Episode 1674 - Tim Heidecker

**Marc Maron** (0:00)
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All right, let's do this. How are you, WTFers? What the fuck buddies? What the fuck, Nick? What's happening? I'm Marc Maron, this is my podcast. Welcome to it. How are you doing? The first episode of WTF was posted 16 years ago today. 16 years ago today, 16 years. And I remember at the beginning of this show, when we were doing it in the old garage, when I'd moved it to to Island Park, and it was still just a garage, there was just clutter in there and a table and my MacBook and these big clunky microphones. I have measured my life through Shure SM7 and SM58 microphones. That is really the truth. TS Eliot may have done it with coffee spoons, but for me, it's been SM7s, SM58s on stage and in my garage. But there at the beginning, it was totally new. I remember at the beginning where I thought ads would diminish what we were doing. I don't really ever call myself punk rock and I don't see myself as punk rock, but I do remember it was a big adjustment for me to actually start doing ads on the show. I guess my intention to make money, I just wanted to do this thing that not many people were doing and it was all new and I thought ads would clutter it up. I made an exception for Just Coffee and I made an exception for Adam and Eve because they seemed like scrappy companies. But obviously, over time, it became clear that not unlike other broadcasts, ads were going to generate revenue. We tried a lot of different ways to generate revenue. But I do remember, not only was it a big concession for me personally, on some level to do ads, but also that I did not want to be seen as an interviewer. I wanted to make sure people knew I was a comic. And the first few years of this show were fraught with me realizing that the show's kind of impact was about me having conversations with people. And I just was like, but I'm a comic. And that's really where the monologues came from. I knew they didn't have to be funny, but at the beginning, I was going to try to be funny every time. But then I realized it's a much broader kind of outlet or medium for me to explore who I am. I have measured my life through this microphone and through the microphones I use on stage in a very real way. It's all there. Some days I think I should check back in with it. I mean, when I think about those early episodes, when I think that we have done, however many we have done, 1600, oh my God, where are we at now? 1600 and what? What is it? Episode 1673 last week. So this is 1674 And to look at the fucking guest list is, I can't believe it because my memories are just relative to those moments. And just like anybody else, 16 years ago, and to think that I've gone through, you know, three cats have passed. One was taken away by an ex, one was taken away by coyotes. I had to put down a stray cat that was sick. Another feral cat died under my old house. Another one was hit by a car. Another feral was hit by a car out in front of the house. The deaf black cat who many of you remember from the old days, he was taken away by coyotes. You know, I've gone through several different relationships. I've gone through people passing. I've gone through guests passing. I've gone through my own turmoil, professionally and personally. And it's crazy. It's crazy. When I look at this, it's in alphabetical order on the site under WTF People. I mean, it's fucking nuts. I got to be honest with you. Some of these people I don't remember talking to. And that's sort of sad because Brendan's a guy, Brendan McDonald, he remembers a lot of them because he spends a lot more time with them. I listen to, the only time I hear these episodes is when I'm doing them. And it's crazy. I mean, I'm just looking at just strange ones. I mean, I'm looking at this list. I can't even reel off names because there are just so many. I'm looking at Alan Alda. Oh yeah, Alan Ruck, Alan Bursky, Albert Brooks, the Daniels, Danny Boyle. God, what? Jed Mayhew from the Zig Zags, Jeff Bana, rest in peace. Jeff Bridges, Mark Rebo, the guitar player, Margot Price, who I still kind of follow on Instagram. Oh, Rosie Perez, Roy Wood Jr., Sally Kellerman, rest in peace. Sally Struthers, wow, Sam Elliott. Well, that didn't go well. Mary Mack, what's Mary Mack up to? Oh my God, Matt McCarthy. I can't believe this. Jim Short, rest in peace. Oh boy, Jimmy Walker, crazy. I just, Michael Chickless, Michael Douglas. I cannot believe this list of people, people. I cannot. Drew Carey, Duff, Dylan Moran. Oh, Ed Krasnick. I just saw him in The Sopranos. What's, I wonder what he's up to. I can't, it's all, it hasn't flown by, but it is kind of crazy. You know, my commitment to this thing, with such an urgency, with such a focus that I think a lot of what I have is, it must be some sort of, you know, PTSD. Cause that's 673, 74 episodes, every one of which I experienced some sort of mild to deep panic going into them. And I was fully engaged in all of them. I've never been able to autopilot. And I have to assume that that's not trauma, but it is a lot of energy and a lot of output. And I remember when we moved out of the old house and moved into this place, just the panic of getting the sound right in this place. And now people come over and they're like, is this, is this where Obama was? I have to say no, but that is the chair he sat in. And sometimes I'll take people upstairs into the office in my house, which is really where all of the original artifacts and books and everything that cluttered the old garage reside now. And I have to be honest with you, that room, which I don't spend enough time in, is a magic room in my house. There's a piece there that I don't know if it's because of the house or because of the history, or if I'm going to get mystical because of whatever may have happened in that room. But I've grown to believe that it's probably because everything that really is the history of that show, the original bookshelves, the books, the tchotchkes, the bits and pieces of ephemera that were cluttering in a fairly organized way, the old garage are all up there. And I guess when I want to feel the weight and depth and kind of beauty of the history of this show, it's up there now. And sometimes I sit in there and it's almost meditative. It's almost like a kind of piece comes over me of something that was important to me and very deep to me, but also very deep to everybody else who listened to it. It's kind of crazy because time is garbage now and attention is garbage now. And our sense of time has been completely fractured by the gift of technology that we hold in our hands or sit in front of all day. I really think it's kind of fucked with it. But I do find that in these moments of quiet, that time is, the past is hard to reckon with, because all you have are bits and pieces of memories and moments that get rearranged and reinterpreted and embellished in your mind. But again, I do know that if need be, if I need to check in with me, I can go back 16 years and start there and just listen to the life I've measured through Shure SM7 microphones here in front of these sound waves and across from 1670 some odd people over the period of 16 years. It's all there. It's all in sequence, not my mind, but in the world. Yeah, heavy business. Today, Tim Heidecker is on the show. He's been on a couple of times. Once by himself, once with Eric Wareheim. And he's softened. I found him very kind of intimidating in some weird way because I never knew whether or not he was fucking with me. But he sort of settled into himself. He's a nicer guy. He has a weekly streaming show called Office Hours as well as the on-cinema show he does with Greg Turkington.