Robin Williams to Lynn Shelton: Marc Maron’s 7 best podcast interviews, explored

Comedian Marc Maron has announced that his long-running podcast, WTF with Marc Maron, is ending. During an episode released on June 2, Maron told his audience that the podcast, which began its iconic run in 2009, would be ending.

As per Deadline, Maron said,

“Sixteen years we’ve been doing this, and we’ve decided that we had a great run. Now, basically, it’s time, folks. It’s time. WTF is coming to an end. It’s our decision. We’ll have our final episode sometime in the fall.”

During its more than 15-year-long run, Maron has interviewed personalities such as former President Barack Obama and comedian Robin Williams.

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Marc Maron’s 7 best podcast interviews

Robin Williams

In 2010, Maron interviewed the legendary comedian and actor Robin Williams. For the 67th episode of the podcast, Maron drove to William’s home to speak to him. Williams, known for his quick wit and maddeningly fast antics on the stage alongside a profound somberness, took his life in 2014 after a long battle with depression, alongside other ailments, as reported by NBC News.

In the wake of his death, Williams’ comical albeit heartfelt confessions of contemplating killing himself much earlier during the podcast with Maron gained additional depth. In the podcast, Williams told Marc Maron,

“When I was drinking there was only one time even for a moment where I thought, ‘oh f**k life.’ I went like, then even my conscious brain went, ‘did you honestly just say f**k life, you know you have a pretty good life as it is right now.”

The interview captured the funny part as well as the vulnerabilities of the famous comedian.

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Barack Obama

Back in 2015, Marc Maron interviewed President Obama in a landmark episode. Before the president even arrived, Maron cracked jokes about the Secret Service surveying his garage studio setup.

During the interview, President Obama spoke in a candid way about his personal life impacting the causes he fought for politically.

About his identity impacting his career in social justice and politics, he told Marc Maron,

“Well, these are the contradictions I had to work out. My mother was the biggest influence my life and this wonderful woman. But I am raised without a dad, an African-American, but not grounded in a place with a lot of African-American culture. ”

Continuing, the president spoke about being at a crossroads in life. He said,

“And so I'm trying to figure out, all right, I'm seen and viewed and understood as a black man in America. What does that mean? I'm absorbing all kinds of stereotypes and ideas from society.”

Obama also spoke about several important incidents that took place during his term and how the values instilled in him helped him overcome struggles.

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Paul Thomas Anderson

The same year, Marc Maron spoke to filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson about the inspiration behind his films based in Los Angeles. The episode provided a fascinating insight into the mind of a filmmaker who is looking back at the spectacle of Los Angeles and Hollywood.

During the episode, Anderson told Marc Maron,

“I think there are darker, more magical places within this very large city. Like Los Feliz is very dark and magical.”

Explaining himself, he said,

“The feeling of ghosts was kind of strong. And when I, and not that I ever saw one, not that I touched one, but just some little echo kind of around that made me feel being from the valley, being from Studio City, like, this is, this feels like another world.”

The filmmaker also spoke about his family and about movies like No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, etc.

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Quentin Tarantino

In 2021, Marc Maron spoke to another legendary Hollywood filmmaker, Quentin Tarantino, known for films like Pulp Fiction and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Speaking about his novelization of the film, the director opened up about exploring the character played by Brad Pitt more deeply in his book. He said,

"Well, part of my idea is, since he's such an enigma in the movie, was to flesh out his character in the book where you go to these little chapters that go back in time, and each of those chapters is like a little pulp novel unto itself starring Cliff.”

While sharing another anecdote, Tarantino explained to Marc Maron how he came to take on his now-famous surname, Tarantino, which is so valued by cinephiles around the world.

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Andrew Garfield

In 2022, in a candid interview with Andrew Garfield, Marc Maron questioned the actor about his talents. In a profound revelation about how he started acting, The Amazing Spider-Man opened up about his early days. He said,

“The last thing I tried was a drama class outside of school when I was like 15, 16. It felt different. That's all. It just felt different.”

Noting the importance of children’s talents being recognized, Garfield added,

“Then a mentor arrived. A teacher arrived at high school in a very critical moment, a new drama teacher.He saw me in a play and he said, well, he just basically said, I see you and I think you can do something with this. That was one of those special moments that we are lucky if we get, those mentoring moments.”

Garfield mentioned that he considers Ryan Gosling to be one of his major inspirations and also that he's been on a spiritual journey with recent projects.

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Lynn Shelton

In a candid interview with his longtime collaborator, Lynn Shelton, Marc Maron spoke to the filmmaker about her recent project. Full of candid confessions and behind-the-scenes of the film, Outside In, the interview was a sweet insight into the couple's relationship while offering Shelton's views on the film's distribution.

Poking fun at the film's producers, the Duplass brothers, and the mark they have left on the industry, Maron said,

“I'm just concerned about a cultural Duplassing...Yeah, we have to take Duplassing down to 70 percent, 70 percent Duplass.”

When Marc Maron welcomed her to the session, he had already told the audience to expect a different tone since she is one of his close pals.

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Cillian Murphy

During a podcast episode with actor Cillian Murphy in 2023, Marc Maron discussed his work on Oppenheimer, which won him an Academy Award. Murphy candidly confessed how his role was different from a usual movie character. He said,

“You're playing a normal protagonist. It goes from A to B, and there's a curve, and there's an arc, and then you end up somewhere else.”

Continuing, Murphy explained,

“With him, it was so tricky, like he was kind of all over the graph in terms of his journey and his arc and how he changed and went backwards and how he dealt with, you know, with whatever he was dealing with in his head.”

In the interview, Cillian Murphy said his turning point towards acting was witnessing a theatrical production of A Clockwork Orange.

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The last episode of WTF with Marc Maron will be released sometime this fall, as per The Guardian.