EXCLUSIVE: A podcast establishment is coming to an finish. Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, which has had near 2,000 episodes since its 2009 launch, can be turning off its microphones within the fall.
WTF with Marc Maron has been some of the common podcasts on this planet, arguably kicking off the booming pattern of audio collection since launching on September 1, 2009.
The collection has had 1.1B downloads, listens and impressions since its launch with 1,645 episodes in addition to greater than 300 bonus episodes for premium subscribers.
“Sixteen years we’ve been doing this, and we’ve determined that we had a fantastic run. Now, principally, it’s time, of us. It’s time. WTF is coming to an finish. It’s our resolution. We’ll have our last episode someday within the fall,” Maron says on the episode launched in the present day.
Maron has interviewed comedy greats, A-list actors and Presidents. His June 2015 interview with President Barack Obama broke the document for WTF’s internet hosting service, Libsyn, for many downloads in a 24 hour interval by greater than double the earlier document. President Obama ventured to Maron’s storage in Highland Park, California to debate race relations and gun violence in addition to joking about black helicopter paranoia and taking jabs at Fox Information.
Different standout episodes embody Todd Glass popping out in 2012 and a 2010 episode with Robin Williams, which was chosen by the Library of Congress for preservation in the US Nationwide Recording Registry in 2022.
Maron, whose first ever visitor was Jeff Ross, has additionally interviewed the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in addition to SNL creator Lorne Michaels, who was one among Maron’s white whales, essentially the most mentioned particular person on the podcast and the person who Maron wanted closure from after a gathering that haunted him within the Nineteen Nineties.
Maron and his producer Brendan McDonald have been the recipients of the first-ever Governors Award by the Podcast Academy for Excellence in Audio at The Ambies in 2021.
“It actually comes all the way down to the truth that we’ve put up a brand new present each Monday and Thursday for nearly sixteen years and we’re drained. We’re burnt out. And we’re totally happy with the work we’ve completed. We’ve completed nice work. This doesn’t imply I’m by no means going to do one thing like this once more. Doesn’t imply I’ll by no means have talks like I do right here, or some type of podcast sooner or later in time. However for now, we’re simply wrapping issues up. It’s okay. It’s okay to finish issues. It’s okay to attempt to begin another chapter in your life,” Maron provides on the episode.
“It’s good to have the ability to finish issues on our phrases. We’ve all the time had that energy to do this and that’s what we’re going to do. We began the present on our phrases, we grew it on our phrases, and we’ll finish it on our phrases. Look, we’ve had nice companions who’ve helped us do the present over time. Acast has been our associate for the previous three years and we’ve been capable of do issues on our phrases with them. We all the time had that and it’s all the time been the best way we’ve completed it and that’s been nice. We’ve been very lucky to have the ability to do issues the best way we need to do them and now that is a part of it. Ending it the best way we wish it to finish,” he says.
Maron says that he has lots of tasks happening and he hopes to have many individuals that by no means appeared earlier than, some persuaded by it coming to its last stretch, on the podcast earlier than the ultimate episodes within the fall.
These embody a brand new stand-up particular coming to HBO this summer time. He’s additionally starring in Rob Burnett’s upcoming function movie In Memoriam alongside Judy Greer, Sharon Stone and Regina Corridor, and is enjoying Bruce Springsteen’s producer Chuck Plotkin in Scott Cooper’s Jeremy Allen White-led biopic about The Boss, Ship Me From Nowhere. On the TV aspect, he’s additionally starring alongside Owen Wilson in Apple golf comedy collection Stick.
He thanked the listeners and company. You’ll be able to take heed to the clip under and the full episode at wtfpod.com.
“It’s been an unbelievable time in my life and Brendan’s life. We’ve completed issues that we by no means thought we’d be capable of do due to the podcast. My life modified dramatically. All of the issues that I got down to do earlier than I did the podcast as type of a Hail Mary cross — To be a standup with an viewers. To attempt my hand at appearing. To have experiences with different people who have been one among a sort and fully thrilling and distinctive and fascinating and revealing. To speak to a president in my storage. So many issues occurred due to establishing a mic in my storage,” he says. “There’s in all probability going to be some ups and downs over the subsequent few months with me, emotionally, across the actuality of this. However this can be a full hearted resolution. It’s the precise resolution for me. It’s the precise resolution for Brendan. It’s okay. It’s okay for issues to finish. It’s simply time, of us.”
Maron is represented by Unbiased Artists Group, Avalon, and Brecheen Feldman Breimer.
