interviews
Marc Maron
Detail:
An interview with Marc Maron. Former Air America Radio Talker & legendary comedian.
Introduction:
Marc is primarily known as a political pundit. Many people would have
discovered him through his successful but shortlived shows, Morning Sedition
(cohosted with Mark Riley) and The Marc Maron show. Both aired on the
fledgling progressive radio network, Air America. Whilst the shows were
grounded in politics it was shaped by its out-there comedy sketches and
an intimate air between the audience of devoted fans and bloggers and
the troupe of comedians and friends lead by Maron. When Marc was axed
from his popular first show ‘Morning Sedition’ because of
a personal dispute with the CEO, he spectacularly clashed with an exec
on air. Janeane Garofalo eulogizing the show said of her friend, “Marc
Maron is unbelievably cerebral, talented and passionate” adding
“I wouldn’t recognize Marc if he wasn’t having beef
somebody”.
From his LA home, Marc talks to Nerds Gone Wild! about being sent home
from Australia after bombing miserably, politics and the price of shit
on YouTube. The following are Marons thoughts on subjects ranging from
Politics, Comedy and his experience in Australia:
Maron on YouTube
I think the idea of a democratic way for people to express themselves
is all well and good; certainly, if people want to express themselves
they can. But I just think it lowers the aesthetic bar to a degree that
if people learn to like shit, everybody’s going to make shit. There’s
already a big enough problem with that in legitimate places. People have
been making multi-million dollar shit since the beginning of fucking show
business.
So now somebody can make $3 shit, and if everybody starts liking that,
why wouldn’t the studios just say: “Why don’t we just
let this shit fester? Let’s find those guys who make $3 shit, and
offer them $4. They can make shit for us and we save a lot of money.”
Then the entire population learns to love shit without having a barometer
for what isn’t shit. That’s the problem — all this stuff
just makes everything shit.
The reason there are professionals who pay their dues, hone their craft
and do their fucking homework is suppose to be to elevate the expression
of the heart — to elevate the idea of the spirit through expression.
Some guy shooting his cat peeing is no fucking genius and doesn’t
deserve that much attention — neither him nor the cat.
Let me just say one more thing: you’ve got a guy in my position,
who’s been doing this a long time. I do what I do. I’m really
not that bitter. I’ve never been funnier, or been more in control
of my craft and I feel pretty good about myself. But when you’re
talking about putting asses in seats, you’ve got club owners who
want to book guys who have nine million friends on MySpace or a popular
YouTube video. They can put asses in seats and they’re gonna book
them over me.
On bombing disastrously in 1992 and being sent home from Australia
It was a real big deal. At that time I was at the precipice of figuring
out what I was going to do. And because I felt like I had failed miserably,
on the way back from Australia I proceeded to get drunk, which probably
lasted for months. I didn’t really know if I was going to stay in
comedy. It had a profound effect on my mental disposition, because I just
saw it as a complete fucking failure. And I just figured maybe I wasn’t
cut out for it. It fucked me up for probably a month … years ...
I don’t know. You just get lost.
On Last Comic Standing and reality programming
Look, I find all those shows sad. I don’t like amateur contests
as a means to make money. I think American Idol is a culturally degrading
phenomenon. I think the only way it would be interesting is if the loser
was shot.
Unfortunately with reality programming, people become entertained by other
people’s failure, pain and struggle. And the people who are failing,
in pain and struggling are willing to let people be entertained by that
out of desperation and a narcissistic need for validation or attention
in the guise of becoming a phenomenon or a star.
On being classified a political pundit
I’m not a pundit. I was put in a position to educate myself and
become more partisan than I probably would be publicly otherwise, more
educated than I would be, and I’m grateful for that. But on the
either side of the political spectrum, whether it’s right or left,
you have bullshit, and you’re going to sort of become a distributor
of whatever’s side bullshit you tend to align yourself with.
On Obama and the power of the symbolic presidency
If you just listen to the Clintonian criticism of Obama,
the biggest attack they have on him is that he speaks well. Now, I don’t
know where the fuck they got the idea that charisma and the ability to
elevate the human spirit is not ninety percent of what a leader should
do. To have somebody sit there and criticise a guy’s ability to
elevate the human spirit, to make people feel like they’re a part
of something again, and make people excited about the future of their
country — to describe that as being a liability is desperate and
fucked up and comes mentally from a place of insecurity and inability.
I’m willing to gamble on the guy. You’ve got to realise that
the President of the United States is a symbolic office. In a democracy
that’s suppose to function properly, with three distinct branches
of government and a legislative process based on elected officials, the
guy on the top of that pyramid has to be symbolic — to represent
what the country is, what the country could be, and to make people believe
in that country and those ideas. So for anyone to criticise a guy for
having the capability to do that through his eloquence and through his
dynamism as a speaker is a parasite.
It takes an awful lot to deliver a message through the haze and chaos
and candy that Americans ingest everyday. I mean, we’re going through
a very difficult time now as a country economically and also culturally
in how we’re defined. Now, if a guy like Barack Obama can manifest
enough leadership qualities to get people in government with him to take
a stance, I’m into it. I’m gonna take a gamble. I’m
gonna gamble. I’d rather take him over Hillary any day.