STAND UP TUESDAYS: Marc Maron

April 30th, 2013

Angie Frissore

Stand-Up Tuesdays is a weekly comedy spotlight written by the wonderfully talented Angie Frissore. Covering both known and unknown comics, Stand-up Tuesdays is your new source for all things funny.

This week, Angie puts a spotlight on Marc Maron’s comedy career. If you or your comedy troupe would like to be featured on Stand-Up Tuesdays, please email utgjames@gmail.com.

Heralded podcaster and stand up comedian Marc Maron released his new book Attempting Normal (Spiegel & Grau), offering readers a very in-depth view of the thoughts and experiences that have shaped him into who he is today. Detailing Maron’s journey through “the wilderness of his own mind”, the book is a collection of addictively funny stories that are poignant enough to spark hope in anyone’s otherwise down-trodden mindset.

Many of the stories Maron weaves in Attempting Normal are not new to die-hard fans, as he recounts some of his early days starting out in comedy in Boston and shares intimate stories of the more turbulent moments in his relationships -though in print, Maron is able to maximize on his eloquence in painting these scenarios in greater detail. Throughout the book, Maron maintains a humility and self-consciousness that one can easily connect with. Marc’s struggles in both his professional and personal life are extremely relatable and endearing, and regardless of the source of his stress, one can only empathize throughout. I had the pleasure of talking with Marc as he was putting the final touches on the book only a few months ago.

“It’s sort of random type of biographical essays mostly. Some of them have to do with my life; there are some stories I’ve told before, some that have never been heard. It’s all little bits and pieces about my parents, about cats, about guitars, about sex, about marriage, there’s a little bit of everything in there. About comedy. I’ve been working on it on and off for about a year or something – I got the deal at the busiest junction in my life, so it was very hard. I ended up sort of amassing a lot of stuff and re-writing a bunch of stuff and dumping 90,000 words on my editor, saying, ‘Look, I know there’s about 60,000 in here that are good and that’s all you wanted, so, your job is to find the book.’ He sort of found it, and then he sent me what he found and I’m like, alright, this is good, I’ll chip away at this now.”

Despite his propensity to get nervous about things, Maron tells me that he’s in a really good place right now – and who wouldn’t be, with a brand new book and a series debuting this week?

“The TV show comes out in May, so it will all kind of happen at the same time, I think,” Maron cites. “I’m pretty happy with things, and that’s rare. I feel pretty good about what I’m putting out there right now.”

Attempting Normal is a must-have for fans of Maron’s podcast, WTF with Marc Maron, and a creative and intriguing read for anyone unfamiliar with Maron’s work. The book is available today at book stores and on Amazon.com.