Marc Maron to end his ‘WTF’ podcast after 15 years of interviewing comics, actors, musicians, Obama
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Comic and actor Marc Maron said Monday that he’s ending his popular and influential podcast “WTF with Marc Maron” after nearly 16 years.
Maron said on a newly released episode that the last of the nearly 2,000 episodes he has hosted will be released later this year.
“Sixteen years we’ve been doing this, and we’ve decided that we had a great run,” Maron said. “Now, basically, it’s time, folks. It’s time. ‘WTF’ is coming to an end. It’s our decision. We’ll have our final episode sometime in the fall.”
The 61-year-old Maron said he and producing partner Brendan McDonald are “tired” and “burnt out” but “utterly satisfied with the work we’ve done.”
Maron was a veteran stand-up comic who had dabbled in radio when he started the show in 2009, at a time when stand-ups were trying out the form in big numbers, and many listeners still downloaded episodes on to iPods.
The show early on was often about Maron talking through his beefs with fellow comedians, but it soon stood out and became a widely heard and medium-defining show with its thoughtful, probing longform interviews of cultural figures.
It became a key stop on press tours for authors, actors and musicians and reached a peak when then- President Barack Obama visited Maron’s makeshift Los Angeles garage studio for an episode in 2015.
Maron used a simple interview style to get guests to share stories they’d rarely told elsewhere. Seeking to know the biggest influences on their lives and careers, Maron would ask, “Who are your guys?”
Other memorable episodes include a 2010 personal and emotional interview with Robin Williams that was re-posted and widely listened to after Williams’ death in 2014. The episode earned a place in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.
Maron kept doing standup specials and expanded his acting career while the show aired, including a three-season run on the Netflix series “GLOW.”
The show’s guitar-rock theme song opened with a clip of Maron shouting, “Lock the gates!” in his role as a promoter in the film “Almost Famous.”
The solo episode openings became a confessional space for Maron where he talked about his life, relationships, years of doing stand-up comedy and struggles with drug addiction.
Maron gave tearful tribute to his girlfriend, director Lynn Shelton, in the episode after her death in 2020.
“People who listen to the podcast know me pretty well, and it’s all good. They have a relationship with me that’s one sided, but it’s real and I try to be as gracious about that as possible,” Maron told The Associated Press in 2019. “My particular little slice of the show business world is very me specific and it’s very personal and usually that’s a good thing. But I’ve had to learn how to balance how much of my life I reveal and what I keep to myself, and try to find a little space.”