Marc Maron is contemplating what life will be like post-podcast as he approaches the end of the WTF with Marc Maron Podcast.
Speaking after the Tribeca Film Festival screening Saturday of Are We Good?, a documentary about Maron grappling with the loss of his partner Lynn Shelton and trying to channel his grief into his work, Maron was asked about giving so much of himself to the public via his long-running podcast, his comedy specials and even on his Instagram. Maron had announced earlier this month that the podcast would be ending this fall after 16 years.
“I do put a lot of it out there. And I can handle it, and I can be gracious about it. And I don’t know what it’s going to be like not to do that twice a week,” Maron said in reference to the podcast. “And I don’t know what part of it is my own neediness or my own need to connect. But I can feel the weight of abandoning these people who have written over the years, ‘You saved my life,’ ‘I got sober because of you,’ ‘I didn’t kill myself.’ And there’s part of me that’s like ‘Are they going to be ok? Should I reach out to them personally?’”
Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tracy Letts, a friend of Maron’s, led the talkback, which also included documentary director Steven Feinartz.
“It’s a bit much, Tracy, is what I’m saying, and I think I deserve to try to figure out how to live my life not with privacy, but without that responsibility a little bit,” Maron added.
WTF has been one of the most streamed podcasts since it launched on Sept. 1, 2009, and has included interviews between Maron and famous figures such as Robin Williams, Keith Richards, Nicole Kidman and former President Barack Obama. The episodes, conducted out of Maron’s garage, also offer a revealing look at Maron’s own life, with the host often talking about his personal life, pet peeves and grudges and relationships with the guests on the show.
He announced the end of the show June 2, saying that he and his producing partner Brendan McDonald were “burnt out” after doing two shows every week for 16 years.
In the talkback, Maron added that he had not started the podcast with the goal of making money or creating content, but rather was looking to create a connection with each guest and have “an empathic conversation with somebody about who they are.” He added that it was also his “whole fucking social life.”
“It meant the world to me and really evolved my sense of self and my sense of being a person,” he said.
“All of this stuff that I do has fueled whatever my particular creativity is. And I’m sure I’m not going to disappear after the podcast,” Maron continued. “But the goal will now be to figure out where to channel that creativity.”
In the near term that will include another HBO comedy special set to release in August, and the new Apple show Stick, alongside Owen Wilson.
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