of ability to compartmentalize, my tragically low self-esteem for a person my age and my propensity to act out or distract myself in one way or another to avoid feelings that I think will consume me, I’m not entirely sure what is going on with my emotional baseline until I lose my mind one way or the other and the fear swallows me from the inside. 

I’ve been edgy. 

I’m not sure if it's my resurfaced, deep addiction to nicotine or my age. I’m hitting a wall that I need to climb over or break down. I’ve been here before. Goddamnit. Different year, same wall. Feeling unsafe. Or the kid within, emotionally stifled at age 10, is feeling nervous and a little lost. 

All this stuff has been percolating for a few weeks. I guess there are some triggers. Last night I received an honor for being publicly sad. I was presented with the Good Grief Award by The Our House Grief Support Center which is an amazing organization that provides grief support of all kinds for families and individuals. I didn’t know about it when Lynn died. I rode it out with all of you and my peers and whoever was around. I took it to the stage and to the microphone out of desperation. It worked, I think. I know it helped other people. 

Being honored for being hilariously sad. I guess I can sort of see that as a lifetime achievement award. I think it’s probably what I’ve been doing my entire career. 

Other triggers are the Fall. It makes me sweetly melancholy. World events are a constant source of dread and anxiety. I got a new refrigerator. 

I know that last one seems like a good thing. It is but it is also the end of an obsessive quest for ice and perfection. As many of you know I have been working with Alex, the Ukrainian repair guy, for what seems like years. It was a sporadic relationship that saw the destruction and rebuilding of my freezer. There was anger and pain. Alex believed he would eventually conquer my refrigerator and fix the ice machine. It did not happen. It was hard for me to tell him it was over and I got a new refrigerator. I just texted him some pics of ice. 

The revealing thing to me about all this is that I don’t really use ice. I was obsessed with making it right. With having a purpose. With things that work. 

Now I have that but I’m nervous. I check the new ice a lot. Just to know it’s there and it keeps coming. 

I’ll be okay. At least if I hurt myself and I need an ice pack I’m ready. 

I’ve had a cold for a week. I had to take it easy. No compulsive exercise. Too much time in my head and not enough dopamine. I hate relaxing. 

Today I talk to Dan Soder. We had never really met. He’s a good guy, good comic. On Thursday I talk to the legendary Lou Adler about the music business, comedy and the 50th anniversary of The Roxy in Hollywood, which he started. Good week. 

Enjoy!

Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!

Love,
Maron

Second Shows.

Tired, People. 

I’m in Portland, Oregon and I’m waiting in the dressing room to do my last two of six shows. 

I forget how exhausting it is to do two club shows a night. I’m wasted. I still think it’s the best way to work out material but, man. It’s the real work. 

I still firmly believe that the best way to see standup is in a club. I never do the same show twice. They’re not entirely different but they vary. Primarily because second shows are alway a battle against tiring repetition. I’m not really capable of auto piloting pretty much anything. All of my work requires all of me. It’s just the way it is. If I can’t show up for it, it’s not going to go well for anyone. Because of that, I have to make the second shows interesting for me. 

I’m usually already a little loopy from the first one and very loose and generally in the zero fucks given zone. That’s where the new things happen. That’s where the stuff that only happens once happens. That’s when standup is very exciting. That’s where new bits begin to reveal themselves.

I always love coming to Portland. It’s like a hamlet of progressive politics and boundless culinary curiosity under usually gray, wet skies and it seems to be built on a geological foundation of ancient darkness that lives beneath the ground. It’s a balance. That’s my poetic interpretation of the Portland situation. 

I remember the last time I was here I was a bit concerned about the city. It felt like it was collapsing on itself. Like the darkness was swallowing it. This time has been great. 

I got out into Forest Park for the first time and it was amazing. I went twice. Hiked around. Took in the weight of the trees and air and rocks and roots. It was brisk and damp. I definitely got into some kind of high-like frequency. Cleared and filled my head simultaneously. 

The food here is alway amazing. If you are a vegan and that is your life you may want to move here. It’s like vegan Valhalla. The end of the gut healthy road. 

I didn’t get to many places but I did eat at Fermenter twice. That place is amazing. I met the chef/owner, Aaron. He gave me his cookbook. I have work to do. Obviously the name of the place explains the theme but a place like that, which is really one of a kind, requires a lot of heart and a bit of science. He makes his own krauts, tempeh, kombucha, hot sauces. It’s all amazing. 

Also, I can’t say enough about the meal I had from Mirisata. Vegan Sri Lankan food. It was like nothing I’d ever eaten before. So fucking good. 

I’ve had many legends on my show but I was honored to talk to Joan Baez. I really didn’t know much about her or her music but I dug in and had a very fun talk with her. Enjoy. On Thursday I talk to Jennette McCurdy about some very heavy family stuff that she wrote about in her amazing book, I’m Glad My Mom Died.

Enjoy!

Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!

Love,
Maron

Children in the Audience.

The Pacific Northwest, People!

I flew into Seattle, climbed into a rental car and drove north to Bellingham. I know I have talked about this many times before but there is some part of my soul that just lives in that part of the world. The trees, the sky, the water, the rocks, the crisp air, the expanse of islands. Love it. 

I think the region was wired into me when my family lived in Alaska for two years when I was a kid. '69 to '70. Impressionable. 

I don’t recall ever being in Bellingham. I feel like there was a one nighter gig up there that I did almost 30 years ago. 30 years! It was in a mall, I think. It certainly didn't leave me with any good memories. 

The town is beautiful. I took a drive down Chuckanut Drive. Smelled the pine and wet forest. I needed it. 

The show was at a stunning, old theatre called the Mount Baker. It was the first real theatre I’ve done the new hour at. It went well. 

I was walking to eat dinner after sound check and ran into many people heading to the show. I ran into an excited man with his wife and young sons who told me they were coming to the show. I was immediately jarred by the reality that young kids were going to be at the show. One must’ve been 12 and the other was younger. I told the guy it may be rough stuff for the kids to take in. He didn’t seem to really believe that. If you know my work I just couldn’t wrap my brain around why you would bring young kids. It’s not even that I’m ‘blue.’ I just speak honestly as a relatively screwed up adult. 

Not having children I don’t really know what it's like to be a parent. I’ve definitely developed an aggressive empathy rooted in what was dumped in my head as a kid. Some of it doesn’t go away. Not all of it is good. 

I think the idea most parents have is that the stuff that doesn’t make sense won’t really register. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just that the guy wanted to share his excitement about seeing me with his family. 

I felt it necessary to open with a warning. Without pointing them out I said there were children in the audience and that I would be dealing with very adult themes and if they wanted to leave I would refund their money. It seemed right. I have no idea if they left. If they didn’t and I live long enough, I imagine a young adult person will come up to me someday and tell me they saw me when they were nine and they never quite recovered from it. I’m not saying I have a lasting impact in any general way but if I saw me when I was that age, it would’ve blown my young mind. Though, I believe, I would’ve loved it. Maybe I should stop projecting. 

I found a vegan place called The Big Beet. I’m learning that if you find a good vegan place on the road there’s no reason not to eat as many meals as possible there. Consistency. 

Today I talk to Rob Halford. He’s the lead singer of Judas Priest. A seminal Heavy Metal band. I didn’t grow up loving metal. I’ve grown to appreciate it as an adult. I don’t think it’s quite the same if it didn’t save your adolescent life from the emotions and tedium of being an adolescent (male usually). I’m suddenly feeling okay about performing for teenagers. Anyway, I spent a couple of days loading some Priest into my head just so I could be in the groove when I talk to Rob. It was a great talk. 

I look forward to immersing myself in the work of people I’m not deeply familiar with. I’m currently listening to A LOT of Joan Baez to prep for my talk with her. From Halford to Baez. This is my life. 

Thursday is a comedian double-header with Louis Katz and Doug Stanhope. Comedy for grown ups, for sure. 

Enjoy!

Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!

Love,
Maron

The Me Grinder.

Jazz and violence, People!

It’s difficult to wrap my head around what is going on in Israel other than that I know hundreds of people are being killed. My feelings about Israel aside, I’ve reached out to people who have family there to see if they are alright. There’s nothing I want to say other than the violence of war and the death of civilians is horrendous. 

Sometimes, just living my day-to-day life in the world feels like an act of denial. Many acts. 

I don’t believe there is anything I can say or do that won’t make me the target of aggression no matter what I believe and I have lost faith that anything I do or say about almost anything will have any impact. The macro is. The micro is my life. 

It’s not defeat, it's surrender. I can only sit with it and think about what my responsibility is and to whom and what I can do. No virtue signaling. No acts of aggression. No food for trolls on either side. Fuck off. 

Hope is the public facing pitch of the denial grift. 

I want to engage in the life I have left. I want to feel like that’s okay. If I don’t, I feel like I’m avoiding something. I feel like I’m wasting time if I do anything that doesn’t have a productive outcome. That’s a framing issue. It all goes into the me grinder. 

Yesterday I worked out, then decided jazz was the day. I listened to Pharaoh, the ‘77 Luaka Bop reissue of the Pharaoh Sanders album with Harvest Time on it. I don’t really know how to contextualize jazz in my brain intellectually. I’m mostly uninformed. I do enjoy listening to it although I always feel like I’m missing the background that would make it deeper for me. Which is true. This is a very melodic Sanders album. It transported me like most jazz. My brain is good receptor for most jazz. Not fusion so much, but most of the rest. Even the noise skronk freestyle riffing. I can dig it. 

So, I listened to the full album and the bonus live recordings. Then I decided to watch the newish Wayne Shorter doc on Prime Video. I have little patience for docs that are filled with animation, re-enactments and stock footage montages but there was enough interview and information in it about his life and the history of jazz that I was able to watch two parts. I’ll watch the rest later. The story of his compositional genius, playing style, tragic life, how he directly affected and changed jazz and his Buddhism was all new to me and opened up a portal of understanding on a musical, spiritual and psychological level. Understanding genius. 

I realized sometimes genius, being on the spectrum and Buddhism can seem similar and his ultimate pursuit to find an ‘indestructible happiness’ through the faith of being entirely without fear was something I am so far away from and perhaps incapable of that it made me a bit hopeless in seeing my own art and my understanding of myself. 

It is in the music though. That is how he was working it out. So, I listened to his Speak No Evil with new ears that were conscious of the journey and informed of some intent. It took me there. It’s in the silences. Almost always. 

I have to decide what else I need to learn so I have a context for my feelings. I can choose. Yesterday I chose art. It seems manageable and possible. 

The rest seems futile. 

I don’t know how much longer I can help people feel better about anything. I do know I can keep pursuing my personal expression but it is limited to words and laughs. Music is magic. 

Today I talk to Tom Papa. He’s a nice guy and very funny. It’s a good comic talk. On Thursday I talk to Arnold Schwarzenegger. He’s Arnold Schwarzenegger. Good week. 

Enjoy!

Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
Love,
Maron

A Pretty Perfect Night.

It’s over, Folks!

My birthday week is officially done. I turned 60 last Wednesday. I rode it out through the weekend. It was very eventful, but now I’m just 60. It happened and here I am.

I’m generally not big on birthdays. Many of you have been with me for quite a few. Some were totally uneventful and some were tragic for different reasons. I can’t even remember the last time I had a party or was thrown a party. There have been a few dinners. I’m not here or there with the passing of birthdays.

60 seemed different. It’s a big one.

I didn’t give a shit about 30, 40 or 50. 50 should’ve been big but it was derailed by a rather dramatic break up. I spent my 50th in a hotel room in West Hollywood avoiding my house and the woman in it. I ate dinner with my friend Ryan who was the only one who reached out. It wasn’t just a different time. It felt like a different life.

This birthday I did some stuff. On the day of the 27th, Kit and I went to my favorite Indian food place for dinner. I regaled (bored) her with horror stories about my early standup days. I seem to feel like reflecting. As I said before, it wasn’t nostalgic, it was reliving trauma. There was no better time for me than now. We had a nice night.

I told her when I start repeating stories she needs to tell me and start thinking about putting me down. Not insulting me, euthanizing me.

That is something I’m noticing that is different. I am acknowledging I’ve had a life. Sadly, when I look back I don’t usually feel that I have many friends. I assume that many of the people that I respect and like don’t really know that or don't think about it too much. Of course I have a few close friends and I know where we stand but in terms of people I wish I was closer to, I don’t assume that they even think about it or would want that.

So, I decided to have a party.

It was hard to decide who to invite. What kind of party did I want to have? Did I just want to have a blow out with as many people as I could cram into my yard there. Every comic and friend and friend of friend that I could think of? That seemed like a young person's game. I didn’t really like going to those parties when I was a young person. I’m too old for a kegger and finding those red cups for weeks after.

I did have to consider whether or not I wanted to try to make it a comics party or do something more specific. And by specific I mean people that are important to me and had an impact on my life. I went with that. I made a list of people from my past, present and future. By future I mean people I have met recently and want to nurture as friends. I really don’t make enough time for that and it’s not like I don’t have the time to at least try.

So, I invited a guy I have known since second grade. I invited a guy I’ve known since he was ten. Brendan flew out. Sam Lipsyte flew out. Steve Brill, who I went to college with, came with his wife. Jerry Stahl, Bruce Wagner, James Gray, Big Mike Marcus, Michaela Watkins and Tom Scharpling all came with their partners. Dr. Steve was there. Kevin Christy was there with his gf. Fred Armisen and Ricky Lindhome came. Sterlin Harjo came. Gimme Gimme Dan was there. Jon Daniel was there with Rene who were at both of my weddings. Steve Feinartz was there, filming and eating.

Of course, Kit was there.

I know you don’t know many of these people but they represent the full spectrum of my life. Past, present and hopefully future. It was a pretty perfect night.

The basic rule I made for myself was not to invite anyone who caused me stress or anxiety. It worked!

I also realized that whatever I think other people are thinking is probably way off. I know that in theory but these people all had a great time and they are all special to me for different reasons.

It was a fine night to initiate the rest of my life.

We had the party at Buena De Planta in Silverlake and it was perfect.

Today I have a nice talk with Les Claypool and then follow it up by talking with guitarist Marc Ribot. Great musician. On Thursday me and director Larry Charles hammer it out. Good week.

Enjoy!

Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!

Love,
Maron

My People.

Vegas, People!

I was at Wiseguys in the Las Vegas Arts District and it was truly great. The audiences were amazing. It’s sort of a perfect room for standup. Low ceilings, wide. The sound of the audience reaction coming back at you is perfect. It’s really the only place I play in Vegas. I’m definitely not a strip guy. I just can see myself and my type of material really being a draw for the average casino-goer. Even if they know me. I imagine if they saw a poster or ad for my show at someplace like Caesars they would say, ‘I know that guy. He’s good. I just don’t think I’m up for it. We’re having too good a time. He’s a bit heavy.’

I’m okay with it. When I do Wiseguys, it’s locals and people that travel in from other places. My people, mostly. Much better. 

My dad’s wife brought him out for the show. I think he may be a little too far gone for the big traveling, the walking. It was the first time he seemed very fragile to me. The walk across the street from their hotel almost did him in physically and mentally. He shuffles a bit. He’s paralyzed with a fear of falling down. He had a hard time during lunch with some stomach issues. I guess it was the first time I spent time with him in a few months and he seemed like he was getting worse. He seemed to be fading a bit. 

He still knows me. He knows mostly what’s happening and where he is, I think. He’s a bit confused. I know I am seeing the best he’s got. A lot of energy goes into him trying to make me believe he’s still got it together. I’m always grateful that his wife Rosie is taking care of him. It’s definitely taking a lot out of her. I know we’ll have to get some help soon. She needs a break. He was a lot to deal with before he got old. 

My mother’s sister Barbara passed away last week. I was pretty close to her all of my life. She was my cool aunt. She was a great mother, grandmother and my mom’s best friend. It’s going to be difficult for my mom. She will be missed. 

It’s amazing to me that I am dealing with this stuff for the first time and I am turning sixty this week. When your parents have you at a young age, you’re kind of old when they are getting really old. They seem less like your parents and more like people that aren’t that much older than you. 

This all seems heavy, I know. It is. My birthday this week is the first one I’ve really registered for a while and somehow it signifies change. A transition. The beginning of the home stretch. I hope. I’m not saying that to be dark or weird. It just is. I start factoring it into how I think about the future for the first time. If what I am doing requires consideration about the future in terms of it being doable I have to factor that in. Will I be here long enough to enjoy this and is it worth it? 

I mean, I don’t even know if I’m going to outlive two of my cats. 

Yom Kippur today. That may be having an effect on my brain and heart. I’m not fasting or going to temple but the weight of it is wired into me. I am reflecting on my year, my life.  I am trying to look at myself with the perspective of a guy who has been here 60 years. Where could I have been better? Who did I harm? How can I be more of service? Acknowledging loss. Getting humble. 

I hope you all are holding up. Sorry about the weight of this missive. 

On a lighter and much less thoughtful note I talk to Chevy Chase today. I treated him like a guy I loved as a kid and tried to keep him engaged and not piss him off. I think I did it. On Thursday I talk to LeVar Burton about LeVar Burton stuff. 

Enjoy!

Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!

Love,
Maron

Trade Secrets.

The Midwest, People!

Flying back from St. Louis as I write this. I did five great shows. Great crowds. Club work is the real work of standup. It’s really the best place to see a comic. I’m working the new material. Getting it tight in the late night trenches. 

I don’t know why I freak out so hard before I travel. Especially to the Midwest. It’s just weird. My anxiety levels are not getting any better pre-travel. It usually stops almost immediately once I get in the air. Not when I go to the Midwest though. 

The Midwest is different in my mind. I get paranoid. I’m starting to realize that I really have to tether my imagination to practical reality. It just goes full catastrophic micro and macro almost all the time. 

I didn’t realize until last week that I was working Rosh Hashanah weekend. So my brain creates a scenario where an antisemitic nut job comes in from the sticks of Missouri to take out a Jew while he’s on stage. Happy New Year. It’s a strange kind of inverted self-importance. Obviously, it didn’t happen. I can’t say I wasn’t relieved to see the club’s security with metal scanners at the door. I really have to reel my brain in. 

I’ve been to St. Louis before but I forget. It’s a great city. Good people. I had a good time. 

There were several vegetarian restaurants. All the ones that I ate at were great. My favorite record store is there, Euclid Records. Picked up about 30 albums. I did some live radio. I chose to do it. A morning drive-time show one day and an afternoon drive time show the next. Yes, I wanted to sell a few more tickets but I also wanted to get back into live radio head. It’s exciting. 

I know the woman who owns Clementine’s Creamery, Tamara Keefe. It is probably the best ice cream anywhere. Sometimes I miss real ice cream because vegan ice cream is really hit or miss. Something I make do with when I have the craving. Somehow Clementine’s has nailed the non-dairy ice cream. It’s all about the texture. I asked how they got that smooth, dairy-like feel and of course she said it was magic. Trade secrets. 

Tamara took me on a tour of their new manufacturing facility. It was pretty amazing. Freezers the size of my house. The high point was she had the ice cream designer let me try a bunch of their new vegan flavors. I’m not sure that’s what she’s called but you get it. I have to say, it was pretty exciting just trying a bunch of weird, good vegan ice cream. One had sweet potatoes in it. Another one was a coconut macaroon flavor. I even got to taste fresh ice cream right out of the mixing machine before its deep frozen and packed into pints and it was fucking great. I considered the whole experience a full meal. 

As I said before, comedy clubs are where the real work gets done. I do The Comedy Store all the time. I don’t do too many clubs on the road because in most of the markets,I do bigger venues. I forget that clubs are kind of rough sometimes. Some clubs go out of the way to make the comedy experience amazing but that’s rare, I think. When it comes down to it, club comedy is about selling drinks. Some club owners care about the comic's experience but historically the club owner/comic dynamic can be dicy. When you are starting out you are really at the mercy of the owner because you want to get on stage. You want work. So, you take what comes with the gig. Good or bad. Suck it up.

I had a new kind of awful onstage experience at Helium over the weekend. I really thought I had all the bad experiences that were possible at a comedy club but nope. Surprise. I imagine those of you who listen to my show may have heard comics mention the check spot or the check drop. It’s when the servers give the audience their checks to pay out. It usually happens about two thirds of the way into your set. Not a great time. The audience gets distracted with math and money but we have all learned to take the hit and lose the attention of much of the audience for a bit. It's part of the job. It’s a rare club that doesn’t have a check drop. 

Helium has taken it to a whole new level. Apparently, they have a franchise wide POS system. The card machines to take the payments are linked to a network. Fine. The problem is, each machine beeps with every transaction. That’s right, an audible check drop. Just random beeps coming from all over the audiences for 15 minutes during your set. I can’t think of a bigger indicator of giving zero fucks about actual standup than that. An ongoing distracting reminder of what you are really there to do. Sell drinks. 

Apparently it’s been going on for a couple of years at the club. I couldn’t believe it. I guess now I know there’s a new shitty on-stage experience for the list. Noted. 

Today I have a moving and funny talk with Gary Gulman about his new book and his struggle with mental health stuff. Thursday I talk to comedian Aparna Nancherla about her new book and her life in comedy. Great talks. 

Enjoy!

Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!

Love,
Maron

Context and Connection.

Here we go, Folks!
 
Naomi Klein is on the show today. I can’t even tell you how long I’ve wanted to talk to her. Since way back when I had a show on Air America. She is one of the great public intellectuals and activists. She’s written several groundbreaking books like No Logo and The Shock Doctrine and now she has a new one out tomorrow, Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World. Amazing. 
 
I’ve always been impressed with her mind and her ability to execute big ideas through her acute, educated, progressive perception. She makes sense of the world we live in through a leftist intellectual lens. She has blown my mind with her ideas and revelations and she has done it again with this book. Which I read cover to cover and underlined, a lot. 
 
If you understand politics and how they go hand in hand with the corporate takeover of every available space including our minds and how late stage capitalism will not stop feeding itself until we and the planet are totally depleted, you will enjoy her work. 
 
I talk about a lot of the stuff that we covered but I am no intellectual. I am not a great progressive. I’m lazy and a bit selfish and a bit detached from real activism. Heading into the conversation I was struggling with my own shame and inaction. I think, sadly, this is a familiar mental space for many heavy hearted, terrified liberals. We may even like it. 
 
I think the great service a public intellectual provides is context and connection. So many of the threats that are pressing down on us may seem disparate and fragmented but what Naomi does is find the connections. Connections between capitalism and climate change and the underside of capitalism and fascism. Also how the age of the branded self fits into fascist ideas. 
 
I was excited talking to her. 
 
On a lighter note, my fridge is still broken. The guy put the door back on the freezer and the ice machine was actually working for a few days but then it stopped and started making the noise that caused me to call the repair place initially. Full circle. Did it even really happen? Three months of intense visits and texting. I imagine a new fridge is going to happen soon. 
 
See, even that little story makes me feel like a fraud. Like an ice maker is important with fascism on the horizon and the warming earth. 
 
Ice would be nice though. A nice cold drink on a hot 128-degree day is good. See, rationalization is a powerful tool that helps us get through life but also easily exploited by consumer capitalism. 
 
Ice cold drinks are pretty great though. 
 
As I said, I talk to Naomi Klein today and on Thursday I talk to Hannah Einbinder. She’s a comic and one of the stars of the show Hacks. (She’s also Laraine Newman’s daughter).
 
Enjoy!
 
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
 
Love,
Maron

An Apron and a Knife.

Cooking, Folks!
 
I like to cook. I cook a lot. Too much, really. It calms me. It’s like meditation you can eat. 
 
I like the action of a kitchen. Any kitchen. When you have orders to get out it feels like a life or death situation. I never worked in high end places. I did short order work at a bagel joint in high school. I did deli work in one of the last Jewish delis in Boston and counter work in a groovy old hippy-owned place. I did a week of line work at a bar/restaurant called Matt Garrets in Coolidge Corner. I was not cut out for the line. I am not a real cook. I saw myself as one. All it takes is an apron and a knife. I was a disaster on the line. In embarrassing myself I did learn the need for having cooking chops and collaboration when cooking chops. 
 
When I was younger, after high school, I considered culinary school but it all looked very serious. Looking back at it now, maybe it would’ve been a good decision. I could be retiring from a hotel executive chef gig around now like my old roommate. I don’t know if I ever would’ve had the goods to stand out as a chef so I never pursued being a pro. Not unlike guitar, I like being good enough at it to enjoy it and get fun results through self-expression. Results I can hear and eat. 
 
The reason I knew it was possible to just learn to cook on your own was two sided. Some good, some not so good. I’ve told bits and pieces of the story before. Maybe even the whole story. I had a professor in college I was very taken with. He was an impressive guy. Philosophy. I looked up to him. He saw this as an opportunity to become a bit obsessed with me and a bit predatory. He saw my nebulous sense of self and identity as a way to pester me and cause me great anxiety and confusion. He desperately wanted me to be gay, at least for a little while. 
 
Despite this, I spent a lot of time with him and went to many dinner parties at his house. Sometimes with girlfriends. Human shields. Framing this as a traumatic period at this point in my life is a bit helpful but the trauma was eclipsed by this guy’s cooking. He was a self-taught gourmet chef of sorts and could cook for many people. He was great at it. I thought it was so impressive and it made me believe I could do it. He did not make me believe I was gay. You win some, you lose some. So, over the years I learned how to cook. I wouldn’t say I’m great at it but I can do it for myself and others. It’s a gift. 
 
I haven’t talked to a chef in a while. It was fun talking to Michael Symon today about his life and restaurants and food. My old friend Todd Barry is also on today’s show talking about his new YouTube special. On Thursday I talk to Bernie Taupin who wrote some of the greatest songs of all time. 
 
Enjoy!
 
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
 
Love,
Maron

The Ukrainian Conflict

I’m going out there, People!
 
Dates in Los Angeles, Bellingham, WA, Vegas, St. Louis, Portland, OR and soon Denver, Albq, NM and more up at wtfpod.com/tour.
 
I think I’m looking forward to getting out there into the country and doing some long sets. Things seem simultaneously more and less menacing out in the world. I am generally pleasantly surprised when I get out there and see the people and hang out in the strange cities. We’ll see. It’s what I do. 
 
I want to thank everyone who came out to the screening of Dog Day Afternoon I hosted for American Cinematheque at the Aero theater in Santa Monica. What a great night it was. Obviously, it wasn’t about me, it was about the movie. I did feel responsible and proud for presenting it. I don’t believe I’d ever seen it on film and it was a beautiful print. I’ve watched that movie four times now in the last few months and I could watch it again tomorrow. It is of its time and also timeless. That’s what you’re looking for in art. Perpetually relevant because of its humanity. Visceral. There isn’t a false note in it. Without a doubt Pacino’s best performance. And that’s saying something. 
 
A woman who was an apprentice editor of the film had reached out to me about almost accidentally destroying the one print of it on her way to a screening for executives and Pacino. It was run over by a bus while she was hailing a cab. Great story. I had her tell it before the movie. 
 
I’d like to talk about the Ukrainian conflict. Not the one with Russia but the one that took place in my kitchen a few days ago. I don’t want to bore you with bougie luxury problems but I have been obsessed with getting the ice maker on my old refrigerator fixed. It came with the house. High end. I don’t even really need the ice maker but I get obsessed with small things being right because I have so little control over so much. It gives me focus and the hope of justice and order. 
 
It’s a long story that I tell on today’s show but it’s been going on for months. I’ve been going back and forth with a repair guy who is Ukrainian. All the repair guys for the company I use for this appliance are Ukrainian. This guy told me not to get a new fridge because they have too many computers in them. He became obsessed with fixing mine because it seemingly couldn’t be fixed. He said it was because the water pressure was too high and it kept blowing everything up. I told him I adjusted the valve. I was wrong. It wasn’t the right valve. It was all my fault. Months of us trying to get it fixed. 
 
He finally came with his son in a last-ditch effort to fix it. There was water spraying all over the place. He was yelling at his son in Ukrainian. I was uncomfortable. Then a hinge broke sending ball bearings all over the place and he was yelling at the fridge, ‘Eighteen years I’ve been fixing these. I hate this fridge. I hate it!’ 
 
His son came up to me and said, ‘It’s fucking Murphy’s Law. Always.’
 
He told me to just get a new fridge or he could order a hinge and keep trying. I didn’t want to see him defeated. I’m invested. We wait for the hinge. 
 
So, now my freezer is propped shut with one of the shelves leaned up against it on the outside on a towel. I had a plumber put a valve in the correct place. The saga continues. My fridge is his Goliath. I’m rooting for him and I feel stupid. I think that’s a common feeling for a lot of people in relation to a lot of things. I have faith. I just hope he doesn’t string it out because I’m an idiot. We’ll see. 
 
Today I talk to the amazing Maria Bamford for the sixth time on the show. Always exciting. I talk to Jeff Sharlet on Thursday about his book Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War. Not uplifting but sobering. It’s good to know what’s up. 
 
Enjoy!
 
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
 
Love,
Maron

The Well-Informed Clown.

Hurricane in Cali, Folks.
 
I’m not numb to the news. My brain just seems to know how to prioritize it based on the clickbait headline or the legitimate one. 
 
Reporting on extreme weather is its own genre. The buildup to what was supposed to be a major, rare tropical storm that was going to hit Southern California was pretty dramatic. I take most weather hysteria with a grain of salt. Even in these end times of apocalyptic heat and storm the old wisdom that forecasting is still speculation usually holds. Even with all the tracking technology, you never really know how it’s going to go. I thought I was far enough inland not to have to deal with the intensity of wind and rain the coast was going to get. Turns out, by the time it got to LA it had shifted its path and intensity to being just a medium barrage of rain. 
 
I kind of knew it would. 
 
I did think, as I do all the time, about the panic things? Why haven't I gotten a generator? How does a generator power a house? Why haven’t I replaced or cleaned my rain gutters? What if it blows my roof off? What if I have to tarp my roof? Is my ladder even big enough? What if I fall off the roof? What if it brings one of the old trees down on my house? What if the power goes out for days? What about food? What if society breaks down and looters run amok in the streets? What about water?
 
Well, I have water. For some reason, Liquid Death has sent me about 50 cases of water over the last half year. I think we did one ad with them. It keeps coming though. So, no matter what happens I’ll be good with water. Sparking and flat. 
 
Unless that’s what they come looking for. The hordes. 
 
The storm was fine. Easy. Manageable. The power did go out for a few hours for reasons I can’t even understand. It almost felt like so much press went into setting us up for a disaster that the power company felt like it was the least they could do to make us feel like we weren’t duped into overreacting. Like, ‘Let’s just turn it off for a bit so they won’t be numb to the reality that horrendous weather is upon us. Let’s give them a taste.’
 
I’m already a little numb. Maybe not numb, but neutered. I feel powerless over the weather, disease, coming fascism, my past, politics. I think I’m pretty well informed. I know what’s up. I can’t rationalize it anymore. I’m terrified but I can’t live in that. All I can do is entertain the reality. That’s actually what I do for a living. On the metaphorical level that’s what we do in our brains. We know the reality but we don’t really take any action because it feels futile so we entertain it as our mental disposition. 
 
One character we play for ourselves is the well-informed clown that believes we do all we can by living the life we live. The other clown is the uninformed one that does everything to ignore what is going on in the name of living the life they think they should live. Another clown is just screaming and crying and hopeless all the time. That’s usually the funniest one. There are subsets to these hellish circus people but that’s another paper, maybe a book. 
 
Anyway, keep your clown healthy and focused and maybe try a different nose occasionally. 
 
Today I talk to Amanda Seales, who I think might be my twin somehow, about her special and her new doc In Amanda we Trust and life, a lot of life. On Thursday I talk to Andrew Leland about going blind and his book, The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight. Great talks!
 
Enjoy!
 
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
 
Love,
Maron

Progress? Who Knows?

Hello, Brothers and Sisters.
 
That’s so weird-looking written down. I imagine there are churches that start their emails like that. 
 
I just got back from Salt Lake City. I love it. 
 
I know I always say that when I get back. I can’t really put my finger on why I love it. You wouldn’t think that would be one of the places where I have a lot of fans but I sold out four shows. I always do there. That’s about 1200 tickets. It’s always been one of the handful of cities where I work out my new stuff. 
 
The assumption with some of these cities is that I really couldn’t do a theatre there or they only have a huge theatre or I can swing back through in six months with the set worked out. 
 
Salt Lake is a once a year thing for me generally and it’s always productive. I acknowledge the weirdness. Always. I know that the place is a kind of electric sterile but it’s not bleak. I know that it's basically a functioning theocracy. I know Mormonism is an odd, truly American religion. When we landed at the airport the missionaries were returning. There were hundreds of people with signs welcoming them back. The women seem to be in updated pioneer wear. Which I found out to be true. The ladies are allowed to wear schmattas with flowers now. Progress? Who knows?
 
The fact is, the people in Salt Lake are always nice, seemingly decent, caring people. Actively. I think the fact that drinking does not seem to be a huge part of the culture. I mean, I don’t know how many Mormons come to my shows but I’m sure there are many. The audiences are just great. They listen. I trust them. 
 
So did Howard Hughes and the mob. For very different reasons than the ones I have. 
 
I think that’s it though. The trust. I’m working on material that’s kind of deep and a bit risky for me emotionally. So, SLC was the perfect place to do it. Again, I trusted them. I knew they would stay with it, not be judgmental and I could see if I could get through to the laugh and let it sit. 
 
I appreciate the SLC audiences for that. Look, I know that as a state and a city it’s not perfect. It may even be dangerously weird and with the same problems all cities have. They’ve always been good for me. I’m glad it was the first club stop with this new set. 
 
Today I talk to the amazing Jessica Chastain. Just being in her presence was a bit intense for me. On Thursday I talk to comedian Nimesh Patel. Great week. 
 
Enjoy!
 
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
 
Love,
Maron

The Only Place for Me.

Manhattan, Friends.
 
I just had the best trip to NYC I’ve had in years. I’m trying to figure out why. Let’s break it down. 
 
There was absolutely no reason for me to go other than I wanted to go. That was probably the biggest difference from most of my trips. I just needed to be in a city, THE city, the best city, really. I already knew that my spirit is fueled by Manhattan and I need to fill up a few times a year. That happened, but there was still something different about this trip. 
 
I realized that I do love my house in LA. I don’t even mind LA right now because there’s water and the weather hasn’t really been as apocalyptic as elsewhere. I can spend all day at my house just doing shit. There’s always shit to do. I distract myself by doing little shit. It’s not a complete waste of time because most of it needs to be done. A lot of it I do to counter the anxious business of my brain. The problem is, I am still alone doing it most of the time. I don’t feel part of something. Some massive, organic, multi-faceted beast that I can become part of and lose myself in. That beast is NYC.
 
I found that it has a Ritalin effect on me. My brain interfaces and is dwarfed and appropriated by the city. I level off. I relax by being part of it, engaged. 
 
I realized this trip that if what I am working toward is spending part of my life, what’s left of it, enjoying it by being thoroughly engaged in living it, body and spirit, NYC is the only place for me. 
 
Aside from being one with the city in a general way, there are also people all over I can engage with. Friends, strangers, performers, artists, weirdos, tradesmen, and on and on into some Whitmanesque list. 
 
I just came here wide open and I spent many hours talking with friends, seeing art, doing comedy, eating. All without making plans ahead of time. It’s a short trip everywhere and the journey is engaging. I can be spontaneous about engaging with the most interesting people I know and seeing the best of what art and life is about. 
 
I don’t want to live in the fucking country. I don’t need to be in the woods. New York City is a big part of me. Always has been. I should just figure out how to be here more, as much as possible, as I get older. Enjoy my life. 
 
Today I have an amazing conversation with Alex Winter about his new doc The YouTube Effect,  along with his other docs and his life. Thursday I talk to Adam Conover about his career and about his work on the negotiating team for the WGA. 
 
Enjoy!
 
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
 
Love,
Maron

Big Nothing.

Chores, People.
 
I’ve been self-employed most of my life. It’s a blessing, I guess. There were years where I made no money and self-employment felt a lot like doing nothing but with a very active brain. Actively telling me I’m doing nothing but sometimes writing something down trying to make sense of the world and myself. Myself outside of doing nothing is very active mentally. 
 
Lately, perhaps because I own a house, doing nothing is actually very busy. I guess I need to redefine nothing. That’s a life’s journey. Food shopping, cooking, laundry, refilling bird feeders, fixing a gate, playing records, playing guitar, watching old movies, watching old comedy, reading news, reading not news, sex, sleep, watching reels, making and drinking coffee, etc. These aren’t nothing. These are a full-time job. All of these take up space in my brain while some other part of my brain is crunching the soul numbers and working existential equations. That sentence would be an example of that work. 
 
Listening to Blue Mitchell right now while wondering if my cat’s kidneys are failing while dreading tomorrow. Spinning the plates. A lot going on in this big nothing. It’s the work. 
 
I think there’s a rat in my basement. I think that’s why the cats are acting weird. I set one trap down there and I don’t check it enough. There was one decaying down there a couple weeks ago. I think they sense when there’s one around. Or maybe I’m just too focused on them. When you get too focused on the cats with some kind of concern I think they get nervous because you are and it’s a vicious cycle that only ends when you take them to the vet to hopefully be told nothing is wrong. Which is most of the time. I think that’s a good amount of a vet’s business. People freaking out about their animals which eventually freaks the animals out and the vet stops the insanity for part of their living. 
 
I saw the Barbie movie and I have big feels about it on many levels. I talk about it on today’s show but it may not be as clear as this text exchange I had with a woman I know:
 
Her: Barbie was so boring and unfunny. I don’t get it.
Me: I thought it was a masterpiece.
Me: I definitely got the feels and some laughs.
Me: Progressive Cultural Trojan Horse.
Her: Maybe I should watch it again. I think TikTok really had me expecting something different
Me: It’s brilliant.
Me: I mean, if you didn’t get it, you didn’t get it.
Me: I don’t think seeing it again will make a difference.
Her: I think it’s that it was feminism 101 and I was expecting feminism 500. But the visuals were amazing and Ryan Reynolds and Kate McKinnon gave great performances. I just wanted it to do too much.
Me: Who cares what feminism it was. It’s there and it’s thorough. Millions of young girls are going to see it. It has a lot of heart. Totally entertaining. It’s a full on entertainment product seeped in progressive politics. That’s a big lift. It’s fucking genius. I thought some of the gags and jokes were solid. Totally unique vision. Tremendous accomplishment.
Me: The way it handled men was truly inspired comedy.
Me: I was lit up the whole time. Proud of it for some reason.
 
Reading it now I see I may have mansplained Barbie a bit but I was excited. Also, Ryan Reynolds isn’t in the movie. I knew what she meant though. Gosling. 
 
I’ve been watching a lot of old Don Rickles and listening to a lot of old punk rock. It’s not nostalgia, it’s nourishment. I guess I’m creatively craving some fuck you energy. I guess I’m worried I’ve lost some of my fuck you-ness. I’ll get it back. 
 
Today I have a truly lovely chat with Melissa Villaseñor who I was concerned may not talk much. She did. On Thursday I talk to Gary Mule Deer who was at The Comedy Store when it opened and had a very interesting, long career in the showbiz racket. 
 
Enjoy!
 
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
 
Love,
Maron

Funny People Presence.

Got out there, People!
 
I hit the picket line on Friday. I’m not sure I would’ve done it if It was entirely up to me. I tend to feel like I do my part when I talk about things on the podcast. I certainly have spoken in support of the strikes by both the unions I am a member of, SAG/AFTRA and WGA. I have explained what they are about in terms of grievances and possible resolutions. 
 
It takes much for me to get out there. Tim Heidecker texted me that he and Chelsea Peretti were going and we should get a funny people presence on the line. I reached out to some comics. We met down at the main Netflix offices, were given t-shirts and a sign and got into the line. It felt correct and righteous to be out there with the rest of my community, striking for correct compensation and representation. I clocked Tim, Eric, Chelsea, Reggie Watts, Jon Daly, Hannah Einbinder, Nick Thune, Jeff Baena and Joe Mande. There were plenty of people I knew but didn’t really know. It was a powerful turnout.
 
I don’t know why I checked but I got in over 11,000 steps. Wait, I do know. I went to the picket line instead of exercising at my regular time. I knocked out both at once. 
 
It’s always a little about me which is an understatement but flexible. 
 
I’ve been watching a lot of Mike Leigh movies. Some part of my brain is preparing. I’m hoping to have an opportunity to direct a film and I want to know and feel what I really like in terms of specific elements of direction. I’ve been watching his early films that he did with the BBC and I find them totally engaging in terms of the empathy his lens has for beautifully flawed characters. He affords the actors, and hence the characters, a profound amount of space to unfold and exist in what seems an authentic world. 
 
The fact that it takes a certain amount of courage in art to sit with the familiar flaws of people without resolution or polish or judgement is a sad state of culture. It implies tolerance with its gaze. Because of divisiveness and entitlement and viral ideologies that compromise the humanity of individuals, it's heart-swelling and essential to watch something that should be the way we all see the world and others. It's inspiring and deep. 
 
Today my old friend Jim Gaffigan talks to me for the seventh time on the show. I love talking to Jim. We catch up about his life and new special. On Thursday George Schlatter returns with some old show biz stories we didn’t get to the first time he was on. We fill in some gaps in my curiosity about Ciro’s nightclub which is now The Comedy Store. 
 
Enjoy!
 
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
 
Love,
Maron

Solidarity.

Union Strong, Folks!
 
I am a proud dues paying member of both the WGA and SAG/AFTRA. In good years I get my insurance coverage from SAG. In really good years I get it from WGA. In bad years I scramble like everyone else. I never take my membership for granted. 
 
We are all striking. Both Unions. Solidarity. 
 
Despite what anyone thinks about Hollywood or show biz and what any of us do out here, we work for a living in a highly competitive business with very specific corporate overlords in most cases. Not everyone makes a lot of money in this racket. Struggle is the norm. In most cases there’s hardly any job security. Unions are important.
 
Obviously, the issues now are with AI and streaming services. There were concessions made years ago about back-end and residual payments. Some of those issues remain but now we're also dealing with issues of literally owning artists' identities for future use as AI representations and having machines generate actual scripts. Creepy. 
 
I really don’t work much as a writer. It was never my bread and butter. I have written on my own show and sold shows that were never made. My main union is SAG/AFTRA. 
 
The specific issues that SAG/AFTRA is negotiating around are:
 
 - Compensation, which has been eroded with the rise of streaming.
 
 - Rules that need to be updated to account for current structures for both upfront pay and residual payments.
 
 - Artificial Intelligence rules, specifically the need to protect the identities and the work of union members going forward.
 
SAG/AFTRA was not offered a fair agreement that addresses these terms. In terms of what we can do on the podcast, it’s pretty specific. 
 
While the union is on strike, we will not be booking anyone to promote anything that's the product of the major studios, broadcast television networks, streamers and other members of the AMPTP trade association.
 
The Union guidelines do say that any pre-banked press appearance that was agreed upon AND completed before the strike date of Thursday, July 13th, is permitted to air or be published. 
 
We have a few interviews that are banked from before the strike and we will still air those interviews to discuss the guest's life and work.
 
Today's interview with Cillian Murphy was recorded on Tuesday, June 27th. On Thursday I talk to an old comedian friend Michael Rowe about his career in comedy writing and he tells me some good stories.
 
Enjoy!
 
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
 
Love,
Maron

Jogging Memories.

Going back again, People
 
I visited my dad this past weekend. He is hanging in. He seems even more present and engaged than the last time I was there. I’m not hanging on to hope necessarily but it is very nice that he is not worse. I got him and his wife laughing quite a bit. The jokes are still landing with him and that’s a good sign. They are usually about him. So, his wife laughs even more than him. I think she needs it more. 
 
Kit went with me which was very supportive and good. It’s not really easy for me and it can't be easy for her. To be honest I’m not sure I’ve taken in the full emotional weight of it all. Maybe I have. I don’t know. I have a level of acceptance about his condition and I don’t project into an almost guaranteed horrible future much. 
 
I feel it’s my responsibility to spend as much time as I can handle with him but I’m also enjoying it. It makes me appreciate him more and think about him and the life we’ve had more intently. 
 
When someone is losing it mentally I would imagine it’s common for most of the conversations to either be a direct or an indirect attempt to jog or refresh memories. It helps both of us. 
 
I’ve been trying to trigger memories a lot lately. Especially when I visit my hometown, Albuquerque. I almost always go by the two houses that I grew up in. I just look at them and let the memories come. This time I went by my elementary school as well. I went to the streets I walked and drove on as a child. I drove the old highway behind the mountain to appreciate what is truly beautiful about New Mexico outside of me and my memories. The timeless vibe of the mesas and piñon trees and mountains and the expanse of clouds that was the ever-present backdrop of my childhood and remains within me now, easily activated. 
 
I’ve been thinking about the past not nostalgically but almost in an attempt to track my journey to who I am now. When I go home, there’s always new fragments that find their place in the timeline. Younger bits and pieces, moments, feelings, fleeting images of my life that I can now understand with the benefit of hindsight and some acceptance. It’s like filling in the gaps and filling up my sense of self. 
 
Albuquerque is a strange, somewhat beaten city. Not unlike most cities there’s an element of tragic, rugged, desperate humanity. This also shifts my perception of the place and expands the lense on how time passing and cultural problems persisting coincides with my own aging. 
 
It was great to talk to Lukas Nelson today about his relationship with his father Willie and how loving and supportive it is and was. Recording that talk before I saw my dad humbled me a bit. I didn’t really have that feeling growing up but it seems to be happening now. 
 
I talk to comedian Sarah Tiana on Thursday. I see her almost every week but we’ve never really hung out. Not unlike most of us comics her journey to do the comedy she wants to do is unique. It was nice talking to her and Lukas. 
 
Enjoy!
 
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
 
Love,
Maron