WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - The Full Maron: Year One

Episode Date: June 28, 2023

The Full Maron is our WTF+ subscription tier that gives you weekly bonus episodes. It's now a year old, so that means there's 52 weeks of bonus episodes waiting for you in the archive. To give you a sense of what's in store for subscribers, we've put together a selection of Full Maron highlights, including answers from an Ask Marc Anything episode, a post-show chat with Jeremy Strong, Marc's immediate reaction right after Ice Cube left the garage, never-before-heard standup from Marc's set at Town Hall, Marc and Kit talking movies, and an excerpt from The Friday Show, our weekly end of the week hang-out. 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.

All right, let's do this. I'm not even going to do the whole intro because this is sort of a special episode about bonus content. You know, we've been on this new platform, ACAST, for about a year now. And if you don't know, we've got this thing called the Full Marin. And this is a year into the Full Marin. The Full Marin is our WTF Plus subscription tier that gives you ad-free access to every episode of WTF as well as weekly bonus content. You can sign up right now by clicking the link in the episode description. And now that we've been doing it for a year,

that means there's 52 weeks of bonus content that's just waiting for you in the archives. And this is like hours and hours of stuff that is not on the main feed. That's why I'm putting this on the main feed right now to alert you that you're missing a lot of stuff. And I'm doing a lot of stuff. I'm doing more stuff than I've ever done for you. Like, for example, I do a regular Ask Mark Anything episode where I answer whatever is on your mind, you, the listener, and we've got nine installments ready for you to hear right now. Like here's a little taste of that. As the podcast has grown over nearly 14 years, has your approach to booking guests remained the same in present day compared to when the show really popped in 2011? No, it's very different because usually I was drawing from my, you know, people I knew or people who I knew knew them.

You know, it was sort of, I don't know if we were working with a booking agency at that time, but eventually you've got to be in the loop with people who are moving through interview programs. So it's very much different. I'm not sure exactly about 2011, but at some point we started using Central Booking, who also books TV talk shows, to sort of pitch us people and tell me who's available so I know. Because I don't know everybody anymore. And a lot of times I don't know the work of people that are pitched. So it becomes sort of this full-on immersive learning experience, deciding to do particular guests and whether we should do them and who's available and all that stuff.

So I think it's almost completely different. Were there any episodes that you felt like you just didn't get it right? Yeah, there are, there are probably more than I want to admit, because a lot of times, certainly at the beginning of the podcast, I, you know, I had my own expectations and a lot of times I didn't necessarily meet them and I'd walk away feeling like I fucking screwed up forgetting that a lot of times I didn't necessarily meet them and I'd walk, I kind of suck it up and realize that it's going to be something exciting and different and new, not only to me,

but to anyone who listens to it and who's a fan of that. Sometimes you get, you know, repeating stories and that kind of stuff, but that's just the nature of being a public person. But there are times where I didn't get it right. I think that my interview with Darren Aronofsky was a kind of a fucking mess because I didn't get through the entire movie.

He was there to promote, which was Mother, which usually I used to be able to get away with that, you know, because it's really kind of a life career interview. But, you know, he was very invested in that movie and I couldn't get through that movie. And also that night, he was there at night for some reason and Buster had gotten out and I didn't know where the cat was. So I was freaking out about the cat because it was nighttime and coyotes were coming out. I didn't watch the movie that he wanted to talk about. So I felt like that in my mind stands out as kind of a not getting it right moment.

There have been other times, but usually I get most of it right. And between Brendan and me, sometimes some organizing, sometimes omissions aren't that bad. You can't talk about everything with everybody. But I felt like I really, you know, screwed the pooch on that one.

And, you know, since then, I make sure to, to be pretty thoroughly engaged with, you know, especially if I like the person's work with the work they're there to promote. Also that happened with John Cale, though I seem to have saved that after an hour or so of talking about the Velvet Underground and noise music. You know, I, I realized that I had not heard the CD or the album he was there to promote, but I kind of saved it. It worked out okay, but that was another thing I didn't get right.

And the same lesson was learned. Which non-comedian guest on the show was truly and unexpectedly hilarious? Oh, well, just in recent memory, Hugh Grant. Totally surprised me and was very funny. There's been a lot of funny people. I think I remember Josh Brolin being pretty funny. But Hugh Grant was like a total curveball to me. Hilarious.

Is there a hell no guest from the early days that you never would have had on that you interviewed recently. Yeah. I mean, I, a lot of my tunes have changed because back in the day when we were just doing people I knew or people who I knew knew them, uh, you know, I was, there was a lot of people that I was curious about. And then early on, we didn't do a lot of actors because I didn't know if they were really great at doing interviews. But as time went on and we talked to more and more people and I wanted to learn more about acting, we had more actors on. So I would say there's probably some people that I wouldn't. But I remember there was a time where, you know, Huey Lewis came up and I'm like, Huey Lewis. But then you start to really think about these people, you know, and their careers

and what they've given the world or what their, you know, what their output has been. It's like, whether I like them or not, a lot of times they deserve certainly to be reckoned with and to be sort of like engaged, whether I like them or not. So yeah, there were definitely people. I don't remember who they are, but my context has changed since early on. But I was like that pretty early on. So like, even if I didn't like them, like, dude, this guy's got a story and it might not be for me, but, uh, you know, with like Huey, Huey Lewis, like who doesn't know, uh, Huey Lewis songs.

And that turned out to be a great interview. Did you ever have an awkward moment with a guest right after the microphones went off? Yeah, I guess so. I mean, sometimes there's just weird, you know, what do you do after that? Famously there was, you know, I remember like early on Conan O'Brien was lingering and I had this moment where I'm like, wow, this is weird. I kind of want him to leave. Um, you know, cause I got things to do. There was that. Then there was like, I had, I had awkward moments before the shows sometimes. Like I remember when Lisa Lampanelli was on that, I didn't know she was coming. Um, and like, I almost was on my way out the door and she showed

up with a publicist. And I, I was like, I just had to go like, Oh my God, how did I not know? She was, I knew why she was there. And I didn't say like, I didn't know you were coming. I just had to go like, oh my God, how did I not know she was, I knew why she was there. And I didn't say like, I didn't know you were coming. I just played it like everything was normal, but that was, that was crazy. Um, well, I don't always know what to do with guests after the microphones go off. Usually they, you know, we kind of like detach. I mean, there've been times where I can't remember when Kristen Bell had to eat, but if it was before or after, but I remember I had to feed Kristen Bell. I just happened to have a lot of leftovers and I eat exactly like she did. So that was fun.

I had to feed a few people. Jonathan Glazer, I cooked him a sausage. Oh, yeah. Alana from Broad City. She needed a bowl of puffins. Roseanne Cash had some cantaloupe. Vice President Gore, he needed to eat before we went on But he brought his own food

Oh, there's also people that I didn't have on Because I didn't know who they were And I don't think they'd come on now You know, like Tiffany Haddish I didn't know who she was And she said, someday, Marc Maron And I'm like, alright, lady And then, you know, she's this huge star

But I think she doesn't come on either Because she doesn't care Or she's just, you know, spiting this huge star. But I think she doesn't come on either because she doesn't care or she's just, you know, spiting me. But yeah, there's been awkward moments. Those are questions from Ask Mark Anything number eight. And we'll have a new one coming up for subscribers in a few weeks. Something else that we're able to do on the full Marin is bring you extra material from our guests. Sometimes there are things that don't make it into the episode, like when Jeremy Strong

was on and we were done with our conversation. We got up to leave and we were still talking. So I had Jeremy sit down and we recorded this, which was only heard by full Marin subscribers. In talking about like, cause I'm watching this, the, the, and getting back to the idea of, of self. Right. So like, you know, I, when I'm watching that Paul Newman thing, he was in the shadow of Brando and knew that he wasn't Brando. And he had to tap in to some sort of realization that he was sort of a simple, limited guy who had to deal, work from that place.

And we were just talking off mic for a minute about how we make these assumptions about these great actors and you romanticize that whole process. Sure. Well, I certainly project onto someone like Newman and onto many actors a kind of supreme, you know, a sort of omniscient ability. That comes from that process. That comes from that process. That comes from that process. What do you mean? From that crew. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Because that was the model, right?

So you want to be like them. And so for a long time, I think, like many of my peers, you're trying to sort of model yourself or fashion yourself after some of these guys, you know, trying to, you know, because you worship them when you're a young actor. Of course, of course.

You're just waiting for your opportunity to put on 50 pounds. And then you have to come up against and contend with and sort of take real inventory of your own limitations and accept that you are not them. Yes. You are some version of you. Yes. version of you yes and you can um i think you can you can take lessons sure but but really what you said about newman accepting some fundamental basic you know yeah i'm not this anything extraordinary i'm not this um when, when you, you ever read Richard Ford? Have you ever read the sports writer? No. Sports writers is it's an incredible book. At the center of the book is this idea of a person who learns to be within himself. Yeah.

And so I guess that's what I'm talking about, is there's a moment where, if you're lucky, and I think if you are in right relationships to your life, you start to be within yourself. And when you're within yourself, in a very simple, unremarkable way,

that gives you a density that is what allows you to be an actor. Great. That's it. That's it. So that answers the question that I asked you. You may not think, well, you can think whatever you want to think of yourself, but the journey to what you're talking about, that moment where you realize, it's like when Jerry Garcia went into a coma from drugs. He was in a coma for I don't know how long.

And apparently when he woke up, the first thing he said was, hey, I'm not Mozart. Well, it's quite liberating, too. Right. Well, that's it. There's an old adage in the recovery racket, compare and despair. Yeah. Well, exactly. So, but you do. But, you know, a lot of my 20s and 30s were really about getting to a point where I had to let the fantasy of, quote, making it die. It became clear to me.

On those terms or in general? In general. Okay. I thought. Not in the terms of like the method heroes, the superheroes. No, well, you know, I already knew by then that I'm just the actor that I am. Okay, good. And that I have to contend with my own mystery.

So you had to let go of the idea. I had to let go of the fantasy of what it might look like in terms of life, in terms of the work I might get to do, in terms of ever getting a chance to be fully expressed. You had to get right-sized. I had to get right-sized, and I had to let the dream die. Yes, yes. It's that thing of living at your level. Yes, and then you can make yourself available for the magic. At your level.

Yes, and then you can make yourself available for the magic. Well, ultimately, somehow, that is what happened. But I remember getting to a point where I had to decide, because it just wasn't happening. Dude, are you kidding me? That's when I started the podcast. And out of that, you either in that moment give up or you commit because you love this thing. Or because it's too late to do anything else. Or because you're compelled. What are you going to do?

Yeah, and what the fuck else am I going to do? But I think commitment without attachment to what it's going to look like. Well, yeah, but the thing with me, like, cause I had this exact thing, like,

you know, when I started this podcast out of desperation, right. I couldn't sell tickets as a comic. My career was going nowhere. I didn't have dates on the books. I was a twice divorced, broke motherfucker. I was angry.

I was suicidal. And, and, and there comes a moment where it's like you're staring down the barrel of a very disappointing life right and and that's just a fucking reality and that is my biggest fear is an unlived that's right life so so you know and and in that moment you're like well we're i i have to keep going yeah yeah and do this it's just like you know can't go on must go on right you have to go and and and and what but that but the liberation

of being honest with yourself yeah which is like you know amputating your ego enough to realize like hey you know i'm not mozart i'm not mozart i'm not gonna get to do i'm not gonna get to do dog day i'm not gonna get to do Dog Day. I'm not going to get to do any of these things. There you are then. I'm going to get to do this thing that I'm, you know, and I'm going to try and work hard and take risks and, in a sense, give up. And out of that, you know, it's. It worked out.

It's sort of amazing. It worked out. It's sort of amazing. You hear, I heard people say similar things about that sort of, that kind of experience of, I wouldn't necessarily call it surrender because it's not like either of us stopped working no but I I think I think what it it it presents is that thing you were talking about from the Ford uh work is that you just you know you go in your that's right and then you're and then because you're present in that way yeah then the the whatever magic you will summon is is summonable right because now you've made space for things to come to you rather than trying to. Great.

Thanks, man. We have other extended interviews with guests in the Full Marin. Michael Mann, Whitney Cummings, Colin Hanks, Brooke Shields, Ray Romano, and a bunch of other ones. Some of these are part of our Producer Cuts episodes where my producer, Brendan, explains why stuff didn't make it into the WTF episodes. Speaking of Brendan, Full Marin subscribers get to hear how Brendan and I make the show. We always tend to talk after a guest leaves the garage, and now we're recording those talks and putting them up for you to hear. This was what we recorded literally minutes after Ice Cube just left. Cube just left. Cube just left. Cube just left. You know, we should let people know that basically you and I do this almost every time there's a guest over. We have either a phone call,

we talk on text right away, but usually just to get like immediate reaction. So I figured let's start putting some of these on the mics. Yeah, good idea. You just said Cube just left. How did it go meeting Ice Cube and having a conversation with him? Well, I think it's funny because in all honesty, with you and I, the way it works is I do some research. You send me a bunch of stuff that you've dug up. I look for my angles, you have your angles, but it seems it's only when I have some sort of, you know, sense of, of unusual panic, uh, or, or insecurity that we actually talk before the guest. Before, before. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So, you know, like, you know, when I'm like,

when I say, hold on, I'll tell people exactly what I said before this interview. I just out of nowhere texted you, feel like a fraud going into this, but hopefully we'll get something going. Yep, that's the signal. That's like, it's like a bat signal, but with headphones and then you said you want to talk about i'm like sure yeah and then yeah um but but going into it

though like i told you on the phone is like and i had this because this is the you know he's been booked before and the last time i remember i'm going to talk to him. And I had this same fear. Like, I'm like, I don't, I don't know enough about his stuff. All I, all I know is that I'm a little scared of the, the, the scowl I've known my entire life. It's just a picture of his face. I'm like, what if, but, but what was weird about this one is I got it in my head that he was gonna like you know ask me what my favorite songs of his was as sort of a test like what do you know what do you know about MWA which song you like the best like uh how familiar are you with the predator um like I thought that's what was gonna happen that he was going to test me because I knew nothing.

And I remember the last time I was like cramming Ice Cube records. Yeah. Like there was no way I was going to watch all those barbershop movies. That wasn't going to happen. So I'm like, well, I got to go to the music. That's where it started. Go to the music. I know the NWA record.

I got, I got, and I, and today, like, you know, he's coming over. And after we talked, I felt a little better. And I felt better about making the connection between the, uh, the, the Michael Jordan deal. And so what do you mean by that? People don't know what we talked about ahead of time. Well, no, I mean like, you know, cause we were talking about, you know, Cube's trajectory into movies and into the big game. And, you know, you brought up the 30 and 30.

The one he directed about, I think it was called like Straight Out of L.A. or something. It was about the L.A. Raiders. But it was about, it became about the brand. Marketing. And about branding and about also taking ownership of your own shit. And it seemed to me after seeing Air that it was all around the same time where these guys became, you know,

sort of playing the, the, the game with the record company and taking what they could do to really setting their sights on. We could have it all like there is a, there is a, an, a black entrepreneurial spirit or,

or vision that, you know, it goes across comedy movies, sports with these guys. Yes. And it seems that a lot of it started with the Jordan thing. You know, that kind of gave me a window in, though I forgot about it. And it turns out he didn't see the movie. So, but it came up later.

But I ended up, I have a vinyl copy of his first solo record, like an original vinyl copy, you know, like on, what was it? Priority? Whatever the record company is. And I put it on, and I was like, holy shit. The production is so great. Like, it's so clean, and it's so, you know, like, it just was alive, you know, more so than I would have remembered. And, you know, we talked.

So that's how I ended up getting into it with him. And what happened? They showed up. It was him and two other fellas? Him and one other dude. Oh. And they said that another guy was going to come. And they walk in and, you know, and like I opened the door and there's Ice Cube.

And they walk in and, you know, and like I open the door and there's Ice Cube. And, you know, there's just like, there's people who come over. Like I can kind of sense like, well, I can, you know, kind of engage with this person pretty quickly. I can charm the moment, you know, disarm it pretty quickly. And usually it happens kind of immediately. But I opened the door and like what I realized right away was like, that's not going to happen here. Oh, you mean Ice Cube won't find your cats charming? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

My house, buddy. But he was okay. I mean, he was as anticipated. He wasn't, you know, it's just like, you know, he's not going to entertain fools and he's not, you know, it's, it's not like, you know, he was being ice cube, ice cube. No, it was just sort of like, you know, so you're the guy. He does business, right? He's, he's here to do business. Is this what we're doing? He's on the phone.

I'm talking to his guy and I'm saying like, I, well, he walks in. I'm like, you guys can hang out in here. You're okay with cats. And cube goes, I don't, you know, that's not the question. The question is, are they okay with me? And I'm like, okay, uh, what about this guy? You want to sit in here or we want to wait in here? He's like, I can wait outside. My car's out. Okay. Okay, fine. So, so I, I, you know, so the guy, we all walk out and the guys, I guess, can go sit in his car and I'm walking cube around the long way. Cause I'm telling him that my grass is fucked up. I'm trying to get the grow right. And he's like, well, you got to get stepping stones over there. I'm like, I know, I know I do.

And I didn't, that's why it's fucked up. And the, and the drought, you know, fucked it up. And he's like, I said, did you follow the water restrictions? He's like, I think my gardener tried to. So, you know, I love that him telling you that you need to get stepping stones. All I'm thinking of is how he, in Three Kings, would lecture everyone about the weight of baggage because he was a baggage handler. That's the first thing that's going into my head.

Oh, yeah, well, he knows all about stuff. No, that's a character. Yeah, he knew I had to get stepping stones. But I think that's also the key to him is that, you know, he's not going to, you know, bullshit around. Right. Like, my fear was like, you know, are we going to talk? You know?

That's always your fear. Because you're never going to have a problem with, like, being able to say things. You can say things to people. You're just always concerned. You don't want to fill all that time, dude. Exactly. You're always concerned that it's going to be, like, 20 minutes,

and then you've got nowhere else to go. And so you're just asking these one-off questions. I don't want to carry him. But I don't know, man. I don't think he talked to O'Shea Jr. at all. So what you're talking about is that we wondered why all of a sudden Cube was doing the show. Yeah. And you thought maybe it had to do with O'Shea.

And I said, it could be that it has nothing to do with that. It could just be coincidence. And it looks like it was, huh? Yeah, I think so. Because I told him, you know, I had him on. And he said, oh, he's a good guy. You know, he's got this detachment, you know. Yeah.

But Full Marin is also a great place for me to share things no one else was going to hear. Like stuff from my stand-up tour that didn't make it into my HBO special. This was material from my town hall show in November 2021. And it would have been lost to time otherwise. Thank you for coming. This is going to be the bulk of the movement I'll be doing this evening. It's happening right now. Nice to see you.

There was no opener because I just can't take it anymore. I there was I there was no opener because I just can't take it anymore. I I just can't I Just can't take the patter and the trying I Will do it But then as I'm sitting backstage, I realize, oh yeah, I remember why you have an opener.

It's because people can't fucking get to the place on time. They can't sit down. That's why you have the poor newbie out there just taking the hit. And I'm back there just fucking, like, I don't know what's wrong with me, man. I mean, this is a pretty big show. It's not huge. But I'm back there just fucking, like, I don't know what's wrong with me, man. I mean, this is a pretty big show. It's not huge.

But I'm happier here. I'm going to underplay it a little bit just so I can give less of a fuck. And I think it's a better show that way. If I'm too stressed out, it won't be a good show. But I don't know. All I know is that what I do to prepare to come on stage is I'm sitting here. I'm show. But I don't know. All I know is that what I do to prepare to come on stage is I'm sitting here,

I'm backstage. See, look at this. Should I just do an opening act? Like... You alright? I don't know how to prepare for this shit. I'm all worked up. Backstage, like, what do I do to focus? What do I do to get grounded?

Literally, I'm backstage going, how do I get to the back corner of the house so I can say hi to a guy I went to college with and haven't seen in 20 years whose fucking birthday it is? That's what I'm doing two minutes before I get on. Why am I doing that? How you doing, Cliff?

All right. Happy birthday, buddy. I want to make it special in case I don't see you after. Because I'm getting out. I got no time after. That fucking guy, when we were freshmen...

Sophomores in college... Freshmen in college... We used to do a thing called the ACDC cruise. Where we'd get into my dad's old Honda, which I drove. And we'd put on ACDC tape. And we'd buy two 40s. And just drive around banging it like this. Drinking beer until we ran out of beer,

and then we drive back and go like, that was great. That was great. That was college. That's all I learned. That's all I remember about that school. All right, we can get started. I'm not, you know, I think I hide my anxiety pretty well. I think in my mind, I'm hiding it. In my mind, none of you know that I'm anxious.

I think the best, the working metaphor for my anxiety is the calls coming from inside the house. But I literally, I have to put tools in place. My anxiety is like, I have to tell myself at least 10 times a day that I'm not in a hurry. I don't know if anyone can relate to that, but I get up, I get up and I'm like, oh fuck, I gotta, and I was like, you have nothing, you have nothing to do. You're coming into the day a little hot. Let's just take it down a notch, pal. There's nothing going on, but I got, I'm gonna, there's nothing, there's nothing. But I don't want to bum anybody out, but I think we're all in a

certain amount of a trauma, I think, like PTSD, right? It's like I worry about it because you've got to process that shit. You know, how do you process what we've been through over the last year and a half? It's crazy. I mean, I don't think we've processed it. Think about it. What, like a year and a half ago? I mean, I think the entire country was pretty much thinking the same thing, right?

So wait, what do we fucking use if there's no toilet paper? I mean, what do you even use? Do we just use washcloths? Do we have a hamper of shitty washcloths? I mean, how's this going to fucking work with no toilet paper? Do we shit and get in the shower really quickly? What do we do? Do we get up early and shit in the yard?

How's this going to go? And then just drag our ass on the grass like a dog? What are we going to fucking do? Some people were buying industrial-sized toilet paper rolls from Uline with no dispenser and just leaning them in the hallway like a used tire, just like a tire.

Just so they could be like, we're going to be good. We're going to be good through this. But we're okay now? We've processed that? That's traumatic. The panic of no toilet paper but we're okay now? We process that? That's traumatic. The panic of no toilet paper.

How about like, just watching your, looking at your groceries on the porch? Are you kidding me? Just like, how long do we leave it out there? No one knows. We don't even know how we get it, but what do we leave it out there? No one knows. We don't even know how we get it. But what do we do with the groceries?

How long does it take to dye on a bag? I don't know. What, do you leave it out there an hour? That sounds good. There's ice cream in there. Ah, fuck. Cover me. I'm going out.

All right, I got it. We're the Lysol Wipes. We're the Lysol Wipes. But we're okay. Everything's good it. We're the Lysol wipes. We're the Lysol wipes. But we're okay. Everything's good now. We're okay. We process that. It's fucking relentless. Waking up every day like, oh, fuck.

God damn it. God damn it. I think I have it. Fuck, where's one of those five thermometers I bought? Just give me the thermometer. Give me the thermometer. I've got to get tested. I don't think I'll die, though.

I'm healthy. But I don't know. Maybe I will. Got to get tested. I was getting tested every two die though I'm healthy. But I don't know, maybe I will. Gotta get tested. I was getting tested every two weeks. Something to do, it was something to do. You signed up for it, you look forward to it. In LA you go to Dodger Stadium. I would never go otherwise.

Get the test. How empty? How long did the joy of a negative test result last? Like until I put gas in my car and touched my eye. Ah fuck, I just put it in my eye. God damn it, I got to get another test. That'll be fun, though. I'll schedule it later today. But we're okay. Everything's good. We also do regular episodes about movies. We've got full episodes about Michael Clayton, the Oscars, the documentary American Movie, and lots more.

And recently, my girlfriend Kit has been helping me get into some movie genres that I don't have a lot of experience with, nor that I knew that I might like. This is from one of our recent Mark on Movies episodes. Is that why we don't talk as much as we might? Because you listen to the podcast? No. And you get up to speed? No, I've actively rolled back how much I listen to the podcast? No. And you get up to speed? No, I've actively rolled back how much

I listen to the podcast. See, this is what happens. As soon as I start dating somebody, I lose a podcast fan. It affects my numbers. It affects my bottom line. I still listen, but I don't listen to everyone anymore. I usually hoard them up and listen to them when you're out of town because it feels like... Oh, that's nice. Yeah. Kit Pleasant

is with me on the mics and here's the premise this is the idea i am not a big i don't consider myself a big horror movie fan nah right but i but i i thought i knew what they were for the most part but i'm not even sure i know what they are what the are, whether I've enjoyed some horror movies, what would be considered a horror movie. Oh, God. What? Yeah, I don't know some of these things either. No, I'm not looking to you as an expert.

Okay. But you also enjoy fantasy movies. Yeah. And fantasy in general. Yeah. Like, you know, I would say that, you know, what is the sort of the defining things for your choice of entertainment intake? What are the defining books and movies that you look to as like those are the best ones? Oh, okay. Well, you know, I'm not talking literature or whatever.

I'm just talking like what you enjoy doing. Because like you listened to a – you just told me that you heard me do an ad on a D&D podcast. I did. I did just hear you do an ad on Dungeons and Daddies. Dungeons and Daddies. See, this is something you listen to. Yeah. And I don't even know what it means.

Well, that's – I mean, live action tabletop role plays are like a whole podcast genre these days. But it's also a whole thing. Yeah. What'd you call it? Live action tabletop role play. Role play. Yeah, role play games, yeah.

Is something in your past and something you'd like in your present. Oh my God, I wish I had a Dungeons and Dragons movie. Oh, this might be the time. It might happen for you.

Los Angeles, hello. Kit Pleasant needs a D&D game. Yeah, that would be cool. She's jonesing for a live action role play board game. I feel like you could maybe have one. Nah, you wouldn't. You wouldn't.

Someone, I've talked about it before. Go ahead. About playing D&D. Someone gave me the dice. I remember that. I remember that. I made Sammy roll them, or Charlie. I made one of the cats roll them while you were babysitting.

Oh, is that why I'm missing one? While I was babysitting, yeah. Is that why one's gone? Yeah, I think one fell off your desk while we were playing. I've lost one of my D&D dies. But did you play, when did you, you played at all? In college. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah, that was like my Sunday, 10-hour activity every Sunday is hanging out with nine other people in a massive D&D game of college kids. Wow. That's massive. Yeah. Nine people?

Yeah, I think it was, including the DM, I think it was a 10-person group. I don't know anything about the structure of that. Okay, so that's one sort of pillar of the Kid Pleasant aesthetic. The Kid Pleasant aesthetic. Aesthetic. Okay. And through your dad, we have classic rock. So we have classic rock, D&D.

Yeah. And then there's a Star Trek thing that is referred to a lot that I, again, I can't engage with, but it's not an age thing. It's literally. It's definitely not an age thing because it's been around since. Yeah. But you draw a line. There's like Star Treks you like. Like you don't talk ever about the original series. About the William Shatner Star Trek.

Yeah. No, well, I didn't grow up with that one. I grew up with the Patrick Stewart Star Trek. You grew up with that. I grew up with that, yeah. But if you're a hardcore, you'll go back. Oh, for sure. Did you watch all the original?

Yeah, I've watched all the originals. Yeah. We did not watch all the originals. I like the originals too. All right, all right. Yeah. But Patrick Stewart's your guy. Absolutely.

All right, so now this brings us over to horror. Yeah. Now, for me, like my brother, when we were kids, he liked horror. Your brother likes horror? Does he still like horror? He did. I don't know if he does anymore. But he was sort of, he was kind of geared towards the classics, like Phantom of the Opera, The Wolfman, the old black and white stuff.

He liked monster movies? Monster movies. Movies. That's a horror thing. I don't know. Like I can't – like I was trying to think like if I even was going to name horror movies that had an impact on me. Like that I remember and think like that, you know, like Aliens. You've got that photo of that movie that I have yet to see, which I really ought to, the Freak Show movie.

Freaks? Freaks. You've got that in your den. Is that a horror movie? Would you call it a horror movie? I haven't seen it. I thought it was. I think it's categorized as such by a lot of people.

I guess because, you know, it's about these human anomalies, these circus entertainers, these freaks. And, yeah, and the story, do you know the story? Well, yeah, I know the story. I just haven't seen it. But my understanding is it's less about the horror of their physical. No, they're just. It's more about humanity. It's about their humanity.

Yeah, yeah. And literally dragging someone down to their level. Right, I've seen the. Or their perceived level. I've seen the still shots. Of Chicken Lady? Yeah, Duck Lady or whatever, yeah. Fucked up. It's good've seen the perceived level. I've seen the still shots. Of Chicken Lady? Yeah, Duck Lady or whatever. Yeah. Fucked up.

It's good. Dig it, yeah. So yeah, that was an important movie. But I think like Alien. Alien. I think The Fly, The New Fly. Oh, that one's fucking good. I remember being profoundly affected by the John Carpenter's thing. Were you? Because these came out when I was a kid. I love

John Carpenter's thing. I wasn't a kid. I love John Carpenter. Yeah. Were you? Because these came out when I was a kid. I love John Carpenter's thing. I wasn't a kid. I love John Carpenter. Yeah, it was the 80s. Did it scare you or was it just fucked up? No, I just thought it was like the effects of it and like the thing just like when you see the guy in the thing. That dog. That dog. Oh, when he breaks open?

Jeb the Wolf Dog. Yeah. With that dog actor's name. I believe that that was, I believe that your friend Patton's wife acted with that dog in a movie. Yeah. That was a prolific canine actor. The current wife.

Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Patton, like, it would seem to me that you and Patton could hang out for days and just go into it. I've never met him, but I've eaten a lot of the ice cream he sent you, so thank you for

that. You could just go into a nerd hole with Patton, a nerd cave. I can't really. You can't do that for days on end. You come out something foul. You turn into something unwanted. No one wants you. Starting a few months ago, we added even more weekly material to the full Marin.

Brendan and our friend Chris from our old Air America radio show have started doing the Friday show every week. It's a lot of behind the scenes WTF stuff as they talk about the episodes from that week and answer listener questions. And for the second half of the show, they talk about wrestling, sports, and all things pop culture. It's an end of the week hangout show, WTF style.

Hey, Chris. Brendan. I just booked my three-day, two-night stay at Milf Manor. So I'm ready to talk. Oh, Milf Manor. Very good. You know, I don't know if you know that there's a twist on that show. Do you know that?

Okay, wait. Hang on a second. In case anybody didn't listen to the bonus content from earlier this week, Mark and I were talking about Succession, but I pointed out to him that far be it from HBO having any kind of prominence on the new Max app, in fact, I couldn't even find Succession. I had to search for it in the toolbar. So stupid.

And meanwhile, the thing that they were featuring, the thing they very much wanted me to watch when I logged into Max was Milf Manor. And you're telling me there's some, first of all, that was the first time I ever heard of it. And I'm tapped in. I didn't know there was a show called Milf Manor. I don't know what it's on. Now I know it's on Max because I saw it on my app, but I don't know anything else about Milf Manor. What can you tell me about MILF Manor? Well, I guess my algorithm is set to MILF.

You're getting fed that very frequently. Yes, apparently. Even MILF adjacent shows. Yes. The whole MILF universe. Spider MILF. The MCU. Yes. MILF cinematic universe. Spider MILF. The MCU. Yes.

MILF cinematic universe. Yes. But do you know that there's an actual twist to this show? You're going to tell me because I did not know. Eight single MILFs, which is such a weird sentence to say. And the eight single men that they're in the manor with. Are also MILFs? They're all their sons.

No. Yes. That's perverse. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely it is. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. Hold on.

So many questions. Yes. Do they know that they're their sons when they signed up, when they showed up? No. So they showed up and they see all these hunks and it turns out they're all their sons? They walk them through like a, you know, with a little partition and then they open the partition and each woman one after the other is like, wait a second, that's my son over there.

So yeah, it was a twist for the milfs, apparently. So, wait a minute. Okay, next obvious question. Yeah. Are you allowed to pick your own son? Well, no, apparently, because some of the challenges, and this is, I'm guessing it's like a survivor type format. Oh, I bet it is. Survive with your soul intact.

So some of the challenges were that a MILF had to be blindfolded and then they had to guess their son by feeling their torso. No. Yes. Oh, man. Is Kayer the host of this show is it is this called milf manor taboo yeah another challenge was the sons had to massage

the women and the milfs had to guess which masseuse was their son. Oh. No, no. Critics have described the show as psychological torture and a Freudian horror. That's from Wikipedia. How about that? Oh, my God. I had no idea you were going to spring this on me, and it is actually so appropriate for what we are going to talk about today. Why is that? Well, the whole... Let's just get into it.

So here's the deal. Let's kind of pineapple upside down cake this episode, okay? Because normally what we do is we kind of front load the show with stuff about WTF, some of the episodes that just happened. I can give you some behind the scenes stuff. You know what we're going to do? We're going to hold off on that because this is the perfect segue for the thing that we were going to actually talk about today, which was American gladiators. What? Why? Why are

we going to talk about American gladiators? Why not? Well, there is a new documentary on ESPN as part of their 30 for 30 series. And I said to Chris, hey, we should watch this because I started thinking about like other things that were like wrestling adjacent when we were younger. And like, what happened to them? Like, why is wrestling the only one that kind of survived? Is there like a reason for that? And so I figured, let's watch this documentary and we could talk about it. And we both did, right? You watched well before I did. You suddenly told me, oh yeah, I watched the whole thing. It's done. Yeah. Yeah. And I got to say, I first encountered this show during like Saturday afternoons, usually after reruns of Knight Rider or the A-Team or even like the WWF had a Sunday morning show. I think it was called like Superstars of Wrestling or something. That's exactly what it was, yeah. Was it? Yeah. And I used to watch that religiously.

And this show came on and it's basically Double Dare for adults. Totally what I thought while I was watching it again right now. It's like, you know, the one thing that lasted longer than this thing were the kid versions. Like it was Double Dare and Guts and the Legends of the Hidden Temple. And it's like, hey, you know why those things lasted? Because they weren't killing the people. Right.

Like children. The floor is lava. The floor is lava is working because no one's going to, you know, pop out a shoulder. Yeah. Maybe not. I mean, like, I don't know. Sometimes I watch that and I'm like, that person just got

fucked up. I can't believe they're not dead. I would not do well on that show. I still hold my nose when I go underwater and I don't want to be in that red water. I don't know what that is. You don't come up apparently.

It's the end of you forever. I will say, American Gladiators, kind of a blur for me, like, because it is mindless TV, right? Exactly. No brain cells. But I will always remember the games, like the actual events

that they did, which were awesome. Like, they were, that's the reason the show succeeded. But there was Atlas fear. There was assault. Assault was great. Assault was really great. That was where you had to go behind these little bunkers

and use some type of a weapon to try to shoot a target. And under the target, the gladiator stood there with a tennis ball cannon and just tried to obliterate you with tennis balls. Which actually of all the things, it looked like the most safe. They show one guy getting one in the eye, but he had goggles on

and that one didn't look so bad. There were plenty of ones where people got concussed or broke bones or something. That was like the human cannonball was one where they would put a person on a pedestal and then the competitor would have to swing into the gladiator, try to knock him off the pedestal.

They had the joust, which was which pugil stick boxing. Right. You look like giant Q-tips. Yeah. Yeah. They hit each other with those. I mean, I guess that's as violent as actual boxing. You know, you take a shot to the head. You could get really hurt. I mean, I guess that's as violent as actual boxing.

You know, you take a shot to the head, you could get really hurt. The one that's just was these guys were just getting so creamed was it was basically like what we used to call. We used to call in recess, kill the guy with the ball. Like that was literally what they were playing. All right. So there you go. That's just a sample of the stuff waiting for you on the full Marin. We also do a bunch of other regular series,

like it's not TV. A look at classic HBO shows like the Sopranos and succession. Good morning. Geniuses is our ongoing oral history of morning sedition. My old show on air America radio, Brendan and I do the archive deep dives where we go in depth about episodes from the early days of WTF. There are also dispatches I recorded from the road, live music recorded in the garage,

and even a visit with my father in New Mexico. Plus, you get every WTF episode from the beginning, all completely ad-free. Sign up for the full Marin right now by going to the episode description in the podcast app you're using. Just click on the link and you'll go right to the sign-up page or go to WTFpod.com and click on WTF Plus.

Go listen to the past year of Full Marin bonus episodes and we'll have brand new stuff for you every week. All right? More stuff. Okay. Boomer lives. and La Fonda and there are cat angels everywhere. Everywhere. Boomer lives!