THR cover star Marc Maron opens up about saying farewell to his podcast after 16 years, 'WTF With Marc Maron.' The actor, comedian and podcaster speaks about his relationship with his loyal audience, as well as reflects on his noteworthy interviews with the late Robin Williams in 2010 and with President Barack Obama in 2015. Plus, he shares his thoughts on the current podcasting landscape.
00:00Robin Williams, that interview stands out in a way as the only existing interview of that guy when he's not amped up.
00:09The sitting president, Barack Obama, coming to the garage, they had to bring the Secret Service and all that stuff.
00:14They had to figure out where they were going to, you know, put snipers, you know, because it was in a neighborhood.
00:30I think the show, you know, at the core is really a kind of living audio diary of my life, the arc of my life over these 16 years.
00:43So I think the connection that the primary audience has is deep and real.
00:48And I do think that in a lot of cases I kind of help them, you know, manage, you know, their own emotions and their own obstacles in life.
00:57I know that to be true.
00:58So that element of my audience lives in my head and it's it's a bit difficult to leave them hanging in a way.
01:07But but I think most of them have been very kind of supportive of the of the change that, you know, they've been sort of like, you know, I get it.
01:17And, you know, we're going to miss you. And that's sort of a testament to who my audience is.
01:21I think a lot of the interviews are singular interviews.
01:23And I sort of see them as kind of, you know, audio portraits of people where, you know, I feel that after in an hour, hour plus, you know, once you get past 20 minutes or 30 minutes of whatever.
01:37You know, people's, you know, not defenses break down, but they get more comfortable and because it's audio, they forget that they're on a mic.
01:44And then you get something that is unique to that interview.
01:48And because of the way that we did the show, you know, a lot of it is a fairly honest representation of who they are.
01:57That was a big day. The sitting president, Barack Obama, coming to the garage, a lot went into that.
02:02They had to bring, you know, agents in, the Secret Service and all that stuff.
02:06They had to figure out where they were going to, you know, put snipers, you know, because it was in a neighborhood.
02:12There was a big motorcade that, you know, I had to ask my retired neighbor if we could put snipers on his roof.
02:17And he was excited because they had tried, apparently, because Brendan went out to the house before I got back from Hawaii to meet with Secret Service.
02:23And apparently they put a couple of guys on the roof of the garage and they were jumping on it to see it was sturdy.
02:28And Brendan goes, it's not, it's not, it's coming in, you know.
02:31And so the day came, you know, and it was a big deal.
02:35And we had made choices around that interview.
02:37We were not going to do a political interview, which we were both capable of producing, having done political talk radio.
02:43We were going to keep it within the context and confines of the kind of conversations we had on our show.
02:48There was some political stuff that needed to be dealt with at the beginning because it was in the news.
02:53And we did what we do.
02:54We had an hour.
02:55We very rarely, if ever, you know, write questions, but we had a time limit.
02:58They gave us final edit.
03:00They didn't vet the questions because they were dealing with a competent and sophisticated, intelligent president who could handle himself in a dignified and candid way, really.
03:10It was a big day for me.
03:12I think it was a big day for the president.
03:14I'm not sure how much it stands out, but it definitely put the medium of podcasting on the map as a real thing.
03:22Robin Williams, that interview stands out in a way as the only existing interview of that guy when he's not amped up and very candid.
03:36Because I went up to his house, I drove up and I did the intro and the car driving up.
03:42And it was literally, you know, his assistant let me into the house and it was just me and him.
03:46And I think with him, and I'm a comic, so I speak the language and I had a very specific intention, you know, talking to him.
03:53It was kind of hard to put together.
03:54It was probably a little more, there was more hoops to jump through for him than the president, really.
03:59Pretty private guy, very well represented, very well protected.
04:02And we had to, you know, we had to do a lot of stuff to make that happen.
04:05I don't think it was on him so much as, but his people.
04:09I had gotten tired of people kind of dismissing Robin, you know, as either a joke thief or a hack or, you know, whatever, comic talk.
04:18And, you know, because this is a guy that's done everything, you know, major hit TV series and tons of hit movies.
04:26And these dumb little comics were like, yeah, but they're good.
04:28I'm like, he did everything you wanted and he did it brilliantly and he did it like no one else.
04:33I mean, what is your bitterness?
04:36I mean, how are you judging this guy?
04:37So it annoyed me and that kind of drove me to kind of, you know, really want to talk to him as a person and as a comedian.
04:43And it was pretty amazing.
04:44It was very, very candid and very open and it wouldn't have happened if there was one other person.
04:51If he could somehow make an audience, which I think requires two people in the Robin brain, you know, he can bounce all over the place.
04:59But because it was him and I in his house, you know, talking as two comedians, you know, you got a side to him that I don't think it ever happened again.
05:08It hadn't happened before because after he passed away, a lot of people used it.
05:12He also talked about suicide in it, which, you know, is kind of sad.
05:19But I do think it's a very kind of raw representation of who that guy was.
05:23I think that audio was really the way to go and stay because it is a much more intimate medium and it's a lot more personal.
05:33But I think ultimately because the podcast format, whether video or audio, is just so easy and now it's been kind of co-opted by branded people and it's just everybody's just blabbering away.
05:51And I still think that mine stands out as pretty unique outside of a couple of people that directly copped my style, which, you know, it happens.
06:05But it's a little it's a little inundated and and not as special anymore.
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