WTF has totally sold out to The Man. Totally.

May 17, 2011 8:53 PM

"For about six months now, Sound of Young America editor Nick White and I (Jesse Thorn) have been working on a secret project. Now, the secret can be revealed... please welcome WTF with Marc Maron, the public radio series!"

"We've taken the hundreds of episodes of the WTF podcast and boiled them down to what we think is ten hours of exceptionally compelling radio. We've chosen the best stories and the best guests and made a ten-episode public radio series."

posted by item (39 comments total)

[WTF w/Marc Maron previously on the Mefi]
posted by item at 8:54 PM on May 17, 2011

Oh cute, there's an ad for Ask Metafilter on the maximumfun page! Is that where the influx of questions form non-commenters is coming from?
posted by orthogonality at 9:01 PM on May 17, 2011

3 days ago I had never heard of Apatow, now he's everywhere. Thanks for the heads up anyway, I'll give the show a go.
posted by unliteral at 9:02 PM on May 17, 2011

3 days ago I had never heard of Apatow, now he's everywhere.

*blink* I don't even really like his style of movies, but his name has been pretty much unavoidable (even if you don't own a television) for a few years now.

Welcome to the 21st Centure, unliteral!
posted by hippybear at 9:07 PM on May 17, 2011 [3 favorites]

Grrr. *Century
posted by hippybear at 9:07 PM on May 17, 2011

Apatow produced "Freaks & Geeks" and then that whole string of ironic, low-key dramedies about losers having to grow up.
posted by orthogonality at 9:09 PM on May 17, 2011

Maron's podcast has moments but there is so much fluff in it that an edited version sounds great. The Apatow and Louie CK episodes were incredible and I bet they ended up great.

I wonder how it works without profanity though.
posted by mathowie at 9:10 PM on May 17, 2011

I love Maron's podcast a lot -- I've been what they're calling a 'comedy nerd' these days for decades. I am glad that he's getting more delicious fame and exposure from it.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:16 PM on May 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

Marc Maron podcasts are Excellent!
posted by rmmcclay at 9:24 PM on May 17, 2011

NEXT STEP JUDGE JOEL HODGMAN THE DAY TIME TV SHOW FFS MAKE THIS REAL
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:36 PM on May 17, 2011 [5 favorites]

I've been way into WTF lately. I usually skip over his pre-show rants, the but interviews are usually solid. My favorite moment of some of the more recent episodes was the banjo/guitar breakdowns in the Ed Helms episode.
posted by gc at 9:37 PM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

"Joel Hodgman"?
posted by item at 9:38 PM on May 17, 2011

I AM A VECILORAPTOR RIGHT NOW I DONT NEED TO SPELL NAMES CORRECTLY RAR

I MEANT JOHN HODGMAN OBVIOUSLY

WHAT ARE YOU HIDING JESSE THRON
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:42 PM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'd been wanting to hear this and now I can! Hopefully this gets picked up by some FM stations.
posted by nutate at 9:45 PM on May 17, 2011

Joel Hodgeman is the love child of Joel Hodgson and John Hodgeman.
posted by munchingzombie at 9:46 PM on May 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

I just want to say that Judge John Hodgman is the best thing ever. I've thought of making an FPP to share the love, but I think it's a little thin to be postworthy, so consider this your notice. The episode with the pop culture obsessed rabbi trying to force classic films on his sixteen year old daughter had me laughing nonstop.
posted by yellowbinder at 9:51 PM on May 17, 2011

I find it really interesting that bean-plating comedy (WTF podcast is anything if not that right?) turns straight into self-introspection about personality, and therapy.
posted by stratastar at 10:06 PM on May 17, 2011

stratastar: "I find it really interesting that bean-plating comedy (WTF podcast is anything if not that right?) turns straight into self-introspection about personality, and therapy"

Thank you! I was trying to figure out where I'd seen a WTF reference recently (and for the first -- and only other -- time) and now I realize it was as a sidebar for the Eddie Pepitone link in yesterday's Heckling FPP. I can't wait to check it out.
posted by Room 641-A at 10:25 PM on May 17, 2011

Scharpling is not going to like this.
posted by one_bean at 10:38 PM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

NEXT STEP JUDGE JOEL HODGMAN THE DAY TIME TV SHOW FFS MAKE THIS REAL

In the same vein, I think that Jesse Thorn would be a great late-night talk show host.
posted by brundlefly at 11:45 PM on May 17, 2011

I listen to WTF regularly and love the insight it gives me into comedians lives and their art. The only down side is Marc Maron himself, who is far from a good interviewer. He rarely asks good questions and is always too eager to talk about the therapy issues of Marc Maron more than the intriguing lives of his guests.

To put it plainly, I know very little about the personal life of Terry Gross, but know all about Marc Maron's issues with his father.
posted by boubelium at 12:36 AM on May 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

The Gallagher and Conan episodes are must-listen. Maron is a great interviewer.
posted by starman at 4:53 AM on May 18, 2011

He rarely asks good questions and is always too eager to talk about the therapy issues of Marc Maron more than the intriguing lives of his guests.

There's no question that Marc Maron is deeply interested in the question of Marc Maron. I disagree that it makes him a bad interviewer, though. I think his utter willingness to share everything about himself and his feelings and problems makes his guests more willing to do the same. You hear a very different side of his interview subjects on WTF than you will anywhere else.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:53 AM on May 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

I think his utter willingness to share everything about himself and his feelings and problems makes his guests more willing to do the same. You hear a very different side of his interview subjects on WTF than you will anywhere else.

You may very well be right, though I think a lot of his interviewees' openness comes from simply knowing Marc from the comedy circuit and just hanging out with him in his garage recording their chat. But I feel that Marc's over willingness to share his own life lessons distracts too much from what should be the focus - his guest.

But it's not like his style keeps me from listening, it just makes me roll my eyes every so often.
posted by boubelium at 5:11 AM on May 18, 2011

This new step for all involved pleases me greatly. If you're not familiar, PRX takes on this kind of really neat stuff a lot, and they (along with Ira and Torey Malatia) deserve a bunch of credit for pushing public radio as a medium well beyond its traditional comfort zone.

To put it plainly, I know very little about the personal life of Terry Gross, but know all about Marc Maron's issues with his father.

Different strokes, right? I'll grant that Maron's style wouldn't be particularly good for interviewing heads of state, but WTF isn't really a traditional interview show as much as it is shop talk for comics. Maron's clearly on the side that argues good stand up is both funny and deeply personal; letting that stuff out while he does the show produces some interesting results. The Gallagher interview wouldn't have been nearly as interesting if Maron and Gallagher weren't fundamentally disagreeing about the necessity of comedians to own their material, the Maria Bamford interview wouldn't have been nearly as interesting if Maron didn't realize half way through that he was the archetype of Bamford's old boyfriends, etc.
posted by Apropos of Something at 5:38 AM on May 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I've been a Marc Maron fan for ages and was in on as close to the ground floor for the wtfpod as I could get, I couldn't wish him more success on this, he is my favorite political comic and apparently an awesome guy to boot.
posted by NiteMayr at 5:52 AM on May 18, 2011

That press release struck me as odd. It was all about what SOYA did. But wait. This is Maron's podcast? What's the agreement there? Was he consulted about this? He's strangely not mentioned as a participant in this project.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 5:54 AM on May 18, 2011

And a +1 for the Judge John Hodgman podcast. Nearly perfect.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 5:58 AM on May 18, 2011

WTF isn't really a traditional interview show as much as it is shop talk for comics.

Yeah, I don't expect Terry Gross when I listen to Marc Maron -- I really just like listening to Maron and his guests talk about comedy, their careers, the biz, other comics, etc. I wasn't even a fan of standup when I started listening to his show, but I found it fascinating because I was hearing things from these comics that I rarely heard when they were on Fresh Air or Leonard Lopate.

I find it interesting that Maron brings his personal life into his conversations. I think the fact that he has certain issues he needs to bounce off of every guest -- especially his bitterness about his career and resentment of more successful comics -- makes his show as much about Maron working through his shit as it is about his guests, which can be good if you can relate to his issues. You just can't judge his show by conventional interview standards, because he's not even attempting a conventional interview show.
posted by Pants McCracky at 6:12 AM on May 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

His podcast episode with Robin Williams (I haven't heard the edited version for the radio show) was amazing. I find Marc Maron mildly irritating and I can't really stand to hear Robin Williams talk at all under most circumstances, but somehow the combination really worked very well. It was a fascinating listen.
posted by something something at 6:57 AM on May 18, 2011

@(A)H and (W) Oates That's probably because it's not a press release. It's an announcement on my website, targeted towards people who listen to the shows on said website. Goal was to explain to our fans what our involvement was. I'm sure if Marc posts something on WTFpod.com it'll have a different target audience.

And thanks to everyone who said nice things about the Judge John Hodgman podcast. We're going to make a special episode of The Sound of Young America with all JJHo content in a month or two that will run on public radio, but we don't have any plans to make a public radio show out of it... an hour of Judge John Hodgman on the radio feels like a lot to me for a weekly series.
posted by YoungAmerican at 8:55 AM on May 18, 2011

Oh, and for fans of WTF, feel free to suggest that your local station program director check out the show. They don't like to be hectored, but you can encourage them to take a listen.
posted by YoungAmerican at 8:58 AM on May 18, 2011

Great job, as always, Jesse. And I'm looking forward to seeing you at MaxFunCon again this year (which has an unbelievably awesome lineup).
posted by ColdChef at 9:34 AM on May 18, 2011

I'm not seeing a download link - am I missing something?
posted by alby at 10:54 AM on May 18, 2011

I'm not an expert, but I think PRX is streaming-only (unless you run a public radio station).
posted by Horace Rumpole at 11:26 AM on May 18, 2011

YESSSSS. Pls. to make El Chupacabra the new NPR morning zoo guy.
posted by wowbobwow at 3:28 PM on May 18, 2011

alby, you can get the podcast at wtfpod.com, but PRX is streaming-only. Many of these interviews are now paid content on the WTF podcast, but the podcast versions are also longer.
posted by YoungAmerican at 2:22 PM on May 21, 2011

On Tuesday's Best Show on WFMU, Tom had Mark Maron as a guest. Fences are mended and interviewers interviewed.
posted by HLD at 12:22 PM on June 2, 2011

(Not that there was ever any fence mending needed, just that it happened regardless).
posted by HLD at 12:24 PM on June 2, 2011