Podcast of the Week: WTF with Marc Maron - 100th Episode

Marc Maron's WTF podcast has dropped 100 episodes. He started putting them out in September of last year, and through all the changes, he has consistently produced provocative, entertaining and engaging shows. It's one of two podcasts that I started listening to from the beginning and of which I've not missed an episode. For the 100th episode celebration Maron put out a special version. A quick synopsis:

He talks about his root canal.

He gives a brief history of the show and its origins, going back to the event that started it all: losing his job at Air America but keeping his security pass card. Guerrilla podcasting.

Several letters, including one from a reader who supports Maron's Nerd Cock campaign and who quotes Brecht and Aristotle, but sounds more pleased to be quoting himself. The listener writes proudly, like that student in every one of my composition classes that has been told for way too long that he's smart. The kid that makes me want to stab him just for using words like be-logo-ed and phrases like "oral-tract-turned-product"—instead of just writing "podcast".

Maron makes a plea (sponsored by Adam & Eve) for his readers to masturbate so that he doesn't feel guilty and alone.

On the tail end of that, we listen in on a tender conversation with his mother, who asks him if the girl he's dating has graduated high school yet. Then a conversation with his father, who says he's been too busy to listen to a single episode, then gives a quick goodbye and hangs up.

We meet the former stalker who has become his girlfriend, and we hear from several other folks.

Maron is a smart guy. A funny guy. In the top half of my top-five list of all stand-ups. But sometimes he makes me laugh not on purpose. Like the comment he makes to an Asian fan:

"You have no accent... and you grew up with Chinese speaking parents. That's amazing!" Yep. It's amazing how easily little Chinese babies learn to suppress their Chinese accent when they're born and raised in America.

Later, he adds, "He was set free from his ancient past and language and he's just like me." Those ancient cultures and languages, that billions of people still live in and speak.

It's a good episode. He sounds genuinely pleased to still be doing the podcast. And he promises he's in it for a while. Maron knowingly approaches vulnerability on the stage and on WTF. His fans are devoted to and invested in his story. It's easy to see why so many think they know him, understand him, and perhaps that he even knows them. That he's talking just to them.

In closing, biannual can mean either twice a year, or every two years. Unfortunately, given the context of the story when it comes up during this episode, either meaning is pretty tragic.

For a few of you readers who might be interested, Maron promises a forthcoming update on the Jomance. The Joe Wagner bromance that was introduced in episode 90.




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(all photos from the WTF website)