WTF Is Funny

Why comic Marc Maron needs to get out of his own head once in a while

Comedian Marc Maron brings his Maronation tour to the South Side Music Hall on April 26.

Photo courtesy of Marc Maron

Comedian Marc Maron has taken the long and slow train to success in show biz. Now 51, he’s the host of the wildly popular WTF with Marc Maron podcast; star of the IFC sitcom Maron, which starts its third season on May 14; and a sought-after stand-up comedian who will make a stop at the South Side Music Hall on Sunday, April 26, as part of his Maronation tour.

In advance of that performance, Maron sat down with CultureMap to talk about his podcast, his great listening skills and why he’s glad he didn’t become successful earlier in his life.

CultureMap: If you had achieved your current level of success 20 years ago, how different do you think your life would be?

Marc Maron: I don’t think I could have handled it. And there’s a reason why I didn’t get it. It took me a lot of time to arrive in my own skin and really figure out who I was and what I was doing and how to do it.

I think when I was younger there was an intensity there that wasn’t necessarily that appealing. But I think now that I’ve leveled off, the people who relate to me enjoy what I do. I just didn’t have those people then, and I don’t think that if I was given something it would have lasted long. I definitely am prepared and am okay with everything that is happening now, so that’s a relief.

CM: If you recorded your podcast in a regular studio instead of your garage, do you feel like you would be able to achieve the same level of intimacy with your guests?

MM: I really don’t know, man. There’s definitely something about the comfort level I have in my house usually and the idea of someone showing up at your home. I think there’s a lot of things that sort of come together by doing it in my garage and by people coming here and by me working out of here that does something that is really irreplaceable.

CM: Have you ever had any trouble convincing somebody to come out to your house?

MM: Sure – I mean, people who don’t know the show. But I’ll travel for people — certainly older people like Mel Brooks or Bob Newhart or Carl Reiner. But then there’s people who like coming here — Norman Lear, who’s in his 90s, Marty Allen.

I generally will go elsewhere to accommodate people who I think deserve that respect or who won’t travel quickly or easily.

CM: You seem to be a great listener and have a genuine curiosity about people’s lives. Were those skills you’ve always had that were just waiting for an outlet like this?

MM: I think I enjoy talking to other people, I enjoy engaging with other people, and I enjoy getting lost emotionally and mentally in other people’s stories. I think I’ve always had that, that need to connect like that.

I think it might have gotten a little lost over the years, and I think the first couple years of the podcast was me sort of getting back to being able to hear people and not be so cynical and bitter. Also getting to hear my peers and integrating myself back into that community — it sort of served a lot of functions early on.

CM: What white whale podcast guests have you not been able to get on the show yet, and do you think you’ll ever be able to convince them to show up?

MM: There’s a lot of people that I’d still like to talk to, whether they’re white whales or not. There are a couple of white whales, like Lorne Michaels and Albert Brooks, that are people I’ve actively or suggestively pursued. Maybe not too hard; like, I’ve definitely pursued Albert Brooks on Twitter, and I have to assume that Lorne knows I’d like to talk to him. I called his office once.

Whether they happen … I don’t know if they’re going to happen. Maybe they will.

CM: You seem to have a checkered past with SNL. Is that why you haven’t pursued Lorne Michaels too hard?

MM: No, I don’t know what I really want from him. I don’t know what I need to talk to him about. It’s not that checkered; I just had an awkward meeting years ago, and I didn’t get the show. Would I like closure on that? Yeah, a part of me, but what’s he really going to say?

You know, white whales are white whales for a reason; maybe you shouldn’t ever talk to them.

CM: You seem to go back and forth between comedy and music a lot in your podcast. If you had to give up one, which would be harder to let go?

MM: I want to talk to a lot of different kinds of people. Not all comedians are people that I necessarily think I could talk to for an hour, and certainly not all musicians are. I’m not avoiding the question, but it’s really relative to the people I’m interested in.

I don’t want to give anything up; I’d like to add more types of people to the list, actually. That’s what I’d rather do. I’d like to talk to more writers, I’d like to talk to other types of artists. I like talking to psychiatrists sometimes, people who write books about that kind of stuff. I’d like to broaden the type of people that I talk to.

CM: As your TV show continues and you explore other options, do you ever see a time when your podcast may not be as important to you?

MM: It seems like the podcast is really the thing that’s always going to be there in my mind. If everything else goes away, I can still do that.

I do like having conversations with people; I seem to feel a little squirrelly if I don’t talk to someone in the garage for a couple of weeks. I like sitting down and getting out of my own head and enjoying someone else’s stories and humor and stuff. It’s become sort of an emotional need that I have.

That’s not something that I think will lose my interest; it’s usually the other stuff.

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Wicked News

Wizard of Oz ruby slippers bought by mystery bidder for $28 million

Heritage Auctions

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A pair of iconic ruby slippers that were worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz and stolen from a museum nearly two decades ago sold for a winning bid of $28 million at auction on December 7.

Dallas-based Heritage Auctions had estimated that they would fetch $3 million or more, but the fast-paced bidding far outpaced that amount within seconds and tripled it within minutes. A few bidders making offers by phone volleyed back and forth for 15 minutes as the price climbed to the final, eye-popping sum.

Including the auction house fee, the unknown buyer will ultimately pay $32.5 million.

Online bidding, which opened last month, had stood at $1.55 million before live bidding began late Saturday afternoon.

The sparkly red heels were on display at the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 2005 when Terry Jon Martin used a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and display case. Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018.

Martin, now 77, who lives near Grand Rapids in northern Minnesota, wasn’t publicly exposed as the thief until he was indicted in May 2023. He pleaded guilty in October 2023. He was in a wheelchair and on supplementary oxygen when he was sentenced last January to time served because of his poor health.

The shoes were returned in February to memorabilia collector Michael Shaw, who had loaned them to the museum. They were one of several pairs that Garland wore during the filming, but only four pairs are known to have survived. In the movie, to return from Oz to Kansas, Dorothy had to click her heels three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home.”

As Rhys Thomas, author of The Ruby Slippers of Oz, put it, the sequined shoes from the beloved 1939 musical have seen “more twists and turns than the Yellow Brick Road.”

Over 800 people had been tracking the slippers, and the company’s webpage for the auction had hit nearly 43,000 page views by Thursday, said Robert Wilonsky, a vice president with the auction house.

Among those bidding to bring the slippers home was the Judy Garland Museum, which posted on Facebook shortly after that it did not place the winning bid. The museum had campaigned for donations to supplement money raised by the city of Grand Rapids at its annual Judy Garland festival and the $100,000 set aside this year by Minnesota lawmakers to help the museum purchase the slippers.

After the slippers sold, the auctioneer told bidders and spectators in the room and watching online that the previous record for a piece of entertainment memorabilia was $5.52 million, for the white dress Marilyn Monroe famously wore atop a windy subway grate.

The auction also included other memorabilia from The Wizard of Oz, such as a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton, who played the original Wicked Witch of the West. That item went for $2.4 million, or a total final cost to the buyer of $2.93 million.

The Wizard of Oz story has gained new attention in recent weeks with the release of the movieWicked, an adaptation of the megahit Broadway musical, a prequel of sorts that reimagines the character of the Wicked Witch of the West.

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