WTF?! WTF is Ending???
My fave episodes of Marc Maron's podcast WTF
This week Podcaster Marc Maron announced that his show WTF is coming to an end. Maron has been doing the show for sixteen years. Sixteen years ago, podcasting was very different. There were very few shows like this. Marc essentially remade his career, influenced podcasting, and became a career marker for comedians (and entertainers) everywhere all because he started a podcast in his garage where he interviewed his comedian friends.
I cannot tell you all how much I loved this show. I got my first office job about six months after I graduated from undergrad. It was 2011 and I was a temp at a tech startup - sooooo 2010s. It was data entry - all day, every day. I didn’t mind it because I could listen to podcasts and I loved listening to my stories! My listening diet consisted of This American Life, RadioLab, Stuff You Missed in History Class, and WTF with Marc Maron. I listened to comedians - in the first several years he mostly only spoke to comedians - candidly tell their stories. It was inspiring. This gave me the hope and, thanks to their stories, I knew how hard the road to any modicum of success would be.
WTF has been with me for my entire young adult life and now it’s leaving us. I can’t tell if this is growth or if I’m playing life on a loop. Just like in 2011, I’m out of school. I’m a year post-graduate school. I had SO much hope that I was bettering my life, but the job market is extremely difficult and I still haven’t found anything. I’ve started my own podcast which is really good (and a celebrity even likes it!!!). In some ways, this all encapsulates a true end to my young adult chapter. Let’s call it My Long 20s!
There’s this other solemn feeling that everything I knew and loved, everything that I aspired to or was inspired by…is dead and dying. It makes one feel obsolete. I don’t feel old at all, but culture has moved so fast and furiously that it wants me to feel old.
To some extent, the ending of this show is also a push in an interesting direction. Marc’s conversations with his guests taught me career and life lessons. Maybe this is a signal that I’ve learned enough for now. I have all the tools. Time to build a cool life.
So! After sixteen years, here are the episodes that have really stuck with me:
Michaela Watkins
I’m telling anyone remotely interested in SNL: this is the episode to listen to. She really exposes what it’s like to work there. I think about this episode ALL THE TIME. Her stories illustrate what it’s like to land a dream job when you’re older and you have a better sense of self…which means you don’t put up with senseless bullshit. According to Watkins, the show is filled with senseless summer-camp-style bullshit. Great stories from a very funny person.
Ms. Pat
Ms. Pat is your favorite comedian’s favorite comedian. Her stories on this episode are as hilarious as they are outrageous.
Tracy Letts
Marc went through a period of interviewing playwrights. This episode (and the Annie Baker one) provides us with insight into what it’s like to be one of the most famous modern playwrights around. Plus? He’s a Chicago guy who sounds like he made Marc fall in love with Chicago.
Lewis Black
I’ve always liked Lewis Black, but I think I really related to this episode because he began his career as a playwright. He basically started comedy because he was getting nowhere in theater. Hey, that’s me! This quote has stuck with me for eternity: “You could write a play, shove it in a bottle, throw it into the ocean, and it will be read faster than at any American theater company”.
Paul Giamatti
Paul comes across as an overall solid dude. The two have a super pleasant, down-to-earth conversation. It’s just nice to be a fly on the wall.
Courtney Love
Like a lot of OG listeners, I’m not super into the later episodes when more media-trained non-comedians went on the pod to promote something. Courtney Love’s episode is totally different. Marc struggles to keep up with her as she tells a series of celebrity stories. She is a rock-n-roll queen through and through.
Carlos Mencia - both episodes
Mencia has been accused of joke stealing for years. He went on the show and charmed Marc. He does come across as really charming and nice! But then Marc talked to some of Mencia’s peers and he realized that he’d been had. Mencia goes back on and the drama is reality TV worthy.
Lorne Michaels
Listening to the show from its early days is amazing because Marc Maron is obsessed with learning about SNL/Michaels in order to find out why he wasn’t hired for the show. Well? He finally gets his answers when Lorne Michaels goes on. It’s a major climax to one of Marc’s most defining inner conflicts.
Gallagher
Marc Maron puts Gallagher on the spot for his hateful rhetoric, and Gallagher leaves in the middle of the episode because he feels like Marc is being mean to him. Amazing.
Mel Brooks
How can you not love an episode with Mel Brooks? I mean, come on!
And so many others! He’s talked to everyone. Even Obama stepped into the garage - while he was president! I’ve also enjoyed his conversations with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Robin Williams, Bob Newhart, Jonathan Winters, Jon Oliver, Norm McDonald, Jenny Slate, Quentin Tarantino, David Spade, RuPaul, Conan O’Brien, Mavis Staples, St. Vincent, and more. Pick your favorite celebrities and have a listen. This show is a treasure, and it will be greatly missed.
Listen to my podcast Directora here. I have 8 episodes this first season, and we just released episode 4. The last few eps are super juicy >:)
I know it’s on Patreon, but you could always cancel it when the season is done (also I’ve been told that Apple gives you a bunch of weird charges if you sign up for Patreon on your phone. Just do it on a browser, and you can still listen on your phone).
What I’m watching: The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and the last season of The Americans
What I’m reading: The Sewing Circle by Axel Madsen
What I’m listening to: WTF, duh!