Latest in line of a series of big hitting musical guests like Keith Richards, Neil Young, David Crosby. Can’t wait to hear it.
I know there’s not much love for Marc Maron around here but, just so you know, the first 3 seasons are now up on Netflix UK.
I started listening to a Marc Maron podcast the other day — the Ron Howard one. Does he do that monologue at the beginning of them all? ie. Is it safe to say you can fast-forward through the first 15 minutes of each one?
Yes and yes.
Yep, listen to the first 2 minutes, then he starts his rant/monologue and about 15mins in the show starts. I did that for the Crosby episode, lesson learnt from previous episodes. Looking forward to this one.
You are both right. Learned this the hard way.
I like the MM podcasts. I’ve listened to most of them. Looking forward to the Rog one.
The one with Jason Isbell was good. He tells the story of how he asked the great Muscle Shoals bass player David Hood the secret of being a successful session musician – DH replied “play good, have gear that don’t break, don’t be an asshole”. A muso pal of mine commented that on a good night he can manage any two of three.
Other musician guests i’ve enjoyed have been Benmont Tench, Sturgill Simpson, Billy Gibson, RT and the blokes from Weezer and Pavement.
I like when MM interviews Brit comediens and actors. He’s had Stewart Lee, Eddie Izzard, Jimmy Carr and Billy Conolly and he’s aware of Daniel Kitson is but he abviously wont get an interview with him. I think he shows a genuine interest in his guests.
I agree that he may just be too American to appeal to the non-American listener. He’s mentioned that he had a terrible time at Edinburgh Fringe a few years ago. Quite beleivable.
With regards his obsession with SNL, this stems from an unsuccessful meeting with Lorne Michaels decades ago but he did get some closure on this when he had LM as a guest. He had a similar obsession with his more successful pal Louis CK.
SPOILER ALERT
I’m a massive fan of Roger’s songs, but have always thought he comes across as a total twat in interviews. This one’s no different. He covers the usual ground, talking about what a good friend he is to the poor and oppressed, about what a genius he is, what cunts Gilmour and Wright were. And we get a cringemaking French accent that he thinks shows he has a sense of humour. But he does praise Nigerian singer Nneka which got me checking out her videos. She seems interesting, worth investigating further.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKK3D0H9fWo
Yes, he did come across as a twat. Much like when he did DID a year or so ago.
I was sueprised (pleasantly) how much he rates John Prine and that he’s rubbing shoulders with Neil Young. Wasn’t there a serious war of words with the latter a few months ago?
Yes, Rog comes across as an insufferable SJW for much of the interview. Apparently he likes to use underprivileged local kids for the live version of Another Brick In The Wall Pt.2 and once “went apeshit” when they brought him the kids of the concert organisers. “Bring me some poor kids” he insisted.
I know some people who worked the medical tent at one of The Wall stadium gigs. Apparently Rog *never* wants to see anyone wearing a high-vis. They were warned that during the soundcheck they were *absolutely not* allowed to be in Rog’s eyeline.
He’s an insufferable tool. I’m still a big fan however.
(Side fact: I worked the medical tent at a Bruce gig this year, and himself and the E Street band happily moseyed past the tent to get on stage, happy to see all the backstage gawpers like myself.)
In the interview Rog claims he “grew up poor” and his mum was earning £40 a week as a teacher. Presumably that was in the 50s or early 60s when the average weekly UK wage was around half that.
Never wanting to see someone in hi vis?
*brain explodes from overthinking*
Trust the art not the artist. The only way sometimes
Crikey. I knew he was up
himself but i didn’t know that it was to this degree. What can he possibly have against hi-viz jackets?
I will listen again but I’m pretty sure that he spoke of the Band’s Richard “Emmanuelle”.
Yes, he’s unsufferable but I’d rather have a pint with him than David Gilmour.
I think you’re all being a bit harsh. Having listened to it he said some daft things and is a bit pompous but I wouldn’t have deemed him a complete twat. And is is Roger Waters. Cut him some slack.
No.
Marc is an acquired taste. I can easily see how British listeners might find him too confrontational and, yes, “too American”. But it’s only the opening monologue where you get a double dose of MM’s aggressive/neurotic shtick. The interviews themselves are perfectly normal.
My only reservations with Marc are his obsession with Saturday Night Live, for which he once auditioned but was not hired. Many of his interviewees are from the world of comedy and the discussion regularly gets into the minutiae of stand-up and the personality traits of SNL overlord Lorne Michaels.
Another of Marc’s annoying (for me) little tics is his studied ignorance of all things British. He’ll be interviewing a guest from the UK and the person might say something like “I was born in Liverpool, but went to school in Manchester”. To which Marc will reply “Manchester? That’s near London, right?” It all seems a little affected.
Being Jewish is also a big topic of discussion among Americans. It means very little to us but Marc talks about it incessantly, especially when the guest is of Jewish heritage.
But his music interviews are often really good. He’s interviewed Dweezil Zappa twice recently and the second one in particular is essential listening. Dweezil tells the full story of how the Zappa family has recently been torn apart.
I just finished listening to the WTF episode #740 with Billy Crystal. Really, really good and LoL funny.
Yes, i went back and listened to that one a second time it’s so good.
Of ceourse, MM used to step out with Dweez’s sister, Moon…..after she was a guest on his show.
I’m guessing these Zappa kids haven’t sorted their problems out yet?
The Moon relationship fizzled out quickly.
Meanwhile the Zappa kids are still arguing.
Listened to his interview with Neil Young. He kept saying about how wonderful this was and what a great fan he was, but seemed to know little about his music.
Yes, I noticed that a few times. I think he’s a greatest hits and most famous album type of music fan.
Rog was getting a little confused about seeing the Stones at Kilburn State Theatre too, I think.
That November 1963 package tour played Hammersmith, Lewisham and Streatham Odeons, but not Kilburn as far as I know.
I think Maron’s has kind of become a victim of his own success. His guests, when he started the podcast, we’re almost entirely fellow comedians that weren’t really well known outside the US stand-up circuit. I can still remember when getting the likes of Conan O’Brien or Ben Stiller into the garage was a huge deal for Maron. So he was able to just ramble on about shared experiences (usually grudges held by MM) and where they came from.
Now a lot of his guests have a much higher profile and, I suppose, that kind of ‘where’d you grow up?, what did your dad do?’ thing doesn’t really cut it anymore. At least not for people who are big fans of the individual being interviewed and already know the smaller details. I also think he’s just star-struck most of the time (hello Keith Richards!) so his interviews just skate along the surface.
That said, he can still get good stuff out of his guests. His recent John Prine interview was great despite MM appearing to only know ‘Sam Stone’ and ‘Hello in There’.
Think it’s easy to find fault (and yeah, some of those opening rambles are unbearable) but it’s not like he’s trying to be Terry Gross or anything.
And Roger Waters is, indeed, an insufferable tool.
Agree. I used to enjoy those early WTFs with Marc’s comedy chums. His obsession with SNL was always entertaining.
In fairness to Maron, he doesn’t claim to conduct interviews, but to have conversations.
He’s clearly fascinated by music, comedy, the arts, and what makes people tick and – for my money – has prompted some unexpectedly revealing and human exchanges with many of his guests ( and it’s a pretty extraordinary guest list.)
Can’t think of a better interview/conversation show anywhere currently – although I’d love to know if anyone can suggest one.
The opening monologues are eminently skippable though.
I’m a fan.
The comments above speak to his idiosyncrasies, but the fact is that you get an hour+ in-depth conversation with interesting cultural types (I must admit I skip all the comedian ones), for free, sat on your phone
Make a bee line for the music ones (Just enjoying Crosby) but his film ones – eg Friedkin – are normally good too.
I’ve only just started getting into podcasts, late as always, but I thought the Ron Howard episode was really good in the end.