What a character. After many years of listening to his podcast, I finally got to meet one of my broadcasting idols, Marc Maron at NXNE Interactive. He’s the host of the ever so popular WTF Podcast, which attracts millions and millions of listeners every month from all over the world.
Excitedly, I arrived about an hour early to the Hyatt Regency downtown Toronto aka NXNE HQ. It was worth it as I managed to enjoy his keynote address from the front row. LiL’s senior concert journalist, Sarah Rix was my witness as she got to see me fanboy over his comic genius. It’s a rare sight, trust me.
The room was packed. I didn’t actually think so many people cared that much about podcasting. But I guess the interest was primarily more about him, the person and his stand up comedy too.
As the crowd settled down, Maron took the stage of NXNE Interactive (NXNEi). There were two stools, one for him and one for his MacBook Pro. And it was a nice discussion about how he rose to “fame” and how this process helped him overcome his inner demons. He began with an embarrassing video clip of a younger Marc predicting the future of the Internet in a comedy club. As this video was playing I glanced over at him and could see the expression on his face. “Fuck, how could I have been so wrong?!” He made cracks about online forums, nerds, instant messaging and how only 12 people used the Internet. Today, all has changed, his lively hood highly depends on all of these technologies from his studio garage. And he embraces it.
As a fellow podcaster who is new to the game, Maron gave me a lot of insightful tips. He explained that hosts need to release their shows on a consistent basis to get a hold of in the web soup. For example, his WTF show has been published every Tuesday and Thursday for the last five years. A funny tidbit was revealed when he said he felt like he had begged the first hundred guests to help him promote the show. This is probably true and I definitely feel the same way only 34 episodes in myself.
Despite all of these celebrity friends, every comedian needs an arch nemesis. For Maron, that individual is Jon Stewart of the Daily Show. And his perfectly consistent hair. Everyone needs someone they hate like Jon to drive healthy competition according to Maron.
In a Q&A session after the talk, Maron proclaimed that “podcast classes and courses” are stupid and are probably run by people who failed at what they were trying to pursue initially. What’s that old motto, if you can’t do, teach?
When asked what can someone do to create a better podcast, he strongly recommended to invest in the best microphone possible and to just keep going at it. He also explained that he doesn’t plan to include a video stream of his podcasts because it takes away from the raw conversation. Once a camera goes up, the guest becomes aware and starts to worry about their look and cosmetics. Maron believes that an audio-only format is extremely powerful as it is the only medium that goes directly into the consumers brain. He also mentioned that one of his goals during a recording is to get at least 5 minutes of pure emotion and truth from the guest.
Then it was my turn to ask Mr. Maron a question. I don’t recall too much from that moment, but I think I sprung up to grab a mic as the room assistant was passing them out. Anyways, I wanted to know what episode of his podcast left him the most satisfied and not for ratings. He answered that different episodes were special for their own reasons. And then went ahead to talk about how he got Michael Keaton on his show from an awkward encounter in a Florida airport.
I guess, what is really important is the newly formed connection and relationship between the guest and him. The journey is more important than the end of the start. Maron ended his hour-long keynote by saying that his podcast is unique as its listeners range from the ages of 25 to 75. It has no demographic, but rather caters to people with a disposition.
