Marc gets some more details about the accusations against Carlos Mencia. He speaks with comics who have worked very closely with Carlos, Willie Barcena and Steve Trevino, and then gets Carlos to sit back down for a follow up discussion. Questions will get answered. Opinions will get shaped. Comedians will get serious.
and one question: Who's stealing from Mencia right now - is that job open? Cause I could use a job like that.
Shitty comedian aside, this guy's fucked in the head.
Incredible.
Incidentally, at 52:04 Mencia say "I DO take responsibility for my shit" yet he's spent most of his conversations making his problems everybody else's fault.
However, this doesn't mean anything.
@ Dan, the song at 16:05 is "The Seed (2.0)" by The Roots.
That said, the things that struck me about Mencia's first interview and his follow-up response were his thunderously huge and hilarious degree of self aggrandizement.
The very idea that he could actually believe, with any degree of sincerity, that he personally has the power to get Latinos to rise up in a physical revolt against white people (which, lets face it, he was absolutely threatening he could do)is equal parts ludicrous and surreal.
Dude, what you say just doesn't have that much weight in the real life, larger scheme of things, and that you could even begin to give credence to the idea that it might means that you're surely surrounded by nothing but sycophants, toadies, and people who you only think are your friends. In other words, people who only 'large you up' and never give you a mental hip check, because there's no benefit in that.
"Gandhi, King,... Mencia".
Looks even crazier in print, doesn't it?
As for passively/aggressively threatening other comedians with physical harm, that was easily one of the most distastefully "ghetto" things I've ever heard anyone who was trying to convey how decent they actually are utter.
Unfortunately for Carlos, by my standard, neither interview reflected well on him at all. As far as I've always been concerned, the answer to whether or not Mencia is a thief was to obvious to even bother asking. Admittedly, I never thought him funny, but after his thievery came to light, he became impossible to respect just in terms of someone being able to make a living a something they love.
The physical threats have sealed it for me regarding the type of human being Mencia is.
He's pond life.
Hey Marc, I miss the hilarity from "Morning Sedition"! Always cheered my AMs up.
The other thing that I find telling is how Carlos has responded from the start. Other comedians that have been faced with the same accusations and have responded with new specials filled with new material that (whether funny or not) is clearly original.
Thanks Marc, I really enjoyed both shows.
I don't expect him to "change" Carlos, or anybody else he talks to, or get some kind of satisfaction out of these people. It's enough that he ASKS the questions, attempts to give us insight, tries to entertain us at the same time.
Better than ANY of the "Entertainment Tonight/Jimmy Kimmels/Conans/Larry Kings/Actors Studio" dickheads will ever be able to do. If these people ever approached their subjects with a TENTH of the honesty, soul-searching-ness, directness that Marc Maron does, they'd be off the air in a fucking heartbeat, which is probably why WTF is still a podcast.
Oh, yeah, and the trailing comments Carlos made about "his boys" fucking somebody up? What a fucking idiot. Stupid thing to say, 'cause you just NEVER KNOW who's packin' heat these days, baby.
Great, great stuff. It'll be spurring a ton of conversation with a lot of my comedy nerd pals. I'll be listening from here on out.
"Hey, homes...you know, you might be a redneck bro, if your house has more...no, shit dude, how did that go again? Oh yeah, if your house has more wheels than your car, which is up on blocks. Yeah, that's it."
He cannot have an eidetic memory for other peoples' material, and then NOT remember where it came from. I feel sad for the guy, and no amount of success is ever going to change him.
It seems to be "to find and communicate the truth".
As long as it happens, why does it matter who does it?
Is this dude simply gathering the best material or the material that fits best together? Would any comedians consider teaming up to write for one or a small group of dudes?
How many "styles" of comedy are there? How many ways can the truth be stated?
I fucked up the your, but English is my second language (no excuses though).
Point to the p"i"g. But come on
You can't really blame Maron for trying to be civil, he will have to work with and see this guy int he future.
And I don't think Marc rolls with an entourage like Rogan, so why would he really want to create a conflict?
He addressed the issues directly and told him how he felt, not once did i feel Marc fully accept the apology, even though Carlos did his best to evoke that out of him.
Shit is out there, Marc seems like he spent a lot of his career fighting the "good fight", but in the end you gotta be realistic with it. Not agree! But respectfully disagree.
We don't have to all like Carlos, but some people do and i won't begrudge them for it. He has done some good comedy, that i have personally laughed my ass off to (HBO half hour??), maybe he stole it from someone, but it wasn't me!! And if he did wrong to all these people in the past it should come around to him, which it seems like it has.
Marc got the real story, then he commented honestly- why would you loose respect for him?
Because he doesn't share your exact opinion?
get bent
& who the shit does he think he's fooling?
his fans i guess
Well played, Mr. Maron.
Good future interviews: Dane Cook, Carrot Top, Sarah Silverman, Patrice O'Neal, Jackie Mason, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy. All of these comediens with some I-fucked-it-up tragedy arc in their talent narratives.
Let me help you"
Someone who doesn't use the contraction "you're" correctly wants to "help" me write something.
Beautiful.
This is my life in a nutshell.
When I wrote that everyone from Brian Wilson to John Lennon stole something I meant to include that a) when they admitted it they gave the offended artist his/her due b) unlike Mencia, they didn't base their careers on stealing, obviously c) they were forthcoming about it d) comedically I would never put Mencia in the same class as Lennon and Wilson musically-- Jesus christ, no, 10 million times no.
You were offended by my use of the "body count" as a "literary device," huh? I like it. Obviously it wasn't literal.
Inarguably, he has ruined other people's lives.
I forgot to include with the "body count" phrase that Mencia said, "dey tryin' to take away mah livelihood."
Dude... Shut the fuck up. You're already ruined quite a few people's opportunity at that "livelihood."
Yeah, I was too eager to get to the part where I wanted to state that such issues should be addressed by a court.
I'm also surprised that so many people were impressed by Maron's apologies for and leniency toward Mencia. I thought it was disgusting, and I lost respect for him. I didn't expect him to denounce Mencia, but I thought he was entirely too soft on him and actually wound up damning the people who are offended by his theft. Unbelievable.
I think Marc was a little too easy on the guy with his conclusion. Sure, this issue could have been settled within the comedy community and not been made into such a huge deal, but hey, karma's a bitch. I like the idea of justice in the world - that if you're an adult and you consciously do shitty things that there's a chance of that biting you in the ass big time later on. I mean, I'm sure other comedians have done as much and not been called out on it so publicly, and maybe Carlos is a "whipping boy" of sorts, but I know I personally believe he deserved every bit of it.
Now - i’m going out to try to look mean walking a poodle!
It was a happy surprise at the end of the podcast to hear Marc say he was going to dig deeper.
Then in the second podcast, a couple of contemporaries go on the record to validate the truth about Mencia's thievery.
Mencia coming back to the garage was classic. Confessional and crying one minute, conditional the next and then saying he's not so bad that he'd let some (fictitious?) thug friends beat up the other comics.
These bookend interviews present a very deep psychological portrait of an abused child acting like the toughest guy in town. Thanks.
Following Kimmel?
"Everyone from Brian Wilson to John Lennon stole"
"Wow, it seems like there is no justice in the comedy world"
and my personal favorite:
: MichaelPG (the original "MG")
"Who cares?" is fucking killing us all.
Do you know who cares? The people who were the center and last piece of this human centipide's torso-- the unknown (and dead) comedians who will probably remain unknown.
This guy's body count is immeasurable!!!!!!!!!!"
^
--- [] if your going to use a literary device, have it make sense.
Let me help you
Who cares? normal people who actually pay to go see comedians do their odd carnival road work all year long. And most of those people want to see a good wholesome show- something they expect!
That is what Carlos is:
People like coffee, dunking donuts does a great coffee.
Some people realized this and said if we dress up the package and serve this same shit just a little better with nice baristas =
Starbucks is born.
Carlos is the development of a shitty product, regular hack comedy into a corporate brand.
By using the "profit is everything model" that every Wall street or fortune 500 CEO uses, he climbed to the top.
The fact that WE the audience do not want the better quality product is our fault.
The comedy store still let him perform, b/c they are money greedy whores just like most of you. GREED is still popular in the USA, or did i miss something!!
YES, it is short sighted and eventually this model doesn't work.
Fuck you can't work forever, you have to learn to play nice with others -- all true BUT
Look around you,
are the best people the most successful??!!
If you haven't thought about this before: open yours eyes and realized your fucked.
WTF
"Hey, Mencia you stole from me"
"f$@k off. I didn't steal"
"Here's a video, time-stamped"
"Well I did it (trying to make a story) two months before that at the Yuk-Yuks. And fuck you. I'm going to bump you every time you go on stage"
You can still see him grappling with his narcissism. Sadly when his career goes to crap, he will change. However, he will begin to get narcissistic when he gets popular again. When his ego gets fed, his narcissism grows. Remember when you come to grips with a crap life and your grandiosity. Real change occurs. But when you feed that grandiosity with few real world examples, it grows again.
Kudos to you...these two podcasts may be in the podcast hall of fame some day. Barbara Walters has nothing on you Marc. I won't comment or judge Carlos here due to the fact that one of his personalities might decide to not stop a friend from hurting me.
Seems like everyone wants everyone to believe they are in comedy for the love...the love.
What I'm beginning to understand, as a fan or layman as a comic might call me...as a regular human or non-attention-addict, is that we are all listening to dudes who have the balls to stand up and show the world what they think is funny and interesting (stolen or not). And we have the boredom it takes to listen and care. So in their little world or kingdom, these Kings take a lot of pride in their court and taxpayers...when in fact they are simply the deranged jester that we can simply not care about anymore once we realize it's all recycled BS.
...and this podcast made me care just a little bit less about all of it.
Comedians are the fluffers for the real porno that is life itself.
But if you're the fluffer...that would make a good documentary and that's why I love this podcast.
That being said, I don't have a fire in my belly about Carlos Mencia one way or another.
First time poster, first time felt composed to write, and long time fan. [/cliche end]
This has to be the most intriguing interview I've ever heard. What I loved was the way you handled this interview. You did not set it up as a trial, but instead you focused solely on (as you put so yourself) getting into the mind of Mencia. Just giving Mencia and his colleagues a chance to speak honestly about the way they viewed things. Hearing them speak (unedited) allows the listener to form their own views on the speaker naturally. Sadly in today's television\radio atmosphere that is something of a rarity. And for that I thank you Marc Maron.
Here is what I draw from the interview. He is a man with limited imagination and articulation. But what he lacks in that, he makes up for in ambition, charm, and exuberance. He is an entertainer not a creator.
As for accusations of stealing, I am not fully convinced he is unaware of joke stealing. But hey, when your ultimate goal is to be famous\rich, you'd try hard to convince yourself too. I am not even fully convinced that he feels bad for what he did, as he continuously attempts to justify it, sputtering small apoligies in between. Apparently he does have a sense of regret, but I am not sure if its for being the pariah he is labeled, or sincere empathy for the comedians he's hurt. I'd have to go with the former on this one.
As comic fan, I find all this depressing for two reasons:
1. When you look at who the joke thieves are, you can't help but ask who gets the luxurious life and who is living in tiny apartment hoping to make ends meet. There really is no true justice in the comedy world.
2. The reality of the justice system pertaining to joke thievery is very hard to prove in court. This opens all sorts of vulnerability to original material.
Excuse the horrible grammar and whatever typo I may have, I haven't written and been in school for awhile. Once again, keep up the good work Maron.
RIP Freddy Soto
Oh, the banality of evil. He's not sorry. He did it on purpose. He basically is a very bad human being, 'bro'.
So let's move on. Thanks.
In the end, the podcast was an excellent wrap-up...except for every minute when Mencia was talking. He tried to wipe the shit off his face with a shit-soaked rag, and it was kind of wasted radio. Your other contributors offered an excellent perspective on the issue at hand, even avoiding direct slander.
The Freddy Soto shit was hard to hear, I never knew the Mencia connection there.
Thanks again, Marc, you've got a new weekly listener. I'll hustle you some loot when I get a new job.
I was glad to hear that Mencia righted the perpetrate/perpetuate blunder he was all over in the first ep.
And I think the majority beef with Mencia is the fact he is a hack and found great success, just knowing that he's regarded as a thief is icing on the old cake.
Mencia's is smart enough to understand the big picture. It's obvious that even though he understands his predicament, he hasn't internalized the lesson. The conversation with him is awkward, because he has answer for everything and the answers are laced with b.s./denial.
Marc, great job of pressuring him enough that the audience could see through his smoke screen, but not so much pressure that you were mean. Being mean probably wouldn't have helped Mencia or allowed you to get so much out of the interview.
He was obviously comfortable with you. I think that it's because you related to him as a person not a career. Something, that he needs a little help with at times.
Good to hear the truth from people that really know Mencia personally. His own people exposed him for the prick-thief he is.
Viva La Chupacabra!
PS- Stop bogarting the nip, Marc!
"Who cares?" is fucking killing us all.
Do you know who cares? The people who were the center and last piece of this human centipide's torso-- the unknown (and dead) comedians who will probably remain unknown.
This guy's body count is immeasurable. He sits atop a pile of skulls. And now, as he demonstrated during this episode it basically boils down to "I couldn't give a fuck.... but I apologize... no seriously."
OF COURSE comedians need some sort of copyright laws- it's fucking insane that they don't exist. You say that a lot of it is "stock material." Alright, great. A lot of music is "stock material," yet a court decides when a musician has crossed the line. Everyone from Brian Wilson to John Lennon has admitted that they either knowingly or subconsciously crossed the line and stole material.
Beyonce stole "If I Were a Boy" from an unknown girl who lives in my apartment complex. I talked with her about it-- she got a big settlement out of court. She isn't going to die in her sleep from a drug/alcohol combo in a friend's house (Mencia's victim).
You're telling me that comedians can't do this shit? Maybe you can't do it because, as you concluded, "we keep it private blah blah blah rationalization blah blah." Well, someone shit all over your line, bro. You're not solving it in public anymore-- if you ever really were anyway.
"Who cares?"
Get fucked.
I've met people like him in my line of work and they DON"T CHANGE. They're SCUM pure and simple.
blah blah blah...and so the story continues...
Being a graphic designer, I could certainly relate to the issues of the legal need to protect your work & how derivative work is different from blatant stealing/plagiarism. Although, in my case, it’s probably easier to tell who’s stealing what since the medium I’m working on is visual.
Unfortunately, the mindset of “stealing is okay if you don’t get caught” is quite rampant from where I stand. Marc (and Doug Stanhope as well, I believe) had pointed out how the Internet affects negatively on comedy material development. On the other hand, I’d argue that thanks to the Internet, these acts of thievery could be exposed & act upon. But like Marc said, some things probably shouldn’t have been made THAT public and could’ve been solved within the ‘inner circle’ of comedy. Who knows.
As for Mencia himself...hard to say for sure. If anything, these interviews certainly ‘humanize’ him in a way. There is certainly a painful burden there. But towards the end, his remark about having some friends “who’d beat the shit out of you”...that’s puzzling to me, to be brought up at that particular juncture. I don’t know. It’s been strangely tense, yet thought provoking. It’s exactly the WTFPod blend that I love.
A great follow up btw.
If you missed it, at 1:01:30 he gives notice that he could probably have some friends KO some people at the Comedy Store if he wanted to, but he doesn't because he's a good guy. In the first interview he let's us know that he doesn't plan on inciting hatred against white people at 58:30. It allows him to stroke his ego and makes other people think twice about messing with him at the same time. Some kind of defense mechanism, I guess.
I like that he didn't use the "I'd have to be stupid to have stolen that on purpose and now be proclaiming my innocence so loudly" argument this time around. At least, I don't think he did.
Marc seemed to really turn off toward the end, disengaging from the conversation. I believe that silence is the sound of not knowing a socially acceptable way to say "I don't think I can trust anything you say anymore."
I can't say I feel totally satisfied by the conclusion to this little WTF story arc, but it was definitely an interesting ride, and I enjoyed it.
Thanks Marc. Now back to the usual good WTF shows?