Lock the Gates: A Few of My Favorite 'WTF' Episodes
A short ode to my favorite podcast.
Last Monday, as I woke up, I did the same thing I’ve done every Monday for the past nine years[i]. I refreshed my podcast app to see who the new guest would be on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast. Over the years, this has become a new daily practice to see what all the podcasts I follow have on their daily episodes. It also gives me a chance to delete episodes that I don’t think I’ll be interested in. Truthfully, I’m not the most aware podcast listener. I couldn’t really tell you what day of the week any podcast that I listen to comes out on, except for WTF. That comes out on Mondays and Thursdays.
As the episode downloaded, I saw that John Mulaney would be the guest. I’d been looking forward to Mulaney returning to the garage. I’d listened to his 2014 interview while I was in college, and I figured that since Maron was bringing people back, there had to be a chance for The Comeback Kid to, well, come back. I made a mental note to check it out later, until I saw someone share a Deadline article, announcing that Maron was ending the podcast after 15 years. I thought it was a false alarm or a rumor. I immediately jumped into listening to the episode, and heard the announcement. “We’re burnt out. And we are utterly satisfied with the work we’ve done. We’ve done great work,” he said. “It’s okay to end things. It’s okay to try to start some other chapter in your life.”
I became a regular WTF listener during my last semester of college, right as podcasts were about to become a part of everyone’s life. At the time, podcasts still felt like a bit of an anomaly, but there were the three figures who were known for being podcasters: Bill Simmons, Joe Rogan, and Marc Maron. Of the three, Maron was probably the least well-known, but he did become someone that I wanted to hear from a lot.
There was a stretch from 2016 to 2017 where I think I listened to just about every episode of WTF. Whether I was hungover in college, heading to some drab clerical job, or beginning to do standup, I would stick Maron and whoever he had on in my ears. I started to really enjoy his interview style. He was able to pull new nuggets out of people by treating it more like a conversation, where he could also be vulnerable. As someone who loves gossip and feeling like a fly on the wall for conversations I’m not supposed to hear, Maron’s episodes where he hashed out problems he had with other people also felt very unlike anything else that you could listen to at the time.
As I started doing standup in September 2016, I realized that I could use WTF as something of a guide map for doing comedy. I learned a lot about doing open mics, shitty bar shows, winning a room back, etc. I think after Maron had then-President Barack Obama on was when some comics started to tell Maron that doing his podcast was a bit of a rite-of-passage. As I started doing standup, one of the goals I set for myself was doing WTF, and now, that’s not going to happen. I did get a consolation prize when I got to interview Maron about his End Times Fun special in 2020. Of course, that feels like it was a lifetime ago.
As Maron ends the podcast, I’ve been thinking about how the podcast has been such a regular fixture in my life for almost a decade, and I will miss it. I’ve been wracking my brain to try to think of some of my favorite episodes. I won’t act like this is the definitive list of WTF episodes, but these are the ones that I tend to enjoy the most.
John Darnielle
Darnielle’s interview on WTF was the one that I listened to the first time. It’s also definitely the episode that I’ve listened to the most. In college, I became an avid Mountain Goats fan, and Darnielle’s appearance on the podcast was probably the most in-depth conversation that you could find with him. As he talked about his stepfather’s abuse, it was captivating. As someone who listened a lot in college while hungover, the moments where he talked about his drug abuse really struck a chord for me. At the time, it felt full circle when I saw the Mountain Goats for the first time in Woodstock, and before playing “The Young Thousands,” Darnielle said, “This is a song for all the drug addicts, because this is a song about a young drug addict named John.” I wouldn’t have understood the context had I not listened to his WTF interview. Plus, the best recorded version of “You Were Cool” is in this episode.
Bo Burnham’s appearance on The Green Room with Maron regularly makes rounds, because his fans love to see him clap back. His original appearance on WTF is probably my favorite to see Maron being an old-timer, who really picks on a younger comic. Burnham does seem to somewhat win him over, and it’s a little nice. I like to see the combative-ness, and the occasional put-downs. I still love Burnham, but I also enjoyed seeing two people that clearly have some differing ideas.
Patton Oswalt has done the podcast a few times, and honestly, I haven’t listened to every single one. His last appearance in 2022 was really a nice moment between the two of them. It came shortly after Maron lost his girlfriend Lynn Shelton, and they both spoke candidly about the grief in losing partners.
After college, Chris Gethard became the type of comic who could give me hungover comfort. Whether I was listening to a segment where he was on Risk or the album version of Career Suicide. I did enjoy hearing Gethard laugh as he told stories about getting sober and his own depression, but the real kicker was when he spoke about his Weird NJ days. He told a slew of freaky stories that made hairs raise on my spine.
As someone who was working towards a serious career in journalism, there was a part of me that really sort of idolized Katie Couric. While I can’t remember many details about her career from this episode, I do remember that she clearly was ready to play ball, and she was a good sport about Maron.
Look, I’m a former theater kid. I know Hamilton is super dated. I know the internet has turned a bit on Lin-Manuel Miranda, but I did have fun hearing some theater stories.
Look, I was also a Harry Potter kid.
Gallagher
Look, I love a trainwreck. When things really get fucked up and confrontational, it’s particularly engaging to hear. I’m not a Gallagher fan, but it is one of the most memorable episodes.
I’ve seen some music journalists critique Maron’s musician interviews. In retrospect, I can see why they’re not great. I do enjoy his run-ins with the likes of Patrick Stickles, Alice Cooper, and Kathleen Hanna. Still, I felt like his chat with Laura Jane Grace was when it felt like he came the closest to the world of music that I love.
Look, you should also listen to the most famous episodes also. Maron’s interviews with Obama, Louis C.K., and Robin Williams are near perfect listening. I don’t need to remind people how good those are, because they are really what laid the groundwork for what podcasting should be.
As I started writing this list, I saw so many more episodes where I feel like I should go and listen to or re-listen to. These were just ones that I could remember off the top of my head. I guess I have some listening to do.
[i] As I write this, I realize that it may have been 10 years. I remember listening to the Obama interview when it went live. I may have just been a more casual listener in 2015. I’m not sure.