Podcast Corner: WTF with Marc Maron is coming to an end — here's why
Marc Maron: 'It's OK for things to end. It's just time, folks.' File picture: Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images
started in September 2009 as the alternative/cult comic chatted to his fellow comedian Jeff Ross. Some 1,647 episodes later, Maron is chatting to another comedian, John Mulaney, after announcing in the introduction on Monday's episode that the podcast is going to be coming to an end sometime in the autumn.
To some listeners, it will feel like a gut-punch; we’ve gone through our own ups and downs in life, just like Maron has — most wrenchingly with the death of his girlfriend Lynn Shelton in May 2020. He podcasted just days later (the episode is titled ), a raw, tear-filled 90 minutes. To media observers, the end of will come amid a much-changed podcast ecosystem that favours what we call bantercasts — two famous ‘friends’ yakking it up in a TMI hour-long session, filmed for YouTube and social clips. When Maron started 16 years ago, the medium was relatively new. , Bill Simmons’ , and the likes of and were the ‘big’ shows at the time; wouldn’t start until December 2009.
came out every Monday and Thursday and there has never been a break in the schedule. That’s a lot of time — at least two hours a week — to spend with somebody. Maron offered us himself. He was a recovering alcoholic and drug user whose career had careened to a halt; his podcast intro includes what was one of his few mainstream moments, when he cries out “lock the gates” during (he’s listed as ‘Angry Producer’ in the credits). It was a simple idea: In-depth interviews with friends and famous people. And it's been copied by many wannabe podcasters since. Maron got in deep and episodes can often feel like therapy sessions.
One of the long-running bits of was Maron pondering what his life might have been like if he had been accepted onto . He talked to alumni about the process and mulled over what showrunner Lorne Michaels had made of him. He finally talked with Michaels 10 years ago (episode 653) and perhaps it was a catharsis for him.
Since then, Maron has gone from strength to strength professionally: He’s done voice work for and the 2022 animated film , starred in Oscar-nominated films like , and beloved TV shows such as Netflix’s , cancelled before its time. Just this week he stars in on Apple TV+ alongside Owen Wilson, which is garnering great reviews. That’s not to mention all the huge names that have appeared on the podcast, which he records in his garage: Then US president Barack Obama, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio to name just a couple.
In his eight-minute intro talking through the decision on Monday, Maron says: “It's OK for things to end. It's just time, folks.”
, this podcast, will turn 16 years old on September 1. That's a couple months away. Sixteen years, it's a long time, a long time, and it's a long time to do anything. I've said recently that when I'm living it, I don't feel like time is passing by quickly, but, yeah, all of a sudden, you're old, and you realise you've been doing something a long time. And this started, the old garage, just no one knew what a podcast was.
I was coming out of a horrendous divorce. I was wanting to figure out how to continue living my life. Things were not looking good for me. Brendan McDonald, my producer, who I'd worked with for years on other things, radio and streaming related. And when Brendon and I started this thing, all we knew is we were going to do it every Monday and Thursday, and there was no way to make money. There was no way that we knew how to build an audience or anything. It was crazy.
We were doing it in a garage at the beginning that was just a garage. It was filled with junk, and it slowly evolved into the show that became what you listen to twice a week. Sixteen years we've been doing this, and we've decided that we had a great run, and now, basically it's time, folks, it's time. WTF is coming to an end, and it's our decision. We'll have our final episode sometime in the fall.
It was not some kind of difficult decision, necessarily. Neither me nor Brendan, who are the only people in charge of this operation on every level - I record here in my garage studio, Brendan produces it in his chair in Brooklyn - and it's always been a two man operation. And we always said, Well, how do we know when we're done? And I always said, Well, whenever Brendan says so. And he always said, Well, if Marc is finished then we're finished. And thankfully, we both realised together that we were done, and there was no convincing or pushback or arguing. We were done and it's OK for things to end. Sixteen years!
We have been through a lot, and I'm talking about me and you, the audience, me and Brendan, me and my life, me and my cats, me with my guests, me with my equipment, me with moving. Things change, but you've been through the entire arc of my life and everything that's happened in it for the last 16 years. And a lot of it was not easy. A lot of it was amazing. A lot of monumental things really happened on this show. And this was a show that was started when there were no podcasts, and now there are nothing but podcasts.
It's been an incredible time in my life and Brendan's life, we've done things that we never thought we would be able to do because of the podcast. My life changed dramatically. All the things that I set out to do before I did the podcast as sort of a Hail Mary pass, to be a standup with an audience, to try my hand at acting to have experiences with other people that were one of a kind and completely exciting and unique and engaging and revealing — to talk to a president in my garage. So many things happened because of just this, setting up a mic in my garage with Brendan on the knobs, producing it, discussing with him how we do it all. It was a real creative partnership, and you, the audience, have been here through all of it, and I shared everything I could with you, because that's the way I do it, and with my guests. And there have been so many amazing guests.
And it really comes down to the fact that we have put up a new show every Monday and Thursday for almost 16 years, and we're tired, we're burnt out, and we are utterly satisfied with the work we've done. We've done great work. And this doesn't mean I'm never going to do something like this again. Doesn't mean I'll never have talks like I do here or some kind of podcast at some point in time. But for now, we're just wrapping things up. It's OK. It's OK to end things. It's OK to try to start some other chapter in your life, and I'm talking to myself.
This podcast has been my connection to you people. It's been my connection socially to people in my business, people I never thought I'd meet before, creative people, interesting people. It's a very big part of my spiritual, social, and psychological life. But I'll be honest with you, it's nice to be able to end things on our terms, and we've always had that power to do that, and that's what we're going to do. We started the show on our terms, we grew it on our terms, and we'll end it on our terms.
Look, we've had great partners who have helped us do the show over the years. Acast has been our partner for the past three years, and we've been able to do things on our terms with them. We always had that, and it's always been the way we've done it, and that's been great, and we've been very fortunate to be able to do things the way we want to do them. And now this is part of it, ending it the way we want it to end.
And look, the thing about burnout, about being tired, and about the way me and Brendan are, is that we are very focused and very particular and very hard working in this endeavor, and the quality of the work we've done every fucking episode is its own greatness, because we're crazy dedicated guys who really want this to be the best show that it can be. I bring what I bring to the table. Brendan brings what he brings to the table. And, you know, God forbid we just keep plowing along and something diminishes, and we wouldn't want to just keep plugging along, because we can, at the risk of our burnout, or our passion starts to drift or it starts to get sloppy. We're just not those kind of people.
And look, I've got a lot of stuff going on. I've got a lot of projects going on. And we're still going to be doing this for the next several months, and we'll try to have as many people on as possible, many people that maybe want to do it, never did do it, or people that maybe will do it now on this sort of home stretch, but I do want to sincerely thank all you people for being along on this journey with me and with Brendan and with all the guests, because we really did something here. And I want to thank you all for that.
This isn't a sign off, but that's the big news, and I'm sure we'll talk about it more in the weeks to come. I'm sure that you guys will want to chime in, but just for now, thank you for being here as always. There's probably going to be some ups and downs over the next few months with me emotionally around the reality of this, but... this is a full-hearted decision. It's the right decision for me, it's the right decision for Brendan. It's OK. It's OK for things to end. It's just time, folks. But again, we'll have a few more months, so don't get all bummed out. Let's just enjoy it. The world is on fire. I have people I want to talk to. We'll find a little joy, we'll find a little connection. We'll find a little solace in each other's company. We'll learn some things. We'll get some laughs. We'll cry a little bit and we'll move on.
