When comedian Marc Maron announced in June that his long-running podcast, WTF with Marc Maron, would be coming to an end, he said it was because he and his producer are “burnt out” after 16 years. But, he emphasized, “we are utterly satisfied with the work we’ve done.” Maron, an actor and stand-up known for his self-deprecating black comedy and satire, first broke onto the scene in the late ’80s, but started WTF in 2009 and recorded most of its 1,686 episodes from his home garage in Los Angeles. Between stand-up specials and acting gigs (more on those below), he’d invite his fellow comedians and actors, as well as musicians, politicians, and other notable public figures, to discuss their work, life, and the state of the world.
Maron’s final WTF conversation, which premiered on Oct. 13, was with former President Barack Obama, who’d previously been a guest in 2015. “I feel like I’m sort of ready for the break, but there is sort of a fear there, of, ‘What do I do now?’ ” Maron told Obama when asked how he’s feeling about the podcast ending. “I’m busy. But … I’ve got a lot of people who, over the last 16 years, have grown to rely on me.”
Worry not, he’s not going away forever, and he still has plenty of existing work on Netflix to keep you laughing in the meantime. If you’re already missing Maron’s take on the world, you can still see (and listen to) him in the specials and TV shows below.
Maron premiered his stand-up special Too Real in 2017. “That’s my problem sometimes,” Maron quipped when discussing its release at the time, nodding to his self-declared penchant for being “too real” in his performances and in real life. In it, he riffs on a wide variety of topics: art, aging, his parents, The Rolling Stones, and much, much more.
Maron’s never shied away from traditionally uncomfortable topics, and that continues to be the case in End Times Fun, his 2020 stand-up special in which he reflects on global warming, fascism, vitamin hustlers, evangelicals, and his take on the apocalypse.
Easy is a three-season anthology series from Joe Swanberg about the intricacies of modern love. In it, Maron plays Jacob Malco, a graphic novelist whose age is getting to him: He’s feeling irrelevant, and ends up in hot water after a book signing goes wrong. Maron is featured in three of the show’s 25 episodes and appears alongside co-stars Jane Adams, Emily Ratajkowski, and Melanie Lynskey.
This dramatic comedy from creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch is based on the real-life characters and gimmicks of the ’80s women's professional wrestling circuit founded by David McLane, the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (aka GLOW). Alison Brie’s Ruth “Zoya the Destroya” Wilder clashes with Maron’s Sam Silvia, the promotion’s director who comes to the table with a few unconventional ideas. Add in Betty Gilpin’s Debbie “Liberty Belle” Eagan, whose now-ex-husband had an affair with Ruth years earlier, and this promotion might never make it off the ground — let alone into the ring.
