Marc Maron

Born September 27, 1963. Marc is an American stand-up comedian and host of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast.

Podcast
On September 1, 2009 Maron began a twice-a-week podcast called WTF with Marc Maron.  Released Mondays and Thursdays, the show features interviews with fellow comedians, whether old friends or comedians with whom he is only somewhat familiar.  WTF is mostly a free-form discussion, often touching on the arc of the interviewees' careers, shared past experiences, and specific stories. WTF was originally produced covertly, after-hours from the Air America offices, to which Maron still had keys.  Around the 2oth episode Maron made a move to Los Angeles.  Maron regularly – both proudly and self deprecatingly – mentions that the LA setup of WTF is in his garage, with the majority of his guests meeting him there, in the "Cat Ranch."  WTF has reached #1 on iTunes comedy section numerous times, and is always among the top 20 comedy podcasts.

Though WTF is a free podcast, it has a number of rotating sponsors and accepts donations.
 

Personal life
Maron lived in an apartment in Astoria, Queens, but announced on the 22nd edition of WTF that he was moving back to his Los Angeles home, and did so in the fall of 2009. He has been married twice, to Kimberly Reiss and then Mishna Wolff (a former stand-up comedian). Both relationships have been a large part of his act at various times. At his August 21, 2007 appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, Maron riffed on his separation and divorce from his second wife, Mishna.

Maron has also spoken openly, both in his act and on his podcast, about his past alcohol and drug use, from which he is over nine years sober.

Career

He has been host of The Marc Maron Show, and co-host of both Morning Sedition, and Breakroom Live all politically-oriented shows, produced under the auspices of Air America Media. He was also the host of Comedy Central's Short Attention Span Theater for a year, replacing Jon Stewart. Maron has been a frequent guest on the Late Show with David Letterman and made 44 appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, more than any other stand-up performer. He was also a regular guest on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and hosted the short-lived American version of the British game show Never Mind the Buzzcocks on VH1.

After graduating college Maron started his comedy career in the New York Alternative Comedy scene. He auditioned for the 1995 Saturday Night Live cast overhaul, but attributes being passed over to an awkward personal meeting with show creator and runner Lorne Michaels.

Continuing to be a stand-up performer, Maron's voice was used in episodes of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist and hosted Short Attention Span Theater for a time. He also recorded half-hour specials for HBO and Comedy Central Presents, as well as comedy showcases like the Cam Neely Foundation fundraiser, which also featured performers like Jon Stewart, Denis Leary, and Steven Wright.

His only major film credit to date is a small part–credited as "angry promoter"–in the 2000Cameron Crowe film Almost_Famous">Almost Famous wherein he is seen first fighting with Noah Taylor's character, then yelling at and chasing after the main characters as they drive away on a bus.

His first one-man show, Jerusalem Syndrome, had an extended run in 2000 and was released in book form in 2001. In 2009 he began workshopping another one-man show, Scorching The Earth. According to Maron (in Scorching The Earth) these two shows "bookend" his relationship with his second wife, comic Mishna Wolff, which ended in a bitter divorce.

In May 2008, he toured with Eugene Mirman and Andy Kindler in Stand Uppity: "Comedy That Makes You Feel Better About Yourself and Superior to Others."

In January 2009, a collaboration with Sam Seder which had begun in September 2007 as a weekly hour-long video webcast became Breakroom Live with Maron & Seder, produced by Air America. Until its cancellation in July 2009 the show was webcast live, weekdays at 3PM Eastern, with episodes archived for later viewing as well. In its final incarnation, the show was quite informal, taking place in the (actual) break room of Air America Media, with the cafeteria vending machines just off-camera. This meant occasional distractions when Air America staff and management alike would occasionally come in for food and drink. Maron and Seder also held court in an online "post-show chat" with viewers, in an even less formal continuation of each webcast, after the credits had rolled.

During his career, Maron frequently appeared in the live alternative stand up series he'd organized with Janeane Garofalo called "Eating It," which used the rock bar Luna Lounge in New York's Lower East Side as its venue from the 1990s until the building was razed in 2005.

Early in 2009, Maron began work-shopping a long-form one-man show entitled Scorching The Earth, a dark yet comic examination of his separation and divorce from his second wife.

Radio
From almost the first day of the progressive talk radio network Air America's broadcast in 2004, Maron co-hosted Morning Sedition, a three-hour early-morning radio show with Mark Riley, which aired weekdays from 6am-9am Eastern time. The show was unique in the Air America lineup, in its heavy reliance on both live and pre-produced sketch comedy, utilizing the talents of staff writers, as well as the on-air hosts. The format was a left-leaning near-satire of typical morning "Buddy" radio programs, including recurring characters, interviews and listener call-in segments, and it attracted a loyal fan base.

As 2005 waned, it became known that Maron's contract would not be renewed on its December 1, 2005 end date due to problems with then Air America executive Danny Goldberg. Goldberg reportedly did not "get" the comedy or agree with the satiric and often angry tone set by Maron and other writers (Jim Earl and Kent Jones) for a morning-drive time show. Removal of Maron constituted the disassembling of Morning Sedition causing many fans to circulate online petitions to the management of Air America Radio.

On November 28, 2005 it was officially announced that Maron's contract had indeed not been renewed. His last Morning Sedition broadcast was on December 16, 2005, and the show was discontinued shortly thereafter.

On February 28, 2006, Maron began hosting a nighttime radio program with Jim Earl as sidekick for KTLK Progressive Talk 1150AM in Los Angeles called The Marc Maron Show from 10:00PM PST until midnight PST. The program was frequently delayed (sometimes for over an hour) due to KTLK's contractual agreement to broadcast local sports events–which would often go into overtime. The Marc Maron Show was never nationally syndicated by Air America despite reported contractual clauses promising so. The show was streamed online live, but the show was not publicized, and the existence of the stream was not well promoted.

On July 5, it was announced that The Marc Maron Show's final episode would be July 14. A few days before that date, Maron bluntly discussed his long struggle with Air America Radio's executives on-air.

In 2008, Marc and Sam Seder expanded their prior collaboration on a weekly hour-long video webcast (streamed at The Sam Seder Show website) into a daily show (and "post-show chat") produced by Air America Media called Maron v. Seder. The show became Breakroom Live with Maron & Seder starting in 2009, and could be viewed on Air America Media's website. On July 15, 2009, after less than one year, Air America Media canceled Breakroom Live.

According to the show's hosts, the reason given for the cancellation was financial. Ironically, the day before the cancellation, the show got some of the first real publicity it had received when MaximumFun.org posted its podcast of an interview with Maron on The Sound of Young America.

On the final Breakroom Live webcast, Maron noted that this marked the third time since 2005 he'd been told by [an ever-changing series of executives at] the network that his services would not be required in the immediate future. Co-host Sam Seder pointed out that this would be the end of his fourth show at Air America since the troubled network's inception.

Published Works

• The Jerusalem Syndrome (2001)

   

CDs

• Not Sold Out (2002)

• Tickets Still Available (2006)

• Final Engagement (2009)

• WTF with Marc Maron - Best of WTF, Vol. 1 (2010)