BONUS Ask Marc Anything #12
Here we go.
Ask Mark anything.
All right.
How do you feel about guests who have been on your podcast and credit their experience on your show with inspiring them to start their own podcasts?
Dax Shepard and Rob Lowe are two I've heard on several occasions.
Credit you.
Well, that's nice.
It's nice to give credit to what inspired you or what made you think it was possible.
I do believe I was probably that person for a lot of people, for better or for worse.
The medium has blown up, and I imagine the fact that I could do it made a lot of people feel that they could do it.
But look, I always like...
Getting credit for inspiration and for helping out and for good things in general.
What life lessons have you learned or what pearls of wisdom have stayed with you after the many years of interviewing so many incredible people?
Well, that's a good question in that.
I can kind of remember moments, but there isn't a conversation I have that I don't sort of engage in or glean something or have moments with.
I think there's some acting advice that probably stuck with me, but there's no...
There's no fundamental or singular moments where people have said things to me where I'm like, I'm never going to forget that.
There probably are some, but my memory is not great for this stuff.
You know, I have this conversation, then it goes away.
I remember being with people more than I remember the moments that are sort of life-changing.
And any time I relate to somebody who I may feel is different than me or has a much different or better life than me, I'm always humbled.
Does it annoy you when a guest says they listen to your show all the time and then clearly know nothing about you?
Yes, but I don't know who they think they're fooling.
I can always tell when they say, yeah, I listened to your show and they name an episode they listened to and it's not last week's.
I know they're lying.
A lot of times publicists or managers say,
When someone says they'll do the show, they'll go pop out a couple.
So sometimes they'll mention like two, thinking they're fooling me.
But I know, I know the truth.
Do you have any stories of times when you run into someone that you've interviewed in the real world and not recognized or remembered that you've interviewed them?
Yes, that happens a lot.
And I don't mention it.
Because I've done like, what, almost 1,500 of these?
I don't mention it.
Because I know usually I've interviewed most people.
But sometimes...
There's a tell if they go, I should do the show sometimes.
I'm like, oh, OK, great.
I don't go, wait, I thought we did it already.
But yeah, there's definitely more times than I'd like to admit where I know the person, but I don't remember whether I've interviewed them or not.
But I have interviewed most people.
The trickier thing is, do I approach people that I've interviewed thinking they'll remember me?
It used to be different because I used to assume that was just sort of another interviewer that any famous person has to deal with and that I wasn't put in any other kind of light.
Just, oh, yeah, I remember I did because I'm like that.
I do a lot of press.
I don't really always remember.
Who they are, to be honest with you, even if they're long interviews.
I remember one time I saw Jack White at at LAX and I approached him.
I'm like, hey, man, Mark Maron, I interviewed you once.
And he was like, yeah, of course I know who you are.
And I'm like, oh, all right.
Well, that's nice.
If you were on a desert island and were only given one guitar, one amp, one pick, one set of strings, and three pedals, what would they be?
Well, I mean, the stuff I use in here, I'm pretty committed to.
Like, I would probably take...
I would take this little 53 Deluxe I have, this Fender Deluxe amp.
I would take... I kind of like this guitar I've been playing lately, this 73 Telecaster Custom.
I'd probably take that.
The pick I use is the V-Pick.
V-Pick's Ed King, big, thick, big triangle pick.
I'd take a set of...
I guess nines, strings, pedals I don't really use.
So I don't know if I'd take a pedal.
But if I had to, I guess I'd take my Crybaby Wawa pedal.
Maybe I'd take that Echoplex Echo Box.
And I don't know.
That's probably it.
I won't need distortion with this amp.
Yeah.
I want to learn guitar and I'm 58.
Should I start with an acoustic?
Any suggestions?
I was told to start on acoustic.
When I was a kid, they'd start you on a cheapo nylon string because that was supposedly a little easier to play.
Though I don't know.
They kind of roll around funny.
The idea was to start on acoustic because it builds your muscles up.
They're a little clunkier, usually, and a little harder to hold down the strings.
So by the time you shift to an electric, you're like, oh, my God, look how easy it is to hold down the strings.
So, yeah, I mean, get yourself a—I don't know how much money you have, but I would get an acoustic.
Get yourself a reasonably priced acoustic.
And do it that way.
But I don't know.
Learning is different now.
You can learn how to play electric almost immediately.
Just go on YouTube.
But so it's really up to you.
Is there a musician you wish you had a chance to play guitar with but didn't?
Who was your favorite musician that you were able to play guitar with?
I don't know.
I don't really think in terms of playing with people because I don't really think I'm that good.
So, like, I'm always intimidated.
But I have played with people here on the show, and I played a lot with Jimmy Vivino, which was—that was really—
the greatest thing and remains the greatest thing that that guy, um, likes to play with me and will play with me.
Uh, it was very, a great learning experience for me and it gave me a lot of confidence, but also because of Jimmy Vivino got to play with Jimmy Vaughn, which was pretty fucking exciting.
Jimmy Vaughn's one of my favorite, uh, guitar players.
Would you ever consider interviewing an entire band or cast or really three or more at a time?
No, we've done it.
I've done, I think, three or four people.
I think I interviewed the figs once.
I don't even like interviewing two people at the same time.
You know, it's hard in the studio.
It's hard to manage the conversation.
It's hard to manage the mic levels.
It's hard to focus.
So I don't consider it.
I don't I don't like doing it.
Steve McQueen or Paul Newman and why?
Paul Newman all the way.
I don't really... I'm not a huge Steve McQueen fan.
I do like him.
And I liked him in Bullet a lot, The Getaway a lot.
I liked him.
Yeah, I like Steve McQueen, but Newman, I...
I'll watch again and again.
I don't find myself going back to McQueen, but I watch The Verdict at least once a year.
I watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting.
I watch Harper.
I watch Cool Hand Luke.
I like The Hustler.
I like Paul Newman better.
What's the best book I have ever read?
Well, lately, it's that Bruce Wagner book, Marvel Universe.
Man, that thing blew my mind.
And I enjoyed my buddy Sam Lipsight's new book, No One Left to Come Looking for You.
Of all time, who the fuck knows?
I can't do those kind of questions.
They're hard for me because I don't know.
But that Bruce Wagner book, Marvel Universe, a lot of Bruce Wagner books kind of blow my mind.
Your anxiety is what makes you unique and supplies you with a wealth of stand-up material.
Do you ever think of your bleak to dark anxiety as a superpower as opposed to your kryptonite?
Well, look, I know it's not my kryptonite.
It just is.
It is kryptonite.
who I am.
And sometimes I'd like to have less of it, but I don't look at it as a superpower either.
It's just what I am and who I am and processing it is what I do.
Lately, I've been thinking that maybe I'd like less anxiety.
We'll see how that goes.
Have you ever experienced that moment on stage when your mind goes blank?
How do you handle that?
Well, I guess I have.
Sometimes I forget pieces of bits.
But totally blank?
I don't know.
Then I just kind of move to another joke.
I'm not going to forget everything.
It would be awkward in the middle of a joke.
But usually I catch myself.
I don't remember it ever being so significant that I get lost.
It happens a lot when you're doing TV or movies.
You forget your lines.
But then you just...
Do another take.
What is the thinking for comedians when choosing the location for filming a special?
Is it a venue that is personal to you in some way, a market you like and can sell out or something else?
Well, I think all those factor in.
Sometimes it's a state where it's easy to pull a crew together.
It's a state or a city where you like the people.
Sometimes it's the theater.
I like doing the Pantages.
I like doing the Vic.
I did Town Hall.
That was a good place to shoot the special.
The one I did here in L.A.
was not my first choice.
It was the second choice.
So it usually has to do with the city, the venue, and the ability to pull a crew together.
What music do you use to come out on stage?
I'm pretty much against coming out on stage to music.
I don't like it.
I like it just when someone brings me up and I go up to the mic.
I don't mind that time from when my name is said and walking to the mic being silent and just filled with the applause of people.
During the last tour, I did use No Fun by Iggy and the Stooges.
Do I have any sentimental family items that I treasure?
No.
um hmm i've got a a photograph uh that belonged to my family when i was younger a joel peter witkin photograph that i treasure i've got little tchotchkes here and there i've got a box that my parents bought in china that i seem to like having um i have a box of photos that are important to me i have um
I have my parents' wedding album that I think is interesting to have and kind of important to me.
I have my grandfather's tallest.
I have some of my grandfather's rings.
I don't wear them.
And I do treasure them because they're in the box, the Chinese box that was my parents'.
So I have a box of little tchotchkes.
I have a...
Pocket watch my grandma Goldie gave me on my bar mitzvah.
Yeah, there's a few little things here and there.
Nothing major.
I don't think about them often.
Am I ever going to come to Australia again?
I imagine I will.
Yes.
You mentioned fairly frequently that you are disappointed that you haven't received the recognition from the industry that you'd like.
I'd love to hear you clarify what that means in terms of being a member of the show business community that people like me don't understand.
Yes.
I don't think it's part of being the community.
I think I have access to the community.
I seem to be invited to premieres here and there.
I don't really hang out with any big stars or anything.
I'm not friends with... I know a lot of them, but we don't really hang out.
I was very flattered to be invited to John Mulaney's birthday party, but...
I don't know.
I guess what it means is that I see myself as being a worker.
I see myself as doing good work.
I do believe that I do get recognition.
But I guess I guess really it's just an infantile and childish thing.
desire on some level to be a big star, even though I don't think I really want that.
It's hard to have a regular life, but I think it's really just that simple and that, that naive in a way, or, or that kind of star, it just kind of immature that when I say it, I think I'm really talking about that.
I'm just not a big star, but I don't think I'd want to be right.
I mean, right.
Yeah.
Like you, I was born to a family of wandering Jews that moved our family to Arizona in 1970.
Paradise Valley, to be precise, I was 11.
Paradise Valley was filled with lots of blonde wasps who made fun of my Jersey accent and generally made me the other.
Years ago, when listening to the Gary Shandling episode,
And hearing he grew up in Tucson, I started realizing, OK, I wasn't the only one.
I was wondering what it was like for you to grow up in a similar place in the Southwest as a Jew in those earlier years.
I know there must have been something of a Jewish community in Albuquerque.
Would love to hear your thoughts on growing up in a place where you might have been one of the few Jews.
I don't know.
I was pretty in.
You know, we were part of the Jewish community.
I went to Hebrew school from very early on.
I always knew.
the crew that I grew up with in the Jewish community.
I knew a lot of the families.
It was a fairly tight community.
I didn't feel like an other.
I'm still pretty good friends with a guy I met in Hebrew school in second grade.
I knew a lot of the Jews.
A lot of them went to my high school.
And so I never felt othered.
I felt like there was enough Jews around to feel represented, and it didn't feel awkward or uncomfortable.
Wasn't Sammy originally going to be named Mingus?
Yes, but ultimately he is definitely not a Mingus.
He's a Sammy.
Are you as angry as you used to be or do you feel like you've mellowed as you've gotten older?
I definitely mellowed in that, you know, I don't get angry about the same things.
I don't get unnecessarily angry.
I don't.
I think twice before I get angry.
I'm less angry about a lot of the things I used to be angry about.
But I think that the big shift was that I think before I yell and I process my feelings before I experience anger unnecessarily.
So, yes, I'm less angry.
Regarding that disturbing dream you had recently about being coerced into becoming an assassin, have you ever suddenly become lucid in a dream and then gleefully fucked with those characters who were tormenting you?
I try to.
Sometimes if you get in that weird waking consciousness state where you can kind of go back into a dream, I don't know if I fuck with them, but I'm kind of like, all right, so I know this is a dream.
What's going to happen now?
You know, I don't find that I have the power to make choices and dreams, but I do know that sometimes I can intentionally reenter them.
This could all be a dream.
I don't know.
What do you like to do on vacation?
I like to wander around a lot.
I like to eat.
I like to get engaged with the place.
I go see what there is to be seen.
I used to go to Kauai a lot because I like the hikes.
I like going around.
I like going outside.
I like just being active all day.
I don't like sitting around.
I don't like sitting around and reading.
I don't like sitting on a beach.
Sometimes I like sitting in coffee shops in a nice hotel room maybe.
But I generally go places where there's a lot to see and do.
When will you quit the nicotine loss and just, fuck, I don't know, dude.
I'm so into them.
I fucking love them.
But that might just be the disease talking.
Soon maybe.
About five months ago, I was told I had less than a year to live once I left the hospital, ended up with a medical issue and went back to the hospital.
During the stay at the second hospital, I was told that I no longer needed hospice care, that I would continue to live a long life.
My medical condition wasn't deadly, just chronic.
Why am I not overcome with joy?
In fact, I feel somewhat depressed.
Any ideas?
I would like to hear your perspective.
I don't know, maybe you wrapped your brain around being ready to go.
Maybe you got all your mental ducks and spiritual ducks and existential ducks in a row.
And you were like, okay, it's coming.
And then they're like, no, it's not.
So now you've done all that processing, probably in a pinch, and now you've got to go on living.
Maybe you just got a little excited.
You were ready.
And now life seems different.
Maybe it just seems the same.
I imagine it takes a lot to wrap your brain around knowing you're going to die.
And now knowing you're going to live can't be as engaging, that's for sure.
What's your history with wearing glasses?
How long have you had to wear them?
How have your feelings surrounding them evolved?
I think I started wearing glasses when I was in high school, later in high school.
It was a relief to know that I needed them because everything was blurry.
But they're not horrible.
I like wearing glasses.
They're part of my face.
They've always been part of my look.
I look strange to myself when I don't wear them.
I like getting new frames sometimes.
They're just part of it.
I tried wearing contacts, but they always felt uncomfortable to me.
They always felt like I had something in my eye, which I did, but I couldn't quite get used to it.
And it just was a nuisance.
And I never wanted to get Lasix because glasses are just part of who I am.
So, yeah, my feelings have evolved in that I never feel like I get exactly the right prescription whenever I get new glasses.
And then I just adapt to whatever they are.
And I never feel like I see as well as I should.
Do I ever have sex with my glasses on?
Not really on purpose.
I believe I have.
Maybe I'll get about halfway in and then I'll take them off.
I definitely started sex with my glasses on and gotten pretty far into it.
Do I identify more as a baby boomer or a Gen Xer?
I'm right at the last.
I'm the last baby boomer.
So I believe I identify more as a Gen Xer because there are boomers 10 plus years older than me.
I definitely just made it.
I was the last week of the baby boomers.
So I do more identify as a Gen Xer.
Do you try to ignore that there are so many people listening when you record your monologue?
Does it become less of a focus as conversations begin?
I never think about it.
I literally never think about it.
I'm not thinking about it now.
It's just me and the mic and me and the person.
I really never think about it.
I don't know why.
I just don't.
Unless somebody says something, I'm like, you know, for the people listening, that kind of thing.
But it just never factors in.
Would you ever be open to assuming the role of a mentor or teacher?
How would you feel if a newer comic asked your advice on their material?
I try not to do it.
I have done it.
And there are comics that have taken me on as a mentor, whether I know it or not.
But I'm no good at it.
I'm not...
Because what I can handle or do as a comedian is pretty specific to me.
And a lot of times I know when people's jokes don't work, but I don't necessarily know what they can do to make them better.
I've given people jokes and things here and there before, but I'm not...
I don't know.
I'm not always sure that what I'll suggest to somebody will get a laugh even.
But I can tell them I don't think this is working or pace or, you know, or how they can take different risks to feel feel out who they are at stage and stuff.
But, yeah, I mean, I've done that before.
And sometimes I'll just volunteer it if I like the joke.
I'd rather that.
I like seeing a younger comic that gets one through to me and I can just compliment them.
I've started rewatching the Marin TV series and was wondering if it had any impact on the podcast and growing its listenership.
Or did the pod have an effect for IFC?
Well, yeah, the podcast is what got me the opportunity to do a show about me doing a podcast.
I don't know...
And I would doubt that the show had any impact on the podcast and growing its listenership.
Certainly it happened the other way around.
I wouldn't have gotten the show without the podcast.
I wouldn't have gotten almost all of my opportunities after the podcast without the podcast.
Maybe a few people came in, but not a lot of people watch IRC.
It wasn't like a big hit show or anything.
Maybe a few, but I don't know if it was...
a large impact, but certainly the other way around wouldn't have happened.
The show wouldn't have happened without it, without the podcast.
Where and when are you able to find peaceful moments in your life?
I don't know.
I can find them anywhere.
You know, I, I like sitting around playing guitar.
I like being out here, uh, sitting here.
Uh, I like my couch and,
Sometimes I like hiking up the mountain.
I like sitting on my porch.
I do like sitting on the porch sometimes.
I liked it more when I was smoking cigars.
But yeah, I can find peaceful moments.
I can find peaceful moments on my couch.
I can find them anywhere.
I can find them anywhere.
My car.
They don't last long.
Here, I'll do one for you now.
That was good.
Did you feel it?
That was a good one.
I find a tremendous amount of peace cooking.
That is something I do often.
I like to do it.
I like to have the food I like to eat, but I do like cooking.
And as a matter of fact, I'm going to cook a banana bread right now, a vegan banana bread, because I got three almost rotten bananas.
And I'm looking forward to it.
All right, that's it.
Those are the questions.
Those are the answers.