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Comedian Marc Maron recently spoke up on the specials featuring comedians in the latest episode of the WTF podcast, which aired on May 1, 2025. In the beginning, the writer and musician began by speaking about David Harbour, addressing the close relationship they have shared over the years.
The actor then changed the topic, saying that people are living in a different kind of era since people have the freedom to speak whatever they want. He said that people like him, including his podcast producer, Brendan McDonald, love to create audio content. He further stated:
“In the world we live in right now, it is almost like analog. And I always felt that, as did Brendan, that this was the most intimate and most engaging format and remains so, that’s why we still do it this way. Because audio is kind of magic. There is an intimacy to it. That you live with it in your head.”
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Marc Maron mentioned that he is not involved in a battle involving memes and other things, including reels. He said that people like him do not care if he is featured in a viral video on any platform. The Simpsons star started speaking about “long form interactions and long form comedy is still the most human pastime."
However, Marc said that he is completely against the idea of comedy specials that continue only for 30-something minutes in certain situations. He added that when he started comics frequently did one-hour sets, but with time this idea was pushed that people need shorter content.
He said,
As time goes on, because of this this idea that don’t have the attention span anymore to watch long form anything. That the attention span of people, because of data accumulated through algorithms, then made into a generalization about human beings’ ability to pay attention, to engage with something for more than a certain number of minutes, is sort of like the precedent set, and I think it’s bullsh*t.”
The Reservation Dogs star alleged that many artists, including those who “talk for a living,” are reducing their work to a shorter format because it's "drilled into our heads" that people are distracted.
The 61-year-old asserted that short-form content, in turn, contributes to the reduction in attention span. As more creators adhere to this format, it becomes a requirement regardless of whether people want long-form content or not.
He then theorised that making short content favors corporations like TikTok and Instagram, which want to keep their audiences glued to their platforms. The veteran comedian claimed that artists are "bending their entire will and creative sense of self" to serve these platforms and their agenda by deliberately making their content algorithm-friendly at the cost of compromising their creative freedom.
Marc Maron has previously criticized comedians on another occasion
Back in October last year, the New Jersey native shared a lengthy statement on a blog post, referring to some comedians who also operated podcasts, as per Variety. He described the guests who appear on their podcasts as shameless and self-proclaimed supremacists and fascists.
Marc Maron alleged that the guests featured on the podcasts are normalizing “fascism”, adding that the hosts are also promoting violent autocracy at the same time. He continued by writing,
“It may all be self-serving. Greedy influencers and comics and public personalities and certainly tech companies want to align themselves with an unapologetic right wing movement that has no concerns for regulation or law or justice or decency or democracy to increase their earnings and put them in the seat of power.”
The Genie star said that he does not want the podcasts to be associated with the media oligarchy and that he is trying to stay as real as possible. In the end, he wrote that no one needs to destroy themselves in the “face of cultural annihilation” and advised everyone not to try to become something other than who they are in real life.
Marc Maron was last seen in the crime thriller film The Order and will next appear in the Apple TV+ sports comedy show, Stick. Apart from this, he has three films in the upcoming lineup, including The Bad Guys 2, Deliver Me From Nowhere, and In Memoriam.
