WTF with Marc Maron Podcast

Chad Kassem was a Louisiana kid running afoul of the law, caught in a spiral of substance abuse and arrests. Thankfully, as he puts it, music is a hell of a natural drug. In his 20s, Chad became obsessed with audio and his new mission was to save the world from bad sounding records. Chad talks with Marc about how he started Acoustic Sounds, which serves as a mastering lab, a pressing plant, a record label and more, all in pursuit of making records that sound better than the originals. Chad explains his uncompromising process that turned his Kansas operation into one of the biggest players in the vinyl record business.

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Mariska Hargitay says the new documentary she made began as a search for the mother she never knew. But as she pursued it, she wound up coming to a new understanding of her own truth. Mariska and Marc talk about My Mom Jayne, the HBO doc about her mother Jayne Mansfield, who died in a car accident when Mariska was only three. Mariska explains why she kept her mother’s story at arm’s length through most of her life, even as she carved her own path of success in Hollywood, and how she ultimately embraced the revelations about her parents.

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Many years after a life-changing one-on-one conversation between Rich Aronovitch and Marc in Queens, New York, Rich and Marc are sitting down once again. This time they’re talking about Rich’s new comedy special, his family’s immigrant journey that landed them in New Orleans, Rich’s first experience on the stage under the name Smooth Daddy Johnson, and why Rich went to jail for letting the air out of a police officer’s tires.

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Jordan Klepper and his Daily Show colleagues find themselves in the position of calling fascism out for what it is while also still finding comedy in an increasingly unstable world. But one way Jordan deals with the firehose of information is by going out into the field, like he did for his most recent special report, MAGA: The Next Generation. Jordan and Marc talk about his findings, but they get into his upbringing in Kalamazoo, his transition from math major to improv comic, and the understanding of show business he learned from family cousin Tim Allen.

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Megan Stalter sees her comedic persona as a representation of both supreme confidence and a nervous breakdown simultaneously. It’s a demeanor that served her well, whether on the improv stages in Chicago or on her breakout Instagram videos or as the scene-stealing Kayla on Hacks or in her own Netflix series Too Much. Megan and Marc talk about how her comedy chops took shape, her upbringing in the Pentecostal Church, and her identity as both queer and Christian. 

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Cristin Milioti’s portrayal of the ruthless Sofia Falcone in The Penguin might seem like a departure for her. But Cristin tells Marc her goal has always been to avoid being pigeonholed. Also, the tone of The Penguin is so theatrical and operatic that Cristin fit right in as someone who, in her words, was saved by theater kids in high school. They also talk about her run on Broadway in Once, the fear she had while making The Wolf of Wall Street, and the heartbreak of having an entire two-season series, Made for Love, deleted from existence.

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Perhaps a reason there’s always tension between Mike Birbiglia and Marc is they have a lot in common. That’s also probably the reason that, despite this tension, Mike has made multiple trips to the garage. This time, Mike and Marc talk about the job of making people laugh about things that make them sad or angry, the benefits and risks of centering your comedy around your personal life, and how they’ve both made peace with their doctor dads, with Mike dealing with it in his new Netflix special, The Good Life.

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Seth Meyers doesn’t get out to LA very often, but when he does he’s able to visit longtime friends, go on other late night shows, and head over to the garage to talk with Marc. This time they get into how Late Night is helping Seth process what’s going on in the world even has he helps viewer do the same. They also talk about SNL 50, including Seth’s interaction with Keith Richards and why Eddie Murphy and Will Ferrell are the greatest. Then they spend the rest of the time fanboying about Nathan Fielder and Tim Robinson.

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Josh Homme manifested an 18-year-old dream to perform a Queens of the Stone Age concert in the Catacombs of Paris. Josh tells Marc why it was such a meaningful undertaking two years after he survived a bout with cancer. They also talk about his collaborations and friendship with Iggy Pop, the 2015 terrorist attack during an Eagles of Death Metal concert, and the difference between giving up and giving in.

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John Mulaney has been through a lot since the last time he was on the show, so it’s nice he can identify the present as, in his words, a happy time that he can appreciate. John offers Marc his reflections on the first run of his Netflix talk show Everybody’s Live, reflections on his sobriety five years after everything fell apart, and reflections on the history of WTF, a show he was listening to right from the beginning.

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