For day two of Austin’s inaugural Moon Tower Comedy Fest (more on this another time) I went to see the man who is synonymous with podcasting in my mind. Sure I take in others: On the Media, ONN and Sound Opinions; but they’re just repurposed NPR or cable TV content. The remaining ones are skits in the ONN vein. Lastly, the ones I’ve ditched were getting hard to keep up with: Coverville, Astronomycast and the crappy Five Hundy by Midnight. And for the nitpickers, I know, I know, the dude with all the hair in the Eighties from MTV had more to do with being a podcast pioneer. My point about Marc is that he may not have been the first (WTF started in late 2009) but he is the person who found a way to make this form of media/entertainment his. The same way how the iPod became the de facto MP3 player even though numerous others preceded it.
To me, Marc’s show WTF is a great interview show with comedy, reflection and surprises. There are obvious reasons why it can’t be on the radio: frankness, profanity and the airwaves belonging mostly to the Right Wing Noise Machine, ergo, nothing intelligent is allowed. Since the majority of Marc’s guests are comedians, I feel he has become the heir apparent to Alan King who used to do a cable show focusing on “the comic mind.” I’m a comedy geek so I dig the technical language and anecdotes thrown around.
I also followed Marc’s career off/on over the last two decades. During the off years, it was due to him falling off the radar or I was pre-occupied with other matters. Over 20 years ago I recall him fondly as the host of Comedy Central’s Short Attention Span Theater. He was stronger, wittier and funnier than who he replaced…Jon Stewart.
When the doomed and mismanaged Air America launched about a decade ago, I was thrilled to see Marc as co-host of Morning Sedition. His brief tenure demonstrated he had the chops to be a solid, engaging host. I often endured the horrible reception on 1600 AM in Austin to catch Marc, especially on Friday when he’d transform into Right-Wing bombthrower Marc the Shark for a few minutes. More on this skit later.
Afterwards, he was on the periphery of my mind and thanks to On the Media, Marc was brought in for segments regarding humor over 9/11 ten years later and the whole Gallagher incident. Last Summer I scored his latest album This Better be Funny to get re-acquainted with his primary job, stand-up comedy. He’s still got it.
Now Austin is trying to jumpstart its own comedy festival amidst a dozen other cities having better organized, more well-established setups. We have too many annual invasions of locusts as it is with my adopted home: SXSW, ACL Fest, Staple, Fun Fun Fest, Harry Knowles’ birthday celebration, and the state legislature’s regressive policies to keep WASPs in charge. Comedy and the slightly older comic book convention aren’t unique, more like “me too” gatherings which exemplify the homogenization in America.
However, I missed out on Marc’s recent appearance at SXSW when he interviewed Jeffrey Tambor due the city’s growing caste system so the Moontower was my true opportunity to really enjoy what he does live. Compared to other comedians, Marc Maron is an impressive performer and belongs to the amorphous minority camp. Let me explain what I consider his “camp.” Normally when you see comedians, they often have a set they follow. Some are to the letter (Bill Cosby, Steve Martin), others tweak their sets slightly as they travel or current events affect it (George Carlin, Richard Pryor) and a few go by the seat of their pants armed with just a couple ideas (Robin Williams). The end result is that many only come to town every couple years because they have new material; plus most audiences like it this way. Marc being amorphous means his work appears to be constantly evolving, changing and adjusting. Unlike the numerous comedians I’ve seen in Austin for the last decade, he used little from the recent album (this is neither bad nor good). I think he’s also pretty mindful of how many people catch his podcast, thus, he has to continue surprising people. Lastly, Marc has a very sharp wit and can react to the audience/environment instantly. The Mohawk demonstrated it: the crummy “seating” arrangement, the Feist concert in the background and playing off his opener’s set (former Austin resident, Lucas Molandes).
I was very glad to see Marc nowadays. The podcast rejuvenated his career after a very publicly known rough patch. He’s a rare case of how the Internet helped someone truly connect to his fan base. The Onion debated if we are hitting a critical mass period, something akin to the comedy club bust in the early Nineties. Maybe. The best will endure and lead the way. I completely agree with Chris Hardwick who is quoted in the story for saying podcasts are the successors to comedy albums. Few ever had memorable sales numbers, a reason why the industry and mainstream fell all over itself with Dane Cook (I have no opinion of him to be clear).
As the picture shows, I did get some face time. Despite the intimacy Marc has through WTF, I felt level-headed enough to keep a respectful distance. No one wants to be that fan who scares the crap out of him. I totally spaced on letting him know about the pineapple I brought to protect him from T-Rexes during his visit. I was just super, super glad to have the opportunity to thank Marc for the years of entertainment he has given me and I wanted him to know, I am happy he didn’t give up. I think he hears the latter often but by his reaction showed me he truly appreciates it. I closed with asking if he Marc the Shark would ever return. He chuckled, said, “That takes me back” and mentioned how he feels he has been turning more into him. Based upon the direction WTF has taken him, I doubt it means Marc will be doing a political 180 like Dennis Miller, David Zucker or Victoria Jackson. It may have to do with aging, less than his disillusion with Air America. Maybe he can elaborate in the future.