WTF

I'm not a follower of many podcasts, but WTF with Marc Maron is uniquely fascinating to me. Maron interviews a lot of comedians. He's a stand-up comic vet talking to a lot of other stand-up comic vets. And because it's all audio, and there's no explicit time constraints, there's a level of intimacy and depth he achieves that surpasses anything you'd be able to find on late night television. Maron involves himself with his subjects. Sometimes they discuss their shared history, even address some bad blood between them.

Most recently, Maron did an amazing interview with Gallagher.

You remember Gallagher and his watermelon-smashing Sledge-O-Matic, right?

He was the patron saint of prop-comics.

Well, it seems he's been trying to make a comeback and his manager set up an interview with Maron for his WTF podcast, since it's been gaining popularity. Gallagher shows up at the interview, not familiar with Marc Maron and not familiar with the concept of a "podcast". Turns out, Gallagher is an ornery old fuck! At some point, Maron asks Gallagher to respond to some recent criticism of some homophobic content in his act... they start getting into this heated debate... and Gallagher ultimately WALKS OUT ON THE INTERVIEW. You need to hear it. Gallagher sounds completely fucking insane throughout.

After that one, there's a terrific interview with Dave Foley of KIDS IN THE HALL and NEWSRADIO fame. Maron walks Foley through the entirety of his career. It is simultaneously hilarious and *profoundly* sad. Foley's twice divorced and apparently his first wife has committed her life to bleeding him dry of every cent he earns. Basically, if he earns less than a million dollars in a year, he is technically committing a crime in Canada—because, by law, he is required to continue to pay this woman an absurd amount in child support. A fact which explains some of his lesser credits in recent years. Imagine earning a million dollars in a year JUST TO GET TO ZERO.

Foley goes on to talk about how he's just started doing stand-up. Motivated in no small part by his desperate need to make money. He candidly talks about the indignity of trading on his amassed celebrity to *begin* a stand-up career as a middle-aged man.


He talks about the formation of the KIDS IN THE HALL. Talks about his crush on Maura Tierney when he was doing NEWSRADIO. Great stuff. Do give it a listen.

There's something I relate to in stand-up comedians, somehow. Yes, the majority of them have deep emotional issues, but there's something about the way they think that I tend to relate to. I think it's something that I might be good at if I really committed to it. It's an idea I've flirted with, here and there over the years. Never seriously enough. I think it's one of the hardest things to do in show business. Even rockstars have the back-up of a band behind them, or the shield of a guitar. To walk out in front of a room full of strangers with just a microphone... that takes some serious brass.