Marc David Maron (born September 27, 1963) is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, and musician.

[4] He was also a regular guest on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and hosted the short-lived 2002 American version of the British game show Never Mind the Buzzcocks on VH1.

[5] He was a regular on the left-wing radio network Air America from 2004 to 2009, hosting The Marc Maron Show and co-hosting Morning Sedition and Breakroom Live.

[2] From 2013 to 2016, he starred in his own IFC television comedy series, Maron, for which he also served as executive producer and an occasional writer.

During the summer of 1994, he appeared several times on Monday open-mic night, coordinated by Tracey Metzger, at the now-closed Greenwich Village location of the Boston Comedy Club.

He auditioned unsuccessfully for the 1995 Saturday Night Live cast overhaul and attributes being passed over to being high during a meeting with show creator and producer Lorne Michaels.

[2][24][25] Maron continued to be a stand-up comedian and also began to appear on television; his voice was used in episodes of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist,[26] and he hosted Short Attention Span Theater for a time.

He frequently appeared in the live alternative stand-up series he had organized with Janeane Garofalo called Eating It, which used the rock bar Luna Lounge in New York's Lower East Side as its venue, from the 1990s until the building was razed in 2005.

According to Maron (in Scorching The Earth), these two shows "bookend" his relationship with his second wife, comic Mishna Wolff, which ended in a bitter divorce.

In its final incarnation, the show was informal, taking place in the actual break room of Air America Media, with the cafeteria vending machines just off-camera.

Maron and Seder held court in an online "post-show chat" with viewers, in an even less formal continuation of each webcast, after the credits had rolled.

[33] Kliph Nesteroff's 2015 book The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy is dedicated to Maron.

[36] The show was unique in the Air America lineup in its heavy reliance on both live and pre-produced sketch comedy, utilizing the talents of staff writers as well as the on-air hosts.

The format was a left-leaning near-satire of typical morning "Buddy" radio programs, including recurring characters, interviews and listener call-in segments, and it attracted a loyal fan base.

Goldberg reportedly did not "get" the comedy or agree with the satiric and often angry tone set by Maron and other writers (Jim Earl and Kent Jones) for a morning drive-time show.

The program was frequently delayed (sometimes for over an hour) owing to KTLK's contractual agreement to broadcast local sports events that would often go into overtime.

A few days before that date, Maron bluntly discussed his long struggle with Air America Radio's executives on-air.

[41] Ironically, the day before the cancellation, the show got some of the first real publicity it had ever received when MaximumFun.org posted its podcast of an interview with Maron on The Sound of Young America.

[42] On the final Breakroom Live webcast, Maron said that this marked the third time since 2005 he'd been told by an executive at the network that his services would not be required in the immediate future.

Co-host Sam Seder pointed out that this would be the end of his fourth show at Air America since the troubled network's inception.

[44][45] In a free-form discussion, Maron and his guests touch on topics like the arc of the interviewees' careers, their shared past experiences, and stories from the road.

[38] As of 2024, Maron has released more than 1,500 episodes of the show, garnering critical acclaim and more than 600 million downloads;[46][47][48] notable guests include President Barack Obama, Sir Paul McCartney, Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Lorne Michaels, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Brad Pitt.

[49][50][51] In April 2021, it was announced that Maron and his producer Brendan McDonald would be the recipients of the first-ever Governors Award by the Podcast Academy for Excellence in Audio (The Ambies) for their work on WTF.

[52] The success of Maron's podcast opened up numerous other avenues on film and TV as well as giving him a massive boost to audience attendance at his stand-up shows.

His only major film credit for many years was a small part credited as "angry promoter" in the 2000 Cameron Crowe film Almost Famous, in which he is first seen fighting with Noah Taylor's character and then yelling at and chasing after the main characters as they drive away on a bus, at which point he yells, "Lock the gates!"

[55] In 2020, Maron played publicist Ron Oberman opposite Johnny Flynn's young David Bowie in the movie Stardust.

[67] In 2013, Maron played a guitar solo on the protest song and charity single "Party at the NSA" by electropop music duo Yacht.