WTF with Marc Maron Podcast: Episode 161

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Mar 28, 2011 43

Joe Rogan is an intimidating guy. He's a trained martial artist and an intensely focused comedian. Maybe that's why Marc had issues with him in the past. Then again, maybe it was because of Joe's hosting gig on Fear Factor, or his infamous run-in with Carlos Mencia, or his past dating history. They'll sort through all of that, plus Joe tells a story of backing down from a fight... with Buddy Hackett.

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43 Comments

over a year ago

Fear is not a factor

What's the big deal about Rogan doing 'Fear Factor?' Why does he even feel the need to defend it? Rogan came off as much more level-headed than I expected. Marc let his usual jealousy show through.

But Marc's verbal essay on 'irony' at the start was great. Part of why I listen to his show.
a year and a half ago

Alex

Oh my god. First WTF I've ever listened to and what a righteous cunt, Maron is. I don't even like Rogan nor did I even get to the part where he comes on. The self-righteous, look at my extensive vocabulary rant at the beginning was enough to make me shut this garbage off. Yeah, I want to be lectured to by a comedian in his garage. Go fuck yourself.
over two years ago

Corky

Does anyone know what the song at 13:25 is?
over two years ago

Jocelyn

All of those in defense of Rogan's stint on Fear Factor- take a moment to listen to his recent guest spot on Adam Carolla's podcast. Note his commentary on LA and wanting to get out of LA ASAP- his commentary on the people and the Lakers fans... having heard WTF before listening to Carolla's podcast my bull@#$% meter immediately went crazy. Really? LA is really the armpit of humanity Rogan? Nope-you are a little too self righteous about LA after having hosted a show that could loosely be described as the handle of the handbasket in which we are heading to hell.
over two years ago

Neve

I thought the whole point of Fear Factor was to sell out. Why else would you do that stupid shit on T.V.?
over two years ago

Joe

Marc either needs to go to more meetings or see his therapist more often because I felt like his cheese was slipping of the cracker with this one. I was cringing and yelling at my iPod when he wouldn't shut up about Fear Factor. And his jealousy and condescension over the fact that Joe can smoke pot and still maintain a normal life was pretty apparent. It all seemed like a giant projection fest and how cool of Joe to take it all in stride. He came off as very well adjusted

P.S. I've listened to every WTF and love Marc. His podcast is brilliant.
over two years ago

Reggie

"oh I just remembered something" lol sure Marc sure, you just remembered. Usually love your podcasts, but you fell a few notches with me on this one trying to vilify Rogan when you have had others who I would say are just as much or could be seen as just as big if not bigger "sellouts" & never took such a strong line on them. I definitely can see you being more intimidated with Rogan with his Mixed Martial Arts background then with the other "sellouts" & gonna chalk it all up to that.
over two years ago

Liam

Can I point out, as a British man, Nevermind the Buzzcocks isn't a gameshow. That's like calling Whose Line is it Anyway a gameshow. Just sayin'.
over two years ago

Jeffy

Marc came off as a pathetic little man with that line of questioning. Disappointed in him.
over two years ago

Jereny

...and to touch on what I posted earlier, it seems that Marc still beats himself up over his attempt at becoming a game show host earlier in his career (could be sour grapes, but that's open to speculation). I think Marc wants others to feel as bad about their choices as he does to help validate his own feelings about what "selling out" means. He probably also wants some validation concerning his decision to do something like a game show in the first place. I suppose his insistent questioning may be as much an attempt to unearth a reason behind the decision as it is an attempt at pulling a apology out of someone. But again, I could just be reading all this into it.
over two years ago

Jereny

The questions themselves were not out of the ordinary for WTF. The only thing out of the ordinary was Marc's insistence on sticking with the Fear Factor line of questioning after Joe had clearly said his piece about it. I almost feel that Marc was trying to squeeze a shame apology (as someone else called it) out of Joe because he wants to like Joe, and he felt that if Joe regretted doing the show he would have more respect for him...or maybe I'm just reading that into it. I've never been a fan of Joe Rogan's standup, but he impressed me in this interview by not getting worked up or becoming overly defensive in response to Marc's questions. I would love to see Marc do Joe's podcast.
over two years ago

roly

Jebus, stop reading so much in a few questions. They were just questions. Didn't strike me as out of the ordinary for WTF.
over two years ago

Scott

Maybe if Marc's writer friends wrote better material, they wouldnt be out of jobs due to shows like FF.

When does Marc get called a sellout in the podcast world for doing ads (A&Eve) or how terrestrial radio friends are losing jobs because of podcasting?
over two years ago

eddie

This is the only time I've ever been confused listening to your podcast. WTF was that all about Fear Factor and your "writer friends" being out of work, seriously extreme stuff you were putting on this guy, but not even that you were putting it on this guy, just giving SO much credit to FF and the dumbing down of America, or American Television... because it was soooo intelligent before. Unless there is a specific case or someone you know lost a job or something, then you should talk about that, but I've never heard you sound dumb and I don't want that from you Marc, I'll take it as an oversight due to your attempt to classify and pigeonhole this dude. I guess in the end he won cuz' he came out as the nicest guy taking on the Maron agenda. Big WTF fan, only time I've been confused by you. Everything else was fine with this show, but the Fear Factor thing, reaaaaaaaaaaally pushing it dude.
over two years ago

Chuck

The Fear Factor thing was so off base, considering you guys talked about your admiration for Kinison beforehand. I mean who was more lowbrow than Sam? He brought hookers on Howard Stern & feuded with Andrew Dice Clay (which was awesome). Get off your high horse Maron.
over two years ago

Schad

A lot of jealousy by Marc there against Rogan's Fear Factor work. Easy for a guy like Marc who failed to "make it big" and lives in a garage to call others sellouts because they were successful.
over two years ago

RB

I didn't mind the hard questions. Like a lot of people, I watched Fear Factor occasionally during the first season or so. At the time, it seemed like a new thing, and we didn't have the overflow of reality shows currently on TV, nor did we have the Internet options we have today. Today, I wouldn't be caught dead watching a similar show, but ten years ago was a different environment with different options.
over two years ago

Andrew S.

I think Marc was way too hard on Rogen, Rogen came off as a pretty good guy. Marc came off as having an agenda, and not being very genuine. I think he should have channelled some of that negative energy to Carolla last week. Btw, I'm a fan of this podcast, and not a fan of Rogen.
over two years ago

Chris B

Marc, thanks for the fine work.
As a big fan of both you and Joe, I wanted to echo the other comments about a) the weird insistence on putting Rogan into a box you wanted him to fit into b) the duplicitous definition of "selling out." You certainly didnt go after Bob Saget that hard. If you spend some time looking in to Rogan you'll be surprised how deep that river runs. Glad you had him on the show! I, however, dont recommend you check out his podcast. Simply because Eddie Bravo might be on.
Thanks again!
over two years ago

Liam

I didn't know Joe Rogan before this podcast (I knew his name but nothing else). But after it, I liked him, he came across as a good guy. Humorous, easy going too and down to Earth in a good way.
over two years ago

Andrew Lavigne

I've been waiting to hear you interview Joe for almost a year and I'm glad it finally happened. You really did seem to want to somehow make Joe fit into the image of him you've cobbled together over the years instead of starting fresh. Also, you should go on his podcast.
over two years ago

MindOfMen'sPeeHole

Mencia was raped by an alien transgendered leprechaun with a complex.
over two years ago

OGRastamon

The implication that Carlos Mencia had a dark secret that made Rogan sympathetic led me to purchase a subscription to hear the Mencia interviews. I was amazed by the similarities of these two. While neither of them have ever squeezed a laugh out of me I was surprised to find them both intelligent and compelling. I also felt that when Mencia wasn't laying on the fauxican accent his voice was nearly indistinguishable from Rogan's. However, I still don't know the dark secret Marc and Joe refused to discuss in this episode. Tell me!
over two years ago

Jenn

Marc, I love your podcast but geez...I felt like I had to defend Joe Rogan while listening to this -and that isn't a position I ever want to be in again! You can't force people into the box you thought they belonged in 20 years ago. Still a great show,though.
over two years ago

Clever Nickname

This one made me cringe even more than Gallagher. Awkward, thought provoking, fantastic!
over two years ago

Johnathan Cruise

I think you're great, Marc, but trying to call Rogan out about his stint on the "Fear Factor" stuck me as the most hypocritical thing you've ever done. You're generally a fair interviewer, and always interesting, but you gave him a rough ride for reasons unfathomable to me. Let's face it, Judd Apatow, Robin Williams, Ben Stiller, etc. are hardly "suffering" for their art, and have done their fair share of bathetic dross in their time. Most comedians these days are not the anti-establishment icons of say Lenny Bruce or Bill Hicks (and I don't believe either of those guys were in it just to be truth-sayers and serving the public good). And you're hardly doing WTF purely out of altruistic reasons...

Disingenuousness is clearly not just a province of the ironists.
over two years ago

Grownman Ethics

Mark I really enjoyed this podcast episode. I'm a huge fan of Rogan's and I've just started listening to you the last 6 months or so. It was cool you both riff on each other a bit. As agressive as you state Rogan to be you sounded like a bit of a pit bull yourself. I relate to your simmering hatred of humanity.
over two years ago

Renaud

I've never seen Fear Factor, but we have sort of a domestic version of it here in France. Judging from the French version, anyone who accepts to host that kind of show is just a venal dbag to be written off. Yeah, I'm that self-righteous, no shame in that either.
over two years ago

Max

Sorry, Marc, but your argument that Fear Factor somehow did economic damage to comedians by crowding out some sitcoms is bunk, and Joe was right to call it out.

Fear Factor just wasn't demonstrably worse that many of the sitcoms on TV at the same time. That doesn't make Fear Factor *good*, it was definitely awful. But let's not pretend that its sitcom competition was any better. And unlike Fear Factor, those sitcoms had teams of 'comics' whose job it was to be funny. If they couldn't compete with reality TV, that's their own fault.

Joe could still have been more candid about how badly Fear Factor sucked, and the fact that he is a little cagey on the subject speaks volumes, given how reflective he is on other topics.
over two years ago

Sean

I love Maron, but I love Rogen even more for calling him out about his psuedo intellectual nonsense about one's spirit.
over two years ago

Joe Tily

Great show. I'm not a massive fan of Rogan’s stand-up (he’s OK) but this interview was very interesting. I also think Marc was pushing a bit hard for a ‘shame’ confession. Not everyone beats themselves up over their integrity as much as you Marc! - i happen to like alot of very ‘high-brow’ film and literature but it doesn't stop me from loving my Beavis & Butthead collection. Fartknocker.
over two years ago

Al

I had a tough time following Marc's definition of "selling out". At various points in the conversation it seemed to reference:

1. Lack of personal satisfaction
2. Implicit responsibility(?) to the media consumer
3. Some form of spiritual(?) stain due to economic decisions
4. Brand impairment
5. Ego impairment

The line of questioning ended up looking like an attack on the guest. I'm guessing that the tone could have been avoided had Marc more carefully separated the issues implicit in the notion of "selling out".
over two years ago

Gabe B

I think Maron was projecting his own issues onto Rogan here. Rogan doesn't have anything to feel bad about concerning Fear Factor, as I sure he doesn't.
over two years ago

Boxy Mouse

Fearless interview. I came out of this liking both of you guys even more.
over two years ago

Marco

GREAT show.
over two years ago

Paul H

jeez..whats with Marons obsession of trying to make Rogan feel ashamed of himself for Fear Factor, Rogan handled it well...but overall great podcast with two comedic geniuses.
over two years ago

Brad in Ohio

Fear Factor was fun.
over two years ago

Papageorgio

It seems Maron is desparate to squeeze a shame confession out of Rogan for doing Fear Factor but never gets it. I agree that reality shows are bad for humanity in general, but I look at them as TV junkfood - have a little if you're inclined but don't make it the majority of your diet. Rogan should feel no shame for doing that show, and it is comforting to know that he was "high 90% of the time".
over two years ago

Ger

Marc comes across as someone who's mocking the game rather than playing it.
over two years ago

exitBxC

Just trying to figure it all out but knowing you likely won't, that's my kind of WTF. Great episode - "when you 'found' spit & leveled off" might be one of the funnier drive-by lines ever on the show. I also love the part where you both sound like black bag bio-chemist talking shop.
over two years ago

ipsissimus

>EPIC podcast is EPIC<

i came
over two years ago

Renaud

Yeah Maron, I'm with you on that one. Irony is a bitch, the way of the coward. Maybe at some point in the past it was worth something, there was a risk to it. Not anymore.
over two years ago

first time callerr

This is the reason why I stay up until 4am waiting for your podcast. Great work.

2012.