WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 614 - The President Was Here

Episode Date: June 24, 2015

From the minute the Presidential motorcade pulled away, Marc began recording his reaction to the momentous event that just occurred in his garage. Hear Marc's ongoing reflections in the aftermath as well as a discussion with WTF producer Brendan McDonald about how this happened in the first place. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

LOCK THE GATE! Alright, let's do this. How are you, what the fuckers, what the fuck buddies, what the fucking ears, what the fucksters? It's Mark Maron. It's still Friday. I'm recording this on Friday. This is... I just finished with the president. Everyone just left. It was crazy. It was crazy. finished with the president everyone just left it was crazy it was crazy i uh you know there's so much you want to cover there's so much you expect or i i don't know i don't know it was great you know he he came in we we kind of you know chit-chatted a bit the biggest challenge is that you have there's 50 people here there's secret service people here there's snipers everywhere the house is you know surrounded it's tented the streets are lined with people who i didn't even get to see all i was thinking was like i

just need to make it about him and me and and you know me and the president and it was great he was a person and he was comfortable and he was casual and he was you know charming and intelligent and he was sitting right there in my garage and I think that I there is part of me as you know from listening to me that seeks to connect in a very emotional way and I and I was seeking that we you know we we talked about a lot of things it felt personal but then you did then you just I was just fighting with this, the idea that like I'm talking to the president and there's a Secret Service guy standing behind me

and he's going to have to leave soon. And did I get to that? Did I get to, you know, and then there's sort of like, should I have done that? Should I have done this? But I'll tell you honestly, you know, they left. And, you know, like I just started to like, I felt like crying a little bit.

I cried a little bit because it was just so overwhelming. I put it into this perspective where I'm like, I can handle this. I can handle this. I wasn't afraid, but there's a lot of things going on in your brain when you're doing that. Barack Obama was just here. I think Barry Obama was here. I think the president was here. I think they

were all represented and my feeling is is like it's hard to believe that that over the course of the five years of me doing this show that this could happen it's just unbelievable to me that this could happen i mean years ago i had you know i'd'd thrown the towel in and just... And that I was able to handle it. Part of my brain before was like, I don't know, man. I don't know if I can... I was a little freaked out. It was not as personal as I might have wanted to be,

but it was personal enough. I just have to let it go. But it was an amazing experience. And he was a sweet guy. And he was personal enough. I just have to let it go. But it was an amazing experience. And he was a sweet guy. And he was very human. And it was good to talk to him. And I didn't get to say everything I wanted or talk about everything I wanted.

But I got to have that experience. My neighborhood but I got to have that experience. My neighborhood, I got to have that experience. My house, my cats were actually locked in the bedroom. So the cats, I don't think it had any effect on them whatsoever. They just want their house back. I guess they're going to pull the tent down and then tomorrow's just another day. I guess they're going to pull the tent down and then tomorrow's just another day. There's the helicopters. Oh my God, that's them. They're leaving.

They flew into the Rose Bowl. And now they're leaving. It's another stop. He goes on with his day. He goes on with his job, with his wife, his president. Now I'm the guy where the president came over that one time. We talk for an hour

about stuff. Oh, man. I don't know I think I did good it was an amazing experience and it was one I'll never forget and I'm glad I could share it with you alright I gotta pull it together

I gotta do some stuff I gotta feed the cats gotta put my stuff back in the garage do some press I got to put my stuff back in the garage. Do some press. I don't want to do anything. I just, I want to let the experience be a good one. Not second guess everything.

It was an amazing honor to talk to the president. In my garage! In my garage! Are you fucking kidding me can i have the president's water i think i should drink the president's water yeah Yeah. So I am drinking the president's water. The president, I should say that this is hours after the departure of President Barack Obama from my driveway, from my garage. It is now 738 Pacific Time on Friday, June 19th. It is about, what is it? So he left at 11.10, so it's about eight hours ago,

eight and a half hours ago. Brendan McDonald, my producer and partner in this venture of WTF is here. He flew out from Brooklyn to do the job. Yeah, hi. And now we're coming down. It's been a hell of a day. It's been a hell of a day.

We just got done doing follow-up press, talking to people, putting together. What am I? I didn't do anything. I did a bunch of interviews. You were on the computer hammering away. Yeah, well, I mean, we were both doing the thing that we do. You have to keep talking, and you talked for like just seven hours straight. Right.

And you were cutting things up and doing things. Cutting things, talking to people who needed things. I've come to realize that's actually the job. Yeah. Just, oh, people need things, and they've got to get those things. I was very surprised at the emails I got when people knew I was going to be talking to the president. People were like, hey, you remember that thing I sent you?

Maybe he could pick it up. The president could pick it up up and you just take a picture be very helpful for me i have a child now yeah i'm not gonna mention any names but i think that one thing we didn't get to talk about when we uh presented the show on monday or even me leading up to it because i wasn't even aware of it really was exactly how this came to be. That seems what a lot of interviewers were asking me. And I remember months ago, this weird thing, you know, you said, yeah, the White House reached out about doing something with the show. Yeah, they actually contacted us through the website, which immediately made me think it was fake. Through WTFpod.com?

Yes. I didn't know that. Yeah, they contacted us through the website. The White House. The White House. Sure, you're the're the white house that's right because we've had that happen before right i represent robert downey jr you know and it's like some guy yeah yahoo.com yeah by the way could you give me his email right right uh so i was it was it was a definite like sense of like let's check this out let's see if this is real but yeah let's contact them sure and that was like about a little over a year ago really june of last year

and maybe even may of last year but it was definitely in the in that time of year yeah and you know it's interesting because that's i i've seen since this uh was announced that this interview would happen um people have said you know we heard that the white house reached out to uh to to have president obama on and it's not that simple actually because it's like just because you're in contact it doesn't mean that something's happening right well i i completely put it in the back of my brain it was a vague thing and there was no it was so that was june right it wasn't until september that they september of last year that there was ever the mention of the president's name and it was like what would you think about uh him doing the show and you know the the it's like a joke to us people have said all the time when are you gonna get obama like

it's not of course we would have him on. I think they wanted to make sure, though, that having someone on. If you look at our guest list, in 612 episodes, there's not a politician on there. That's right. Intentionally. Yes. And I think what they were saying was, would Mark want to even do that? Because it's a politician.

And I said, as I've said all along to anyone we've ever talked to we would have any guest on as long as they can do the type of interview that we do which is talk about life and talk about other things and not have a specific promotional right agenda and i and i think i remember you telling me this and i'm like this is crazy yeah i mean what i mean of course i'll interview the president right well i remember when you when when we were first talking to them i said you know this was a good conversation i had with the white house and you said uh maybe someday we could get obama on and i said yeah probably when he's not president anymore right there's no way he would do it when he's president right and you know i i also just think it's like a little bit of a lesson there, especially for people who are doing podcasts, that that's like old media.

Even though they came to us specifically because we're new media, I believe the reason this came to pass was just because lines of communication were kept open and there was a constant cordial discussion. Right. And comfort level achieved on both sides of everybody thinking this would be a good thing to do and that only happens like with time and with diligence you know and so it's just to me it's a good lesson for people like if you want something it doesn't have to happen right away just make sure you keep the work up like put that in the in the in the little file there and keep keep as a to-do list. Right, if it's something like that.

You know, like, oh, shit, I forgot the president wanted to. Do you know what I mean? Don't be like, did we call back the president? We were not pushy about it. No, I don't remember pursuing it that hard at all. Yeah, yeah. It wasn't until earlier this spring, late winter, early spring, that I got a call on my phone. Yeah.

I let it go to voicemail because it was an unknown number. Right. 202. No, it just said unknown. Oh. It was blocked. Wow. And that went to voicemail.

It was a person at the White House that said, you know, wanted to get back in touch with you, thinking about doing something or other. Maybe with the president. Very casual. Yeah, yeah. Slipped it in. And so obviously I got in touch with you thinking about doing something or other maybe with the president very casual yeah yeah slipped it in right and uh so obviously i got in touch and and then all of a sudden maybe three or four weeks later we got dates is that when i said uh where did where am i going to washington right and well well there were dates proposed right that would have been your tour dates that are going on right now as this episode is posting right it would have been your tour dates that are going on right now as this episode is posting.

It would have been your BAM tour dates and you were going to have to cancel if they did it then. That's right. And we made the call that if they needed to do it then, you would cancel your tour. Of course, yeah. And so there was a lot of waiting for that. Like, okay, let's, you know.

But then wasn't there the first set of dates of why did I change my vacation? I'll get to that. Oh. What was interesting, though, is because you're going to be on the East Coast, right? Right. Like, as we're speaking, you're a few days away from going. But when this episode posts, this is the time when they wanted the interview to happen.

And you're in New York, right? And so you said, well, just tell them I'm there. I can come down. It's easy. And that was not on the table. Going to to the oval office was not off the table and you explained to me why can we talk about that it is my estimation based on how they work right that they need whatever they're doing promotionally or publicity wise media media wise, to be in the context, in the idiom of that thing.

Right. It would not have probably looked good. This is my guess. Right. But it would probably not have looked good for them to grant a one hour interview in the East Room or the Oval Office to you. Right. Some non-credentialed guy, comedian,

non-journalist, when they have a press corps that doesn't get that type of access. It's one thing when Bill Simmons went to the White House and did an interview with him. They spoke very specifically about sports. Right. 20 minutes, I think, or 10 minutes. This is a lot different to say, we want him to do an hour. Right. And we want it to be a free-ranging conversation that we're not going to vet. Right.

So they were insistent. They were insistent ever since we first started talking to them. To do it in the garage. That they were saying, if we did something with you you guys what could we do that is what you do meaning a long-form interview in la in the garage i know and then i was like that's insane yeah how was that you you could you you were not believing it i still don't believe it and it happened today so like yeah but i remember there's all this week like because for me in those moments where like okay this is happening it you know it throws me back to the air america days it throws me immediately into like i don't know what i'm going to talk about i got to get up to speed on policy

i have to read the history of the world this was the man who showed up to the first day at air america with a book of uh uh the Government for Dummies. I still have that book. Yeah. I was like, I didn't pay attention in school. I got to figure, there's three branches, right? The Senate does what? The judicial who? I wouldn't say that I'm a fraud.

I learned as I went along, but I was insecure about that. But you get that way with just artists, too. Oh, no, I know. You'll say, somebody's coming in here to talk, and you're like, I don't know any of their music. I'm like, you've heard these four albums. Right. And you're like, but they have a lot. I'm like, but that doesn't matter

at that point. You're not expected to know everything. Right. So I think you put that pressure on yourself partially because I think it motivates you to do better at the interview. Oddly. I think that when I stress myself out, that's my way of getting grounded. Oh my god. Can I do a little sidebar here

last night i left this property yeah everything was done tenting was done we'll explain what that means but that they were done doing what they need to do here i left this house i went back to where i'm staying yeah i get a text i gotta pull i going to pull it up. No. Yeah. Well, I was just here alone. But this is explanatory. Last night. This is last night. This is last night. The president was coming today.

So you said, here it is. Got the creeps. News crew tried to corner me. Then you wrote, a little while later. This went a little while later. Nervous in the house space alone space weird i wrote you know if i call lapd they'll send a detail over to stay overnight i mean we could yeah do that right they know it's been announced now that the president's gonna be be here. No answer to that. It was about 20 minutes.

Because I was sitting there going like, I can do it. Yeah, you want to tough it out? Yeah, I'm going to tough it out. Well, this is where toughing it out got you. Send me this 20 minutes later. You don't think someone's going to come over here and fuck with the electrical box or something weird, do you? I said, wow, that's very specific. Yeah.

I'd say, again, if it will help you sleep yeah let's call the cops and this was i like a key to mark maron that i've worked with you for 11 years right and this text was so helpful oh come on no i'm not joking yeah you wrote i'm just worrying it's how i ground myself i responded sorry, carry on then. It was a very clarifying moment. Yeah. And so, you know, when you're saying that you panic knowing that you're going to have to plow your head with information, I do understand what that is. Yeah, yeah.

Right. Well, I mean, well, that was the thing. And when this was starting to happen, and then it was, you know, we had to, I was looking for a way out. Like, I don't do it full on anymore. It's sort of half-hearted. But when you're like, we've got to make these dates available. And I'm like, that's the only time I can take a vacation. And I'm about to lose my mind. Right.

So let's get to that. What? Well, we haven't explained why that happened. So we were holding those dates that your tour was going to be on. Oh, that's right. Right. And I'd agreed I will cancel dates to interview the president in my home. That's right.

Right. So I was sitting at a bar. Right. And I got an email from the White House that said, we're looking close in terms of confirming. Yeah. But what about the week before? Now, you got to understand something. They're planning this in relation to an LA trip for the president.

They're not saying, what about these dates so that he can take a trip and go see Marc Maron? They're saying, we're getting a trip together for money, right? For large fundraisers. Right. And we can, while you're on that fundraising trip and doing other things, like he saw the governor today

and spoke at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, but, you know, other than that- Before my show? No, after. Oh. You don't even remember. He said that to you

as he was leaving. You're like, what do you do now? And he was like, I'm going to go talk to Governor Brown and about the drought. Oh, that's right. It's San Francisco. Yeah, yeah.

And then I'm going to go up to San Francisco. Right. Yeah. But so this was not for us to say, those dates aren't as good as the other dates. We'd rather actually do it the dates you first said. If they say, no, now it's these dates, those are the dates. You tried to explain that to me. Well, before I even tried to explain it to you, I thought, great.

He's not on tour. Right. He's not going to have to cancel his tour dates. Yeah. So I looked at the calendar. The only thing that was happening was you were on vacation in Hawaii. But I looked at the calendar and said, oh, he could just bump it up a week. Yeah.

Take the vacation earlier. Yeah. And it'll be great. Yeah. So I call Mark. Come on. I love it. That's the greatest story.

Come on. I call Mark. Come on. And I say, look, good news. We're not going to have to cancel your tour dates if this thing happens. They're giving us new dates. It's the week before. Now, the only thing about that is you're on vacation those days.

Now, did you book that trip already? Yeah, dude over it's over what do you mean that's long gone that's long done we can't do those dates you made you're on vacation right yeah i booked it i used all my points i've been saving up these points forever. I got a great hotel. I got good airfare. There's no moving it. So I said, okay. In my mind, I'm thinking, I got to let him feel like this is valid. I validate his feelings.

It is valid for him to feel like this is a hassle. So I said, that is a big pain in the butt. Right. I get it. So how about if someone else, you just said whenever you want to go on vacation. Right. And someone else in the world. Right.

Handles all the details. Right. How's that going to happen? Who's going to do that? No, you don't worry about that. You don't have to worry about any of that anymore. That's done. Right.

Dude, I just don't... You don't... I saved these points for a reason. The reason I saved all my credit card points to take a trip like this and now what i don't even know why i'm gonna why am i gonna interview the president what's he even gonna say right well he could say a lot of things he's done he's already done his podcast he did bill simmons podcast i don't think we need to do the president oh boy i said all right is this a real is this a real point that you're making right you said yes but i could sense in that yes yeah was you saying oh no like that i was going about to give you reality right right it was like a very half-hearted yes right like yes like a question yeah and it's all right after this interview happens right

everyone who didn't know you now they'll know you right and then and and uh people you're in business with yeah they're gonna be really happy they're in business with you and uh people you want to talk to dream of talking to and're going to be easier to talk to now. I said, so if that's scary, that's a good reason not to do it. But if it's because of your credit card points, you could take the credit card and shove it up your ass. Because that is not why I'm going to go back to the White House and say we're canceling this interview. So Mark said, okay, all right. If you've got to put it to me like that, well.

Then you said, I'm sorry, I don't have Jesus, so this is what I hang on to, these things. And I understood that, too. Again, it was a clarifying moment. And part of me, as I was saying that to you, was like, I hope I'm not pushing him too hard here, but I need to stop this right now. Like, I can't ever allow for the possibility that this snowballs downhill to the point where he makes it a reality in his head that the credit card points are insurmountable and we cannot get over this as an issue.

The other thing you said, though, was like, we'll pay for it. That was the thing that killed me. It's like, here, I got an idea. We're making money. Let's just pay for it through the business. We'll get whatever hotel you want. And you said, that's still money. I said, but it's made.

Like, we make money. Like, that's what you make it for. It's a business expense. Right. And then I was like, no, but I remember it happening. It's like, but you don't understand. I can't just lose the points. I love that it's real.

I love that I didn't imagine it. You still remember that it was really that. No, because it's like, it takes a long time to get all these points. And just on principle, I couldn't get through it. You're like, well, just, you can stay wherever you want. We'll pay for it. We'll pay for the tickets. I'm like, that's a lot of money. I can't. Why would we You're like, well, just, you can stay wherever you want. We'll pay for it. We'll pay for the tickets. I'm like, that's a lot of money.

I can't, why would we do that? I have these points and I couldn't. And then like somehow or another, you talked me into like, just like letting someone else, like the management, letting Kelly deal with it. And we used the points and we changed the reservation. Yeah, just move it. I don't know. Things happen.

They just move. Every part of my brain was like, this is sacred time. Yeah. points and we changed the reservation just move it i don't know things happen they just move every part of my brain was like this is sacred time yeah like we wanted to protect it and we protected it as much as we could while you were away we there was no one that was gonna mess with your time especially with the tour you've been on yeah but it was so crazy because you know i was sort of exhausted and i think that part of me was like looking for a way out you know i think that might be it yeah because also once dates happened it started to get more real right yeah right and i knew like like okay i'm gonna be pulled back into that world in my head like because you know

air america was relatively traumatizing for me and and in some ways well what ways well just like i always felt a little over my head. And until I sort of found my voice on the radio and we were having a good time, it was traumatizing. Do you know you've never said that on here, on this podcast, what that moment was? What moment? That you found your voice. It's about lentils. Yeah.

Yeah, I remember it. It was like you were talking about cooking lentils. And I forgot about them or I fell asleep and they just kept cooking. Yeah. And then when I finally realized it from the smell that something was amiss and burning, I went in there and they had formed some sort of pasty tar, like this burnt carbonized lentil tar. And then I went on some riff about how you could use it for paste or arrowheads or this is how things like i went on some weird riff about the use of that this is it's like 6 30 in the

morning yeah the day after it happened yeah and the funny thing is like the show was still a very much a you know a political show right but the response to that was as much as any political topic right people went crazy like i don't even know what you were talking about. Yeah. But that was great. And that was it. That was the moment. Yeah.

It's like a thing clicked where you heard yourself in your own head as a separate entity. Exactly. That was a big moment. But my point was is that, like, with the president, like, I got nervous because I always felt insecure about my knowledge of politics and my through line. I didn't like arguing. Well, you covered up for it, I think, a lot by being strident. Right.

And now you fear that as well. Right. So that was part of the reason why I got out of the dialogue. I thought that there were people better suited for it and more committed to it. So I think part of the idea of interviewing Obama was like, Oh, that's going to come at me from both sides. Yeah.

It took a lot for me to wrangle a certain amount of confidence in, in, in sort of the idea that like, it's going to be my interview with him and it's going to be what it's going to be. Right. And, and,

you know, I'm not a political pundit and i'm not i wasn't there to confront him on policy but right but nonetheless so so we we we talked me down from the point situation when i was able to use all the points we spent no company money i think that's accurate too we talked you down like me and yourself sure you down yeah well that's always the way it is yeah you start the conversation with me and and then I follow up with me later. Yeah. But so I was able to take the vacation.

So the plan now being that we had those two days, and we weren't sure what day it was going to be, and then it became clear, right? Friday, yeah, Friday the 19th. And so I came out here after being in full contact with the White House with planning and everything. And I mean, it just could not have been smoother with them. They were so accommodating. Like it was a dream. I mean, we work with people. I'm not saying we ever have a really terrible experience, but we work with situations where people are prickly in that or particular or have strange demands and that. It was none of that.

They were so smooth and easy to work with and efficient, very efficient. Like ask a question, get an answer. It was very, very encouraging and helpful in a situation like this that was so filled with stress. And I was going to be gone. Right. So that's a whole other level of panic for me. For but i gotta tell you man it was really fortunate you weren't here like the amount of stuff that was going on while you were gone yeah you like just seeing how you

were this morning and yesterday with just a little bit of that stuff with people here checking that i mean today was intense yeah but uh you know I could sense like a little nervousness from you, just this amount of people doing all these things. You don't know. There's no way to keep your eye on everybody at once and they're just all over your house and property and that. Yeah. I mean, that's what it was for five days.

Really? Yeah, yeah. And not in like, you know, from dawn to dusk. Like, you know, at an hour clip, there'd be a barrage of people would show up. Well, I mean, I was in Hawaii, so I went to Hawaii and everyone's sort of like, we're going to leave you be, you're going to have a vacation. And all I'm doing is I'm like, I'm going to read Barack Obama's first book and that's

going to be my portal in. I'm going to read dreams from my father on vacation and relax and, and panic about other things and have a first is spending this much time with Sarah for the first time and all that. But it was lovely. We got down there and everything was beautiful and I'm reading the book and I'm, I'm still like not figuring out a way I can comfortably approach the

president. And then you get here Sunday, Sunday. And I came here to the house Monday morning. What happened? I don't even know what happened. Monday morning was, I mean, they had already checked the house out Sunday, but Monday morning was, that was it.

They came here and started everything. And it is an amazing operation. Watching that happen in just a small piece of property like this. Yeah. I mean, these are the top of their game professionals yeah um you know the the people leading the charge are you know cordial and but very matter of fact and direct it's just it's like the dream that you want to work with those type of people yeah because like you feel like everything's taken care of and then anything they're asking of you you want to just jump right in do it and you you know you can sense that a lot of them are

ex-military um and and that that is where a lot of the discipline comes from but it's very impressive i feel i feel like a total kinship to the secret service not because i do anything remotely close to what they do in terms of putting their necks on the line, but just in terms of efficiency and the way I like to work, I was like, oh, these are my people. Yeah. I love this. Complete control freaks. Yes.

On top of the situation. That's it. To find somebody that's more on top of it than I am, I'm like, ha, show me everything. The one time in your life you're like they're doing a really good job i don't have to do much of anything here yeah it was and it was like that for several days with like crazy things like snipers going on roofs what was it no walk me through that process so like they're they're in the house they set up those two banks those communication banks in my spare bedroom yeah that wasn't that wasn't for them to communicate actually that's just there

for emergencies so isolated lines isolated lines yeah yeah uh they weren't like on no no no i know but they were they were alien pieces of equipment yeah humming and making yeah noises the people that were involved they told you that we're going to be the lapd the secret service and they basically taught like they they they came up to me with about 15 people. Yeah. And they said, this is their whole this is the whole team. They're going to pepper you with questions. Ask to answer them the best of your ability. They all have a specialty.

They all were in charge of something. One guy's asking about the foundation of the house, how old the house is. And one woman who was in charge of, you know, communications within the house asking me, like, do you have emergency lines and things like that? What kind of internet? Those kind of things. And then a guy just grabbed a ladder and he climbed right up on this garage that we're sitting in.

He's on top. And that was where he was going to patrol. That was the sniper? That was the sniper, yeah. He's excited, right? He thought it was a good spot it's a good spot with clear vision around the whole uh property right uh but it made noise yeah so you know you hear him like yeah right right on top right and uh he says can i ask you something can you go down there and tell me if you hear this yeah i was like yeah i hear it and then he's like

jumping and that ceiling is buckling oh no so like that my first i was like you're gonna come in on the president like he's gonna be sitting here yeah and another guy came over yeah and he says uh no go no and the sniper is like, no, this is where I got to be. It's a clear shot, right? And he says, look, what's going to go on in there that 60 minutes is the whole reason we're here. So if that's going to interfere with that, if that's going to sound bad, we can't do that. And the sniper got like right away. He was like, yeah, I don't want staff meeting White House staff.

I don't want them to say that it's not working. I get it. And they had initially decided he was just going to sit on the side. Right. Over here and make no noise. But I think later they discovered your neighbor, Dennis, his house would work fine if they could get up. And he's retired.

And he was thrilled. They gave him a patch. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. He loves it. Well, that was

the moment though yeah that i really because before that i got here you weren't here for a week the house is you know outside the house was a mess from weather right there's just leaves and crap from the trees all on the ground and um things out here had fallen over really just just little things the things that happen when you go away for a week. Right. Your car is full of garbage on it, pollen and stuff. This is a gradual buildup over months. Yeah, right.

Not a week, but I appreciate it. Well, you haven't been here also. That's true. You've been on tour. That's true. And I'm thinking like, what are these people thinking? Yeah. They were at Tyler Perry's house last night.

He's got a 28-acre estate. I'm like, this were at Tyler Perry's house last night. He's like a 28 acre estate. I'm like, this is, this is kind of embarrassing. Oh no. I wasn't embarrassed for your house. I was just embarrassed of the choice. Right.

That they chose to like. To do the thing. Right. Like this is, this is a great house for a person. Yeah. And a place where you can work. Right.

But I do, is it fit for Kings and Queens and presidents? No. You know? And so I was like, oh boy, what are these people thinking? Yeah. And when the guy said that, I was like, oh, they're not judging this at all. In fact, this is what most of these people, if they're military, have been trained to do.

Yeah. You have a mission, here's your mission, and you execute it. And it's also like it's a challenge. Sure. It's got to be engaging work to secure an environment. Look, like I said, everyone was great. They said it was easier than Tyler Perry's. Well, of course it was.

Because that's probably like securing a mall. Yeah. But they were all very polite and very... So maybe they were blowing a little smoke and just being nice to us. Right. But they... Be nice to the guys with the shitty house. Part of our mission is to make the guy with the shitty house who we the poor president's got sitting there yeah yeah yeah

let's make him feel good yeah yeah it'd be hard for him then i went around the house like for several times like putting away things that i thought might be questionable like you had a pruner yeah out in the yard i put the pruner in a secure shed. Well, you said when they walked in here, I had that half a hammer and the pocket knife. Yes. And then right away, they're like, nope, lose the hammer, lose the pocket knife. And a box of shotgun shells there on the shelf. There was empty box.

Yeah. Well, they said, no, you can't have that. Where is that thing? I put everything in a box. It's in your house. Well, thank you for doing all that. I mean, they wanted, it was so funny because they cleared out all these boxes and stacks of things here primarily because they didn't want him to trip they said that's right they said well i mean maybe there's other

reasons that's the reason they gave me right they said we want this all to be clear we want anything to risk him like tripping over that i think they just it makes sense for their job to have clear pathways right like you don't want clutter to impede your way through if you need to get to the president, you know? Right. I mean, they brought some crazy contraption in here. The guy kept calling it a yoga mat, but it was like a thick Kevlar thing.

Yeah, that thing, I didn't know what it did. Cause I was like, he kept, like he wouldn't tell me what it was. I'm like, what is this? He's like, don't worry about it. It looks like a yoga mat. I'm like, the magic carpet? And then like, don't worry about it. It looks like a yoga mat. I'm like, the magic carpet? And then when I get here, the tenting.

Right. The tenting is because they do not want open air for where the president is walking. So when I get in on Wednesday night, you pick me up. We take Sarah home. And we come here. And you're like, all right, tomorrow they're going to start tenting. And I'm like, what is that? They're going to cover the entire driveway with the tent.

And then the part of the road. So there's no sight line to him. Right. And then you told me that they had secured the entire streets and everything's going to be closed up. There were signs all over the neighborhood. No stopping.

It didn't even say no parking. For that half a day, for that morning. And we're starting, and this is what I come home to. And you show me the weird humming machines and all the stuff that you put away. And you cleared out the entire driveway and put that all on the deck so there could be a clean access leading up to the garage. Right. So in my mind, I'm like, oh my God, this is really happening. And I'm like, I finished the book.

I got a good idea of what he was like when he was 30. Now he got to get me up to speed. You got to cover the other 24 years. And that was the plan. And then you leave the house and someone tweets. I don't think it's... After we release, do the press release. That was the big thing on Wednesday.

We got that press release out on Wednesday. The White House said, tell the world it's happening because we're going to post this schedule and then and then and then the uh episode uh that we put up last thursday with judd was intended to coincide with the announcement right and so we do all that and it's starting to get some traction people are talking about it is this real is it not real and then you leave and i see some guy tweet sorry man i i don't think it's going to happen check the news and i go on the news and the horrible shooting in charleston had just been reported was happening it was unfolding so i text you dude check the news out i i don't think it's going to happen this is bad and you know it would be understandable yeah i mean we had said that before that's what you kept saying you kept

saying like it's going to happen now if it doesn't happen it's because it's because something's so bad that we would not want it to happen right and also it's going to be bad it's something so bad the country's going to stop yeah or. Or the world is in trouble. Something that you understand it's not going to happen because everybody's sad. Right. Or something is scary. And I felt that. Or the last fire has started. Right.

I felt that in not knowing that news and then going to the news and seeing it and being hit with it and how horrible it was. I just sat there in the dark. Because I got your text and walked in the house and i didn't turn any lights on yet i saw your text and i looked at the news i sat in the dark for like 20 minutes just having had read that story and was like that is just the worst like the details of that story were so bad yeah that i like i immediately was like well this is just does not happen and you were like you literally like it shouldn't happen right right and i think you were feeling

that the same thing yeah it's like how could he right and we went to sleep obviously and then uh and we had canceled any promotion that we were going to do of it the next we told the white house we weren't going to tweet yeah we said it's all like i said they didn't they didn't know they didn't contact us yet because they were still formulating their statement uh what their response was going to be but i didn't hear anything else and i went to sleep and i woke up the next day fully expecting to look at my phone and see a message official message from the white house that said we're we're sorry but obviously the circumstances don't allow us to do this event. And I didn't see anything. It's still on or it's not on.

And then I saw that the president was going to speak around like 9 o'clock our time here. Yeah. So I said, all right, we'll watch that. We'll see. We might get a clue or two from that. And I really think the way he spoke, the White House didn't just release an official statement. He came out in front of the cameras and spoke and spoke in a way that we both, while we were watching it, were like, oh, he's angry. I think that that probably kind of made it okay.

In my mind, I don't want to sound like crass about it because i'm not saying just words blanketed over a horrible event yeah but i do think the president has a power as a guidepost for america as to how you can react to things yeah and i at least got the feeling when he did that that he was and at this point the suspected killer had been captured. And then he addressed it. And I did get a kind of feeling of like, I think he's just going to move to the next thing. Because he is the president. He does have to keep going. And he will get to Charleston.

It doesn't make a huge difference if he goes to Charleston right this minute. Or if he goes when there's a memorial service for this man he knew right who died this pastor who was murdered and i kind of felt like the thing was still going to happen i it was in the back of my mind all day long that it was still a possibility to get canceled sure and well then when when we heard that he was in the air that he had taken off that's how we knew that he was coming yeah like because it was but i i just fully still had it in my head that he could be here in la and they would say you know it's still not the time for us to do a podcast obviously understandable but in the meantime we went ahead and continued our plans and that became something we really had to address well that's what i said to you i said look you know i can manage engaging

that and i think we need to to put into context that we're gonna we're gonna do this thing on friday it's gonna post on monday we don't know what he's going to do in relation to that event that tragedy over the weekend there were a couple of things that we had to sort of put in because of what might be happening monday so at least that podcast would would integrate into the into the day right and that was you know address and and pay our respect to the loss of the guy he knew to his face and and and just that whole community yeah has been has been torn and and the nation has a not that there's another like horrible huge horrible mark and but you know and also engage the emotion that he felt about that yeah and and also deal

with the the supreme court ruling that's going to happen yeah it might happen it might have happened by the time you're listening to this right so i felt confident about doing that, but it did change the tone of our plan a little. Yeah, yeah. There was a little less room, we felt, for frivolity. Right. I mean, the way the morning developed, it was still a lot of stuff going on here, secret service-wise. Well, at 6 o'clock, I woke up to let the guys who were going to build the rest of the tent in oh yeah so they they started doing the street and then everyone was leaving the street and like that night that i texted you you know i was walking around you know talking to my neighbors

people were out in the streets like the fourth of july around here and then at seven o'clock you came then the secret service started to come and we were told that he's going to fly from Santa Monica in a chopper to the Rose Bowl. That's right. Which was a good thing to do. Because if he chose to drive the motorcade all throughout Los Angeles, it would have stopped everything. You were already being called out by name on the radio. Yeah.

Marin caused a traffic jam talking to the president. And I felt kind of bad about that. And I was apologetic to my neighbors. But everybody around here was very excited that the president was coming. But the countdown begins. I'm going over the notes. We're setting things up. We're trying to cool the place down.

Secret Service is doing their things. It was wild when all the Secret Service was here. And then like an hour or so after they all showed up, the two snipers come. I don't know if they were i came in a special car but i just saw two dudes walk up and like those are the guys one of those guys was what the guy was on the roof the other day yeah it's roof of this garage and uh yeah there were two of them so in the my restroom was the only restroom for all the secret service which was which i always feel bad about because the door is broken yeah that sniper brought

all his gear into your bathroom the gun and everything went right in with him. Not going to lose that thing. So that starts happening. And then they start telling us that, you know, they tell me where I need to be when he pulls up. At five minutes, me and you should be out in the garage and I should be standing in front of the garage. We should get the tape started if we're going to start it.

And they tell us, like, all right, so he's leaving the hotel in Beverly Hillsly hills yeah then they tell us he's at santa monica he's getting on the chopper and i'm like how long a flight is that he's like probably eight minutes nine minutes and then and then we'll tell you when you have five but the funny thing was we hear the sound because we're right in the flight path yeah to the rose bowl yeah we're right by so we hear those first two what are they called ospreys the os The Ospreys. There were three of them, yeah. And the guy said, there are always three. And so we have one, two, and there's the third one comes by. And then we're like, what's next? And they're like, that'll be it.

Yeah, Marine One. Yeah. And how long? It should be pretty close. It's coming right by, yeah. And then we saw them. Yep. We saw the helicopter.

So we saw them fly in. So then they told us when he landed and when he was in the car and then we had six minutes then all of a sudden it's like oh it's gonna happen yeah we gotta better turn the air off in there yeah yeah we're freaking out and you're like come on man come on i'm like i'm starting to think and no wait did you think i was freaking out because i was really trying to portray like a calm demeanor no you weren't i didn't see any freaking out until like because we we had some time because they hadn't given us five yet. But then when they said, you know, he's in the car and it's about seven minutes out.

And then they said, it's five minutes. And I'm like, you know, I was supposed to be waiting out in front of the garage door and you weren't supposed to be in here at all. Right. And you were turning the thing off and I'm fucking around with this. Yeah. With the recorder. And you're like, come on, man.

You got it. And I'm like, I'm just turning the recorder. Well, what happened was I walked out the door here of the garage. I could see down the hill of your driveway and i saw a car come up with the presidential seal on the side yeah that's why i started screaming at you oh what marin was doing was trying to set up his uh recordings so that he could hit record walk out of the garage but not have too much dead space on it and that way he wouldn't have to play him. He wouldn't have to hit play when he came in because I wasn't supposed to be in here.

Nobody's supposed to be in here but the two of them. So I walk out of this garage and I see the car come up. Down the tunnel? Yeah, and I'm like, you got to get out here now because he's supposed to see you when you walk in. That was the plan. That's how we were told it was going to be. You got out here in time though.

You saw what? Staffers coming out? Well, no. I saw the first car go by, and then I saw the next. I said, how many are there? He said, there's two, and then they'll stop. And then I ran in, and I did the thing, and I came back out. And then all of a sudden, there was a lot of people coming up the way.

There was Secret Service and staffers. And then just a lot of people. I couldn't make out anybody. And then right here, right at the end of this part of the drive right at the gate you know i hear like mark mark how you doing it was the wildest thing to hear that because i was right behind this tarp that's next to your garage that they put up yeah and to hear him and to hear that in his voice right from the get-go right he was like we're gonna have fun it was. Yeah. And like, he did something to you. Yeah.

Like, you usually are the one that has to disarm people, this weird setup of coming into your garage. Right, right. I go, Mr. President. Yeah. You know, like, hey. He's like, how you doing? Glad to be here.

We're going to, let's go in there. We're going to have fun. This is going to be fun. Right. And I'm like, okay. Yeah, I guess so. And then we walk in and he you know he walked in in front of me yeah the secret service was behind me and he's looking around i'm like i think you go

over to that chair but there was a moment where i'm like i'll just let him sit there i guess did you really because he did he kind of right right to this chair and i'm like uh you can't let him sit there no i was your control you can run it make sure the lines are so then he i show the orange chair and he walks around to your chair where you are and then the secret service guy plants himself here and he's like right out of the gate like wow but what i felt was like oh my god because my big fear was like i got so much in my mind i was afraid of the weight of the conversation we were gonna have i was i didn't want it to be fluff i wanted it to be you know rich i wanted you know i wanted to have some fun

but like i was so nervous and intense but like he was sort of like he was like everything's good like he made me feel comfortable like yeah the president's you know disarm making me lighten the fuck up right but that's sort of what he does he should do i mean like he's got to do well i mean you you then talk to him about that about how he has to go from something where he's consoling people right then he has to go perform at a fundraiser basically we talked about that later on but then like all of a sudden i was in yeah and right out of the gate i'm like this didn't start the way we planned you know what i mean like like right that's so much about plans with you is you know i had to go with the flow yeah and then there was a point there i'm like i don't even think i should bring those you know i thought to myself while I was listening, because I was sitting right outside the wall here.

Who was listening out there? Staff, White House staff. It was five people from the White House and me on this table that I set up right outside the garage. While I was listening, there was a moment where I thought, maybe he just shouldn't talk about Charleston. You guys were vibing about his days in hawaii and in brown here in pasadena and i thought well it'll be okay if he doesn't bring it up but you did then bring it up and you and and got him to talk pretty directly about guns gun safety yeah the power of the nra yeah talked about race very candidly candid enough to shock me. And I'm a guy who worked in news, and I was shocked by what he said.

Yeah. Yeah, the whole thing was wild. And I was so excited that he was so present. Yeah. Well, also, this was interesting to me as an audio guy. No headphones, and he was on top of this mic the whole time. Yeah. Like, he never wavered.

I was riding the knob a little bit all right well then it's your you're good at your job yeah but he but you know people a lot of times that come in here that decide not to wear headphones they then wind up being the ones who do this and then they lean back and talk over here right right like he was right they stay pretty steady yeah he's just like yeah i could see him flesh and blood right there that's funny well you know i meant to ask you that there was a moment when you were on howard stern yeah where you were waiting in the green room and i think you were you know i was nervous yeah you said you so you could see him on the feed yeah and he was eating during a commercial break he's just eating melon and you're like oh it's just a guy eating melon. Yeah. Yeah. Did you have that at all with him? Yeah. Sitting here?

Yeah. I had it the whole time. I couldn't believe how present and human he was. Yeah. I had that when I shook hands with him. I kept looking at him. I'm like, you're just a guy, man. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking at his mouth. Right. Looking at his eyes. When he was shaking my hand, he was making a joke about that I was wearing a suit. Yeah. And that you were wearing plaid.

Yeah. And he was looking at you and talking while he was shaking my hand yeah doing that thing where he wasn't letting go right because it wasn't in his mind yet to move on right so he's shaking my hand shaking and he's talking and joking at you about wearing a plaid and not wearing a suit and yeah well you gotta you gotta look nice or whatever and all i was thinking was like when's he gonna let go it's holding his hand this whole time. We're still holding hands. Well, there was a lot of touching afterwards.

It was weird because I found myself like, why am I still holding the president's back? Yeah, I went for the posed picture. They were very generous and nice to give me a posed picture with him that Pete Sousa, the White House photographer, took as a thing I'll cherish for the rest of my life. And I went in to take the picture and I just instinctively put my arm around him,

like around his side. Yeah, yeah, right. And I jerked my arm back like as I was doing it and he goes, that's okay, you can do that. We're comfortable here. I was like, what the hell?

What's happening? Right? Yeah, you see, if you see my face on, I put that picture up on my twitter that is like the happiest face of mine you'll ever see that's great just a pure happiness and i also got this this is pretty great white house communications agency certificate of appreciation presented to brendan mcdonald The members of the White House Communications Agency wish to express our sincere appreciation

for the outstanding manner in which you provided support to the President of the United States during his visit to Los Angeles, California. Your efforts, coupled with your superb attitude and impeccable professionalism, that's the part I like, enabled us to provide critical communications for the President, the White House staff, and the United States Secret Service. Patricia Golden, Presidential Communications.

She was great. That's amazing, buddy. Congratulations. You know what's so amazing about that is that we talk about sometimes, like, we have nothing to complain about with this show. We got away with murder. Yeah. I mean that for six years. Yeah.

But sometimes we're like, I feel like we should get something. Peabody. Get rejected for those every year. And this whole situation to me was like,

I don't need anything anymore. This was extremely validating for so many reasons that what we do podcasting and just the general idea of a taped conversation that people are just going to listen to right there's no bells and whistles to it that that's good enough for the president who communicates to the world right i was so validated by that well i was just so proud of you man and so excited that you, having known what we went through and having, you know, you working in and around politics for so long. And I know your fundamental, you know, respect for democracy and for, you know, the president and your education and, you know, and your knowledge about it that to be the guy on point to deal directly with the president's people

and to to facilitate the situation for the president of the united states to have this happen yeah you know this is your show as much as it's my show well thanks and and you know it was it was i knew it was a big thing for you and i was very excited for you thanks man i hope that that excitement helped you get over some of the nerves and some of the difficulty well it's very funny that when we were sitting there working all the way back to when we were at air america like that first week and and pashman gave me that package dan pashman who was yeah the editorial producer uh it came by and gave you a packet of notes of things of the day's news yeah that we were gonna get into and you were like what is this i can't read this it's too much yeah why

would no it's too much yeah it was too much yeah but then like as things went on and you know i i got used to that but then by the time we'd gotten to break room and you were working with me like you managed to do this thing where where i know you're clearly just working on something else and you you just know how to manage whatever this thing is like i'm just this weird fluttering thing over here you're sort of like what okay yeah yeah no that's fine and then i'm like oh yeah and that happened like you know when we were working in the house again you know like yeah i'm like and i'm just like sweating yeah and like worrying about something and you're like in something else and i'd be like what are you gonna how am i gonna do the thing it's like we're

just gonna do it and then yeah and then he's just back to work. Yeah, I just find that it's best to not, like in those moments, it's best to not like try to talk you out of something. Like let you have that moment. And yeah, maybe you'll see it. Although I did feel like I needed to show you a clip from Hoosiers. That was hilarious. Because I was like, that's a president, man.

I mean, I'm way out of my, I'm over my head on all levels. And you show me, there's a clip from Hoosiers where the team shows up at the big state stadium. Yeah, Indianapolis, yeah. Right, and he measures the net in the same size. I said, I'm like, I know you don't like sports, but you like Gene Hackman, so you can watch this. We had that moment where I'm like, I know what you're doing.

Well, we've been doing it for a long time, man. So I think this was a good culmination of it. And especially because it makes me think back to before Air America started, before it actually launched, we had done like test shows. Do you remember that? Like rehearsals and i remember our uh producer jonathan larson took me and dan pashman yeah and uh we sat out in the hallway and i was the first to speak i said well i could tell you what works and at the time it was the three host situation right there was a host that was supposed to handle the interviews there was a host that was supposed to

handle the news and you were there to basically pepper in jokes. Yeah. So I said, I could tell you what works. Marc Maron. What doesn't work is there's not enough Marc Maron. Like the show should be that guy. Like that guy could be like Howard Stern. And Dan Pashman was like, absolutely.

I agree. That's what I would say the same thing. And Jonathan Larson said, yeah,'s that's true you guys are right and i just felt from that moment and then what we did at air america i was always like this is right this feels right yeah no matter how bad that place got or what we felt were the limitations of the format and that like i felt we could do good work it's why i came out here right we did after we got fired here yeah and i just always had that feeling even when i went and did other jobs yeah and other jobs in radio yeah and i was always like well i'm gonna work with marin again because that's we we did that well yeah i got what he did and i think he respected

what i did yeah and i just knew we were going to do that again. And when it came time to do this podcast, it just made sense to be like, well, we do this. There was never a hesitation that we should do it. We didn't know what it was going to be. Right. But it was like, well, yeah, let's do this. Let's try it. Because we want to do this stuff on our own.

Yeah. We like this work. And you were doing that other job. Yeah. And I just thank you man I thank you for having the faith in me this whole time to kind of do this with you because it's been a special thing

and this was a crazy crazy way to culminate it you're welcome and I couldn't do it without you man I trust you 100% with everything. It's just so weird because we've worked together for a decade or more than a decade. And we just work. We don't yell.

There's no yelling. We understand each other. Like, you're going to do that thing. I'm going to do this thing. Like that whole thing with Hawaii. I mean, there's never fighting no there's actually there's one time i was in my car and you called me about something you were unhappy with and i was explaining it to you or saying something and you're like well stop yelling at me and i realized like because i was in my car and i'm

like talking on speaker i'm like all right i'm gonna pull over so you don't think i'm yelling at you because i kind of pride myself on that they're like no i don't have fights with marriage we don't yell at each other so i'm i was not going to get in a situation where we were fighting by accident like i was actually my voice was getting raised oh that's hilarious yeah no i i thank you too because it is it's been an amazing journey and and uh and i just uh i i have a tremendous amount of respect for your your skill and your mind and your capacity to work and and i i've never met a smarter person and i trust you to guide me through things i don't understand and to manage you know you know my output and i respect

your opinion above almost you know really actually above anybody else thanks man i respect your talent more than anybody else and i really honestly buddy. I've never met anybody more talented. Oh, that's very nice. And you have met someone smarter than me. He was here today. Oh, yeah, the president. Yeah. You can tell yourself that.

But I mean, I think you're right up there. I mean, if you want to run for office, is that what you're trying to tell me? Got to go. I'm running. I'm going to go to the Hawaii of the mind before I do that. No, it was an amazing day. And, you know, we did it, man.

All right. So when we put in Rich Voss up. That'll be soon. Okay, folks. whoo okay folks today the day i'm recording this is tuesday tuesday late afternoon early evening the podcast featuring me talking to president barack obama dropped yesterday. Since then, it's got almost a million downloads. Amazing. Did not know how it would all pan out. But I'd like to share some reflections about how I feel today. This is Tuesday.

This is Saturday, Sunday, Monday, almost four days after I talked to the president. And a day after the world heard the, uh, and I, you know, I'm not trying to be grandiose by saying the world, but there was a reaction. There was a reaction. There was a reaction that rippled through the, uh, the media in this country about the president's use of the N word, but see, I don't see it that way. He said the N word to talk about the use of the N word, but i'm not i'm not even going to parse i'm not even going to get into that i barely watch i to be honest with you i watched no television uh after the interview i watched nothing yesterday i heard things my producer brendan mcdonald told

me what was happening i read things i did a lot of press myself i tried to keep it away from just answering that question. What do you think of the president saying the N-word? I mean, there was so much there. And the context of it was very clear. He was talking about the broader problem of racism. He didn't use the N-word. He said it to make a point about using the N word, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Those, the thing is, is that the response has been unbelievable.

99% of the feedback I've gotten, it was just a wonderful. And then I, it was very humbling and it was great to hear it because I was nervous. You know, I was nervous how it would come off. I didn't know how, you know, after, after I talked to him, how was it was nervous. I was nervous how it would come off. I didn't know after I talked to him, how was it? How did I do? What did he think? I guess I'll never know that, but I get the feeling, the sense that they were happy. They being the White House, he being the president.

It was baffling to me that there was a press conference around the issue of the N-word. And I'm so happy I did not engage in it, start watching TV or festering. I've been really pretty holed up here. I did some press. I did very little press, really. I did a bunch of print articles, some local TV. I did Chris Hayes' show. I called into The View, but I really just talked about the

experience because the experience for me is what it was really about. And I feel pretty great about it. And I don't think I've really processed it because I didn't let in the public sort of barrage of what the president himself called the echo chamber. I just didn't do it to myself. I barely, I just got caught up with some emails, thanked a lot of friends who responded to it and congratulated me and told me what a great job I did. My parents. I talked to Louie for like an hour yesterday. He was thrilled.

He was thrilled that the president said the N-word as well. He felt that that was important. But the bottom line for me is that I've not talked about politics much on this program. on this program there was a time where i talked about politics every day publicly made a very conscious choice not to talk about politics because it's just not my wheelhouse when i got the opportunity to to talk to the president and first of all i i don't really care how cynical you are what side you're on or how you feel anything is in the country or where you want to dump your anger or hang your hate. As an American person, when the president of the United States of America requests an audience with you because of your show, wants to talk to you, it's an honor and a privilege. And I felt that. And I've never had a politician on this show and I did have a politician on this show but it was the president of the United States of America

and I just I can't even believe it happened there are moments where for the few days after you know now where like it just dawns on me that the president of the United States was here because I was so focused, intently focused on having a one-on-one experience with him that all I wanted to do was connect with the guy. And then as days go on, I have these flashes

where I'm like, oh my God, I talked to the fucking president? The president was at my house? What kind of world do we live in? It's amazing. Most people never get to meet the president or see the president was at my house. What kind of world do we live in? It's amazing. Most people never get to meet the president or see the president in person. Maybe they see a cargo buyer. They were at a place where he was.

I was able not only to meet him, but to have an audience with him and talk to him personally. And it was mind-blowing. And I'm proud of it. It was an amazing experience for me. I had no preconceptions other than this might be difficult.

I'm not really that political anymore. And, you know, in retrospect, what he said, he used my podcast where he was speaking directly to me to try and provoke people to get involved with politics, to be conscious, to engage. That spoke to me directly.

But more than anything else, it was really just personally an amazing experience. And it was an amazing experience that I was able to share with hundreds of thousands of people. And like I said, I've gotten nothing but beautiful feedback, which is important because I felt insecure about it. And it seemed to move people in the right direction. Got a lot of feedback from people who are saying like, you know, I'm not a fan of the president, but that was great talk. Don't like him. Great talk.

On the other side, great talk. And then a lot of people who were like, you know, I'd forgotten how he made me feel. Great talk. On the other side, great talk. And then a lot of people who were like, you know, I'd forgotten how he made me feel. Great talk. Really some poignant stuff he said and important stuff. Great talk. Then occasionally there's like, yeah, you talk to Satan.

Not a plus. That's not in the plus column. There was a few profoundly disturbing emails, but I expected that and you know i'm sort of surprised that i'm not really affected by i haven't even tweeted hardly anything since it happened i don't even know how to re-engage with society right now and with what i have to do like it's sort of like as it goes further away because i don't listen to the episodes again and i haven't been paying attention to tv I've been paying attention to my little sphere here.

But sadly, the experience as each day goes by will get further into the past. And I'll just have those flashes of like, that was amazing. You know what's amazing about it is there's the flash of like, oh my God, I talked to the president and it feels so huge. But what really sticks with me is how thoughtful he was and what a grounded human being he was and what uh you know what i taught i was talking to a guy who did a job that uh that i was completely unfamiliar with on a day-to-day basis and he sat right across from me he grounded himself here he looked around my garage connected with me and uh and and and he he is the president and he's a guy and uh unforgettable there's definitely a high point in my life for a lot of reasons and I'm and I'm glad that it

happened and I'm glad that uh so many people got so much out of it wow I just don't know when it's really going to sink in unreal never would have expected beyond my wildest dreams or imagination I talked to the president of the United States in my house in my garage you guys I'm not lying you guys heard it

you heard it right am I awake am I awake got it I hope this isn't all just a fucking dream All right, wait, Brendan is still here. And what is it? What do you want to do, something? I did, because I did have a little concern about this whole experience. That maybe you're going to get a little bit inflated.

You might get a big head or something about it. There's a lot of people telling you how great a job you did and you know i thought maybe it's a useful time to go on the internet comments and see if there is any alternative opinion about your great opportunity and great success at interviewing the president and i did find some ones that had a counter opinion to the people who thought it was a great thing uh-huh um i won't say who they're from because these people put themselves up there anonymously anyway so i'm not gonna this is on uh just any sites that i saw you know the stories posted uh these were people leaving comments about mark maron interviewing the president. Wow. Can't wait to hear Mark Maron complain about his miserable life to the president.

I hope he cancels on him. Maron is the worst. Did that really happen? Yes. I didn't write these. Okay. Mark Maron is proof that it pays to be the first to do something, even if you're terrible at it. Oh, good.

Yeah. thing even if you're terrible at it oh good yeah i assume barack obama didn't piss off mark maron in the early 90s so i guess this episode will be mark maron interrogating obama about why he had the gall to become a two-term president just to stick it to him yeah is mark maron resentful of obama's success great now i have to explain mark Maron to my grandfather. Thanks, Obama. Now this one, you know, somebody who's praising you, but there's a little edge to it because he says, When I heard Mark Maron was interviewing the president, I thought, cool, he deserves it. And a guy who told me to fuck off once is interviewing the president. I know that guy. I know that is. And then this guy was actually very, very helpful, I thought.

This is a good one to go out on because it has to do with your insecurity about having caused a lot of traffic and disrupting your neighbors. He said, citizens of Los Angeles, try not to blame Mark Maron for the traffic today. I've heard he's a nice guy, although I have no idea who he is. Yeah. But right. Good stick at the end. All have no idea who he is. Yeah. But right. Good stick at the end. All right.

I can handle that. Good. That's as bad as it gets. I'm okay. Well, I've kept a really bad one. Oh, God damn it. Okay. Well, that's our show.

I hope that gives you enough backstory and enough reaction and, and enough, uh, sort of, uh, well-rounded picture of what happened, uh, uh,

around the, the interview with president Obama here in my garage. Oh my God. So, um, all right. So now I guess it's, uh,

it's back to, uh, the business as usual. I got dates coming up. The Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York on June 25th. I'll be at BAM at the Howard Opera House. That is sold out. I will be at the Paramount Theater in Huntington, New York on June 27th

and the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey on June 28th. Go to wtfpod.com. Check the calendar. I've got dates coming up in Portland and in Boulder and Denver. Oh man. Boomer lives!