Marc Maron is not interested in being just another podcaster in a sea of mediocrity.
In a new interview, the comic — who recently announced the end of his popular and long-lived podcast “WTF” — criticized the current podcast landscape as awash in meh.
“Things were better before everyone had a voice,” Maron told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Wednesday. “Now there’s just hundreds of groups of two or three white guys, sitting behind mics, talking about the last time they s— their pants as adults. We live in a world of mediocre afternoon drive-time radio.”
“A lot of yammering in makeshift studios. It’s lowering the bar for everything,” he added.
Maron started “WTF” in 2009 out of his garage, where he interviews guests. Through the years, he has talked to comedians, actors, musicians and even a sitting president. During an episode with comedian John Mulaney in June, he announced the show will come to an end “sometime in the fall.”
Distaste for mediocrity has been a theme for the comic in recent weeks. “The world has changed a bit and, you know, the sort of uniqueness of whatever the hell’s happening,” Maron said during his appearance last week on the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast. “There’s enough people yammering in the world.”
In his latest comedy special, Maron pokes fun at how certain podcast hosts are, in his eyes, pandering to the far right.
“If Hitler were alive today, I think he’d probably appear on Theo Von’s podcast,” the comedian jokes in “Panicked,” which premiered Aug. 1 on HBO.
In his podcast, Von explores various topics, including his struggles with drug abuse and mental health, with different guests — who include politicians as well as comedians.
Maron continues by playing out a scene in which the comedian host of “This Past Weekend With Theo Von” questions Hitler about the amount of meth the Nazis consumed. At one point, Maron impersonates Von blaming the hate Hitler had on the amount of drugs he did.
“WTF” continues with episodes coming out Mondays and Thursdays until it ends in the fall. Maron did not respond to a request for a comment before publication.
