Marc Maron - Career

Career

Maron started his comedy career at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles and became an associate of Sam Kinison. He later moved to New York City and became part of the New York alternative comedy scene. During the summer of 1994, he appeared a few times in New York City at the Monday night open mike night of the now closed Greenwich Village location of the Boston Comedy Club. He auditioned for the 1995 Saturday Night Live cast overhaul, but attributes being passed over to an awkward personal meeting with show creator and producer Lorne Michaels.

Maron continued to be a stand-up performer, and also began to appear on television; his voice was used in episodes of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, and he hosted Short Attention Span Theater for a time. He also recorded half-hour specials for HBO and Comedy Central Presents, as well as comedy showcases like the Cam Neely Foundation fundraiser, which also featured performers like Jon Stewart, Denis Leary and Steven Wright. He frequently appeared in the live alternative stand up series he'd organized with Janeane Garofalo called "Eating It," which used the rock bar Luna Lounge in New York's Lower East Side as its venue from the 1990s until the building was razed in 2005.

His only major film credit to date is a small part – credited as "angry promoter" – in the 2000 Cameron Crowe film, Almost Famous, first seen fighting with Noah Taylor's character, then yelling at and chasing after the main characters as they drive away on a bus.

His first one-man show, Jerusalem Syndrome, had an extended off-Broadway run in 2000 and was released in book form in 2001. In 2009, he began work shopping another one-man show, Scorching The Earth. According to Maron (in Scorching The Earth) these two shows "bookend" his relationship with his second wife, comic Mishna Wolff, which ended in a bitter divorce. Moment Magazine produced a piece on Maron, where he was interviewed about his experience with Jerusalem Syndrome. When asked if he really came down with it, Maron responded, "The premise of my book is that not only did it happen during a short trip I took to Israel, but it’s been happening to me all my life."

In May 2008, he toured with Eugene Mirman and Andy Kindler in Stand Uppity: Comedy That Makes You Feel Better About Yourself and Superior to Others. In January 2009, a collaboration with Sam Seder which had begun in September 2007 as a weekly hour-long video webcast became Breakroom Live with Maron & Seder, produced by Air America. Until its cancellation in July 2009 the show was webcast live, weekdays at 3 pm Eastern, with episodes archived for later viewing as well. In its final incarnation, the show was quite informal, taking place in the (actual) break room of Air America Media, with the cafeteria vending machines just off-camera. This meant occasional distractions when Air America staff and management alike would occasionally come in for food and drink. Maron and Seder held court in an online "post-show chat" with viewers, in an even less formal continuation of each webcast, after the credits had rolled. Maron's stand up comedy act is marked by his commitment to self-revelation and cultural analysis. He is particularly known for relentless on-stage exploration of his own relationships, with family, girlfriends, and other stand-up comedians that he has known and befriended over his many years in the business.

In March 2012, IFC announced that it would be picking up a series created by and starring Maron for a 10 episode run to begin sometime in 2013. The show will be autobiographical, and will revolve around Maron's life as a twice-divorced sober comedian running a comedy podcast out of his garage, with Ed Asner playing his father The pilot shoot for this show was discussed in Episode 183 of WTF with guest Amy Poehler. In 2012, he provided the voice of Magnus Hammersmith in three episodes of Metalocalypse. On August 16, 2012, he guest starred as himself on an episode of Louis C.K.'s show, Louie.