Episode 538 - Ian Karmel/Ron Funches

**Marc Maron** (0:00)
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WTF with Maron Podcast. All right, let's do this. How are you, WTFers? WTF buddies?
WTFineers?

**Ron Funches** (1:42)
WTFubbles?

**Marc Maron** (1:42)
WTFlberryfins, how's it going? I am Marc Maron, this is WTF. Welcome to the show. Today, double header. Portland, it's a Portland double header with Ian Karmel and Ron Funches. Now, the one thing about having these guys on today, I interviewed them at different times, but I put them together because there was sort of a theme to it in my mind, is that I know a lot of you realize that comics all know each other. Well, a lot of us know each other, but a lot of us came up together, and what that really means is that we were part of a comedy scene.
And when I was starting out in New York, it was very specific. I mean, there were comedy scenes in other places, but the primary comedy scenes when I was coming up, well, you had New York, you had LA, you had Boston, you had San Francisco. They had healthy comedy scenes where you could live and work and do comedy and develop and maybe even make a little money. Now, almost every fucking city in the country has a comedy scene. There are comedy scenes everywhere. A lot of that has to do with the evolution of comic produced shows. There's a lot of alternative venues that have happened and changed the face of comedy. But these guys, Ian Karmel and Ron, both come from, and Ron Funches, both come from the Portland scene. There are a couple of generations behind me, but you talk to these guys, they both knew each other. And that one time Portland only had one club and they had a fight to get on there if they even got in there. But there were other areas, there were other clubs, alternative venues. I mean, and they talk about the other cats that are up there, Shane Torres, Sean Jordan, Whitney Street, Dwight Slade, who's actually of my generation lives up there, Augie Smith, Amy Miller. And there's like a whole world of comics up in Portland. Andy Wood, who put on the Portland Comedy Festival initially.
It's a thriving scene. And these are a couple of guys they've delivered.
Delivered.
That's right, Ian Karmel, Ron Funches were delivered to show business from Portland.
And that's why I have them bunched together, themed. I mean, when I was coming up, there was some great memories about being a young comic and living this life, which is a very peculiar life. It's an entertainer's life. You're up late at night. You're waiting to do spots.
By the time you're done with your evening, it could be one, two in the morning. And back in New York, it would be me, Todd Berry, Louis CK, Sarah Silverman, Jeff Ross, Dave Attell. We'd all end up at the Kiev, which isn't there anymore. Two, three, four in the morning, eating pie, eating ice cream, talking about stuff. That was the time when we really socialized. I mean, we weren't usually going home until the sun was coming up. And you could do that because we were fucking comedians. And there was something about those times. There was an innocence to it all. And to see how everybody turned out and how everybody evolved. And at that time, we were all trying to figure out why we were funny, how we were funny. But you had a certain camaraderie there and it kept you going. Comedians need that. You can't develop in a vacuum. It's very amazing that almost every city in the country now has its own scene and that camaraderie is available and that you can do that. I hope that all the places in the country have a lot of places you can eat late at night because that was essential to my development as a standup comedian.