Aug. 12, 2025

No, Marc Maron Hasn’t Suddenly Become Relevant — He Always Was (Bonus Commentary)

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac dives into the sudden wave of Marc Maron hype on Threads and beyond — and why it’s funny people act like he just arrived after 16 years of podcasting and decades of stand-up. From his HBO special’s Theo Von bit to his not-so-subtle Rogan critiques, Maron’s sparking a comedy culture war… but Johnny’s here to remind you this “new” Marc Maron has been here all along.

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Kalaroga Shark Media.

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Hey the Aaron Johnny Mack with another commentary episode. I'm

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not gonna start doing this every day. I just had

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two things on my mind yesterday afternoon. I dropped one

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about Howard Stern. Today is about Mark Maren and I've

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become just fascinated on comedy threads. It's like people discovered

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Mark Maron exists. He's the talk of Threads. You know,

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he's been around. He's had a podcast for sixteen years.

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You could have listened. One of the interesting side effects

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of all this says people are rallying behind Mark Maren.

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I keep seeing tweets like this one. You like Mark Maron,

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now good, It's deserved, but rewatch them. Jen Kirkman, she

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was basically blackballed for saying the same stuff over the years.

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Another one, Mark Maron is great for calling out Edge Lord's,

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but Jen Kirkman deserves way more credit. I mean fine.

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I know personally, I did a Jen Kirkman c K

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story once and she blocked me. So I don't know

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w come out. Bell has a substack. He wrote, there's

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a new comedy sheriff in town. If you're a comic,

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Mark Maron needs to know if you've been in the

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vicinity of Donald Trump love it. Bell writes about the

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bit from Maren's current special about if Theovonne had hitler

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On as a guest. I don't know if you've seen

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the special yet. It is fantastic. Bell writes, that's what

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I thought. This is it the resistance against fascist comedy

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finally goes mainstream. And it's true. I've seen other like

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minded comics aka comics with minds celebrate Maren's bit about THEO.

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As I type this, Mark Maren is a trending topic

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on threads. Yes he is, he has been. Let me

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just see what's going on right now. I'm gonna just

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search Mark Maron and see what people are saying here

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in top all right, just to bring this all together.

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And again, no script today, I'm just talking off the

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top of my head. Somebody named Sean Ryan Shark came

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at Jen Kirkman and wrote, thrilled you could make one

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of the most important moments in social media history about yourself,

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whoever you are. Jen Kirkman wrote back, yes on my page,

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what a sin, sir. Please go back to your male

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lonely epidemic. You do not have the critical thinking skills

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for my post. Mark is a friend of mine and

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he would agree with me not you enjoy your weekend,

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whoever you are. Apparently my post is doing well where

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I wrote It's a shame Mark Maron only started podcasting

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last week. People seem to like what the guy has

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to say. If you're on threads, I'm at Daily Comedy News,

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Jen Kirkman again. Sorry, I'm all over the place again.

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No script today? Was I blackballed? I don't want to

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spread false things. Maybe definitely harassed into PTSD better now

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and I've learned how to talk stuff online and make

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it fun. I honestly think I was mostly just ignored.

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But I do think Mark makes a bigger impact because

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he's more in the clubs with those guys. I always

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avoided them, so no one wants to hear from the

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chick who never occupied the same literal space. Mark Maron

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has a pretty big podcast and he's out promoting a

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product on HBO. That's why people are paying attention. Sean

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of Killy Posts. Mark Marin is arguably the inventor of

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comedian interview podcast and the dude going scorched earth on

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a lot of the people he influenced, but who've used

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the medium in the worst hackish way on the way

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out is kind of awesome. Jennifer right, smart man is right.

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Comedy used to be observational, introspective, and rooted in real emotion,

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bringing relatability and catharsis to the masses. Now it's protein shakes,

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peacocking and prepubescent punchlines for clicks. Alice Waterland, comedian posted,

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don't get me wrong, I'm glad Mark is doing his

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thing with an A, but being vocal about this stuff

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has probably negatively affected my career and has certainly affected

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my mental health. And now everyone is having a much

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needed conversation we've been begging you to have because he

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brought it up. It's the way it works. I wouldn't

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change a thing I ever said or did anyway. W

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camal Bell posts Maren has specifically chosen comedy podcasts that

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are friendly with the Trumpedians. He then plays a clip

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from Bad Friends. I played that same clip on the

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main show the other day, but since I have it here,

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I will play it. He's talking about somebody in Austin.

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Some people think it's Joe Rogan.

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As he's running half the planet out of Texas.

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Yeah, he's got a tight hold on the enlightened me, said.

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Dude, Maren's disdain.

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It's not a it's reasonable criticism, reasonable criticism. Ye, what

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do you think the Austin shelf life is going to be? Well,

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you don't know, Like I think that it's so effectively

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tribalized at this point it really comes down to material

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I mean, at what point, like, at what point it's

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like whatever they represented in terms of policy, and it's

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not a stretch.

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It's like they won trans people are frightened. They have

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no ability to get healthcare anymore, and they're afraid of

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being alive and have no freedom left. So that's done.

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When do you stop with the jokes unless you're a

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hack bell?

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Right, So, I'm old enough to remember the East Coast

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Rappers versus West Coast Rappers beef of the nineties. This

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feels like that, you know, I think he just kind

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of nailed it. Comedy comes in all forms, and some

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people like Maren, some people like Rogan. I like both.

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I'm also a free thinker. I listen to things and

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I go, huh interesting, where I go that's stupid? And

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I decide for myself personally, I thought Mark Marin Special

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was really funny. I thought the theo Vaughn Bitt was

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really good. As I've talked about guys like Andrew Schultz

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being like, I can't believe Trump lied. Yeah you think.

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I mean, I know, I'm supposed to go down in

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the middle myself and you're not. At l and A.

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People want to hear Schultz say that. I'm just like, really, dude,

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Bell writes, Maren is the perfect person to take on

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the Trump Medians and the entire Rogan sphere. No one

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can question Mark's comedy bonafides. He started a stand up

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career in the late eighties and he take no prisoners

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comedy scene of Boston. If Mark Maron wants to be

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the sheriff of America's twenty twenty five comedy scene, then

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we're lucky to have him. That's it, no real conclusion.

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I'm just fascinated by everyone just being like, oh, this

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Mark Myron guy has a lot to say, you think,

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uh yeah, And you know, Mark's wonderful. I'm going to

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miss his podcast. I'd love to get him as a

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guest someday that I have no chance right now. If

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he's doing the top shelves. But maybe you know, in

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eighteen months after he's been on a little while and

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he's doing something quiet, or maybe get down a movie

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junket or something. I would love to talk to him

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just in general what I would I didn't want to

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talk comedy with him. I've listened to him. I speak

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on his own podcast about living in Queens. That's what

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I want to talk to him about. I did throw

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deep one day. I have an old email from my days.

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It's sirious, and I just was like, hey, gonna take

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a shot here. I did not hear back. All right,

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that's a little extra commentary for today. Back in the

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Morning with a normal episode.