We’re excited to post our online exclusive interview with WTF host Marc Maron. His podcast, on which he interviews (mostly) comedians, is one of our most favourite podcasts out there. The interview was conducted by Kyle Dowling. Here is an excerpt.
THE BELIEVER: I remember you once saying that sometimes it takes five years to write a good joke.
MARC MARON: Yeah, jokes do finish themselves. I really do see them as ongoing conversations about personal themes that I ruminate on. Then my attitudes change and I sort of add that to the conversation. Whether people know the evolution of the conversation or not, I don’t know, but thematically, as a comedian, I stay in the same ballpark—around my issues and my philosophy of life.
BLVR: That idea of the ongoing conversation is very present in both your act and on WTF. Where did the concept of an “ongoing conversation” come from?
MM: I think I got it from my grandpa Jack. He used to have a hardware store and there was always this weird klatsch—is that a word?—of, like, these old men that you could just hang around with in his hardware store and just bullshit. I found it so fascinating. You know, for the years I was doing stand-up, I kind of lost touch with that.
BLVR: Until you started the podcast?
MM: Yeah, but that’s not why I started it. At the time, I didn’t know what else to do. I had nothing going on, and I was working with a guy who’s a genius radio-producer, and I said, “Let’s try this.” The only thing we really committed to was the schedule. I said, “I don’t know what the show’s gonna be, but let’s put up two a week, at this time, and just honor that and see what happens.” That was really the only intention. I didn’t know if anybody would listen to it.
photo credit: Noah Kalina
