WTF with Marc Maron Podcast

Oct 24, 2011 13

The last time Marc spoke with a prop comic, it didn't end well. But things are different this time when Marc heads to Casa de Carrot Top in Las Vegas. Carrot Top reveals the origins of his act, examines his feelings about the way he's treated by other comics, and gets reflective about Bill Hicks and George Carlin. This episode is sponsored by Stamps.com. Click on the radio microphone and enter WTF for a no-risk trial and a bonus offer worth $110.

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13 Comments

a month ago

Kash

Loved hearing you walk through the casino and describe the people you saw. That was so interesting and fun to visualize.
3 months ago

John

So this Marc guy is an asshole. Right? Carrot Top is actually funny as shit. And how is he going to give Viracola crap for writing jokes for someone? Maron should interview himself and talk about what a dipshit of an interviewer he is. Would he dig on Letterman for saying other peoples jokes every night?
6 months ago

Erik

Good episode. I can't get over how much that fucking guy sounds like Bill Hicks.
6 months ago

Seth

Marc is funny as hell but his political correctness gets old fast.
7 months ago

Sean

I love the part where Carrot Top is thinking out loud about going on Letterman or Conan and doing four and a half minutes with no props. You guys know/remember Denny Johnston? Back in 1980 or 81 he had an hour special, I don't remember if it was on HBO or the infant Comedy Channel. It was him headlining, a couple of other prop comics opening, Andrew Dice Clay MCing. And, just so there would be some sort of thematic plot, they did this whole thing where Denny was backstage, kind of holding court, wearing like a smoking jacket and ascot. And they did a bunch of bumper segments with him going on and on about how he was so big now, so popular, that he didn't need the props anymore, they were just a means to an end, and tonight was going to be the debut of "the real Denny Johnston". So he goes on, starts doing this totally lame half-baked monologue, and of course he's dying a horrible death. Crickets. Then he goes into this sort of half-crouch, slinks off stage, and comes back -- minus the smoking jacket, and carrying a box full of his props. Does his act and everybody goes home happy. So, Carrot Top, there is a precedent.
7 months ago

Al

That guy's fear of death theory was the dumbest thing I've ever heard
7 months ago

Clever Nickname

What the fuck?
7 months ago

Andy

It can be fun to hear an interview where Marc has less respect for the interviewee (Will Franken, for instance) than he usually does. But this was brutal: a solid hour of (not unwarranted in theory) "Don't you feel like a jackass for being yourself? Doesn't it bring you down that people hate you?" And a solid hour of "yes, no, I don't know, not really" from Carrot Top, with that dude working overtime in the background to change our hearts and minds. There was almost none of the usual questions about career trajectory and the like (and nothing about Chairman of the Board?), or where he's coming from. Just Marc pushing on a bruise for an hour, hastily asking two other questions at the end, and then going, "Did we cover everything?" Man...
7 months ago

patch

Just a week ago I posted here (the Norm episode) about what a good job WTF does in humanizing its subjects. And when I posted that the name Carrot Top actually came to mind as someone who might be...challenging in that regard. And certainly Marc tried. And Mr. Top tried as well. It was all very...effortful. But in the end nothing they said quite washed away the bad taste of that damn Kim Kardashian joke outlined at the beginning of the show; a "gag" which could surely be exhibit A in Carrot Top's trial for crimes against comedy. So count this one as a partial success. He wasn't fully humanized, but maybe transformed into some sort of human/clown-alien hybrid.
7 months ago

JSL

I've never seen his act but I thought he was funny on the roast he did a few years ago
7 months ago

fanta

What I like about Carrot Top is his sense of timing, awareness of his audience, command of the stage - his skills as a performer vs the content of his material.

The kind of act you guys discussed? I saw him do a self-aware bit in a video. I wanna say it was with Pee-Wee or Conan or...I don't remember but it was very funny. He just showed up out of nowhere a couple times during the vid, very pulled back, a kind of menacing presence. I really liked him for doing that.

I have driven around Nevada at night and it's scary even if you're not headed for the Carrot Compound. Thank you for all the effort you put into bringing the comedy world home to us.
7 months ago

Guest

This should have been your Halloween episode, getting driven out to his house late at night like that, he's obviously crazy, and all his lovers hanging around cackling and talking, and the way you described the house it sounded like some kind of marble mausoleum or tomb complex.
7 months ago

Eric

Pretty interesting, but would have been much better without the insufferable sycophant in the background.

2012.