Marc’s talking with a San Francisco comic from the ‘80s who pioneered a stream-of-consciousness style of stand-up, survived a nasty drug habit, and emerged with his life in perspective. No, not Robin Williams. It’s Steven Pearl, who is, in fact, one-of-a-kind.
Marc welcomes John Mulaney, Janeane Garofalo, Morgan Murphy, Todd Barry, Greg Giraldo and Tom Shillue. Taped 4/29/10 at Comix comedy club in New York City.
Marc doesn’t meet a lot of kindred spirits, so it’s not surprising that this one had to come from halfway around the globe. Comedian Brendon Burns is so much like Marc you’ll be glad he has an Australian accent so you can tell them apart. Plus, Marc recounts a treacherous trip to Ikea that ended with a W, but not a T or an F.
What is Alternative Comedy? Some people credit Marc with creating it, but he’s not even sure what it means. He’ll get to the bottom of it with Comedy Death Ray’s Scott Aukerman. Scott also tries to convince Marc to tap into his inner American Idol. Plus, Marc examines mental altruism.
Get in the car with Marc and Eddie as they travel to Arizona, binge on ice cream, and play ping-pong with 11-year-olds. It’s like a Hope and Crosby movie but with hostility and late-night crying jags. Plus, Marc stages an intervention with his brother, who Marc believes has a troubling addiction to parenting.
Marc resurrects some Bay Area memories with two San Francisco-based comics, Jim Short and Greg Proops. Learn how Jim helped Marc at his weakest moment and find out why Greg has problem with Anderson Cooper. Plus, Marc hopes for a personal resurrection during Greek Easter.
Marc chooses his words carefully with comedian Myq Kaplan, which is a good thing since Myq (pronounced Mike) has a master’s degree in linguistics. Plus, Marc gets some marital advice from husband and wife writers-slash-psychologists, Jerry and Cathy McDowell.
Marc tries to edge in on public radio’s territory by poaching one of This American Life’s contributors, comedian Dave Hill. They’ll discuss Dave’s time in Japan, the morality behind Happy Endings, and Dave’s experience doing comedy in prison. Just a guess, but this might not be appropriate for NPR.
Feast on this, Comedy Nerds: Marc sits down with writer-director-actor Bob Odenkirk. You want some Mr. Show talk? You got it. How about some thoughts on Tim & Eric? Got that, too. You want to hear what Bob considers to be his biggest failures? Oh yeah, got it. Plus, Marc reveals the shameful source of a recent residual check.
The Road is getting to Marc. He’s having trouble with coffee, he’s getting screwed out of free hotel breakfasts, and he’s having truly weird experiences in the clubs. Good thing he’s talking with road warrior comic Robert Hawkins who has some sympathetic road stories to share. And fellow road-mate Ryan Singer helps Marc process a bizarre night on stage.
By popular demand, Marc welcomes El Chupacabra back to WTF. Plus, artist and writer Bob Fingerman takes a unique look at the end of the world (forward by Marc Maron). And Marc searches for the soul of America as he wanders around Washington, DC.
The fireworks fly at the UCB Theater in Los Angeles. The calming Canadian presence of comedian Jon Dore has little effect on explosiveness on display when Marc and guest Greg Fitzsimmons go at each other. The only thing to mitigate it is a bout of dark insanity from Jim Earl and a dose of righteous anger from Eddie Pepitone. Taped 3/19/10.
Marc’s last trip to Scotland was supposed to be his last. Now he returns for another helping of endless pork products and generous Glaswegians. Also, a sit-down with comic Dov Davidoff who talks about his junkyard upbringing, his foray into the swinger lifestyle, and his sympathies with Vincent van Gogh.
Marc wants to help you kick your addictions (unless your addiction is this podcast). Comic Rob Delaney shares his own bottoming-out story and encourages you to laugh at his pain. Then Marc gets some couch-time (actually, garage-time) with Almost Dr. Steve to help deal with “the bug.”
Expect a little bit of fear and a whole lot of loathing when Marc spends the weekend in Las Vegas. He’ll talk with mythic comic and Vegas resident Ron Shock about the long and winding road to Sin City and the last days of Bill Hicks. Plus, he’ll visit an unlikely showbiz mecca in a search for some entertainment inspiration.
The biggest names in comedy are helping Marc with this special show. It’s the largest roster of all-star guests we’ve had so far, and we’re not going to spoil any of the surprises here. Okay, we’ll let you know that Eugene Mirman will be dropping by, but we’re keeping the rest under wraps. Enjoy this murderer’s row of comedic minds.
Stuck in a deep cultural malaise, Marc turns to some intellectual heavyweights to break him out of it. Vanity Fair columnist James Wolcott tries to help Marc figure out if he’s getting dumber. Plus, Marc talks with his friend Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask, about the nature of genius. And after all of that, we’ll ruin everything by talking about the Oscars.