Originally Posted August 17, 2011
I’m the 30-something guy that gets called a curmudgeon by his co-workers, yet still has a sense of humor – albeit one of very specific tastes. MARC MARON is the type of comedian that appeals to me for the simple fact that he seems a bit curmudgeonlyhimself. Sure, he’s pushing 50 (the new 30, I’ve heard) and being a tad on the grumpy side might be more acceptable at that age, but the reality is – he’s right about his topics.
The host of the highly entertaining WTF Podcast, Marc Maron is more of a raconteur than a traditional stand-up comic. He opens the New York-recorded set by surveying the crowd for New York Hipsters. A hater of handlebar mustaches and fedoras, he explains his “fuck you!” attitude toward a man whom he’d encountered sporting a handlebar mustache and wearing a fedora at the same time. Rather than doing a set-up followed by a punchline, he leads the audience as he weaves an entertaining and engaging set of stories. His delivery makes even the mundane problems of homeownership entertaining, right down to having to call Earl’s Rooter to clean out his “shit well” on Memorial Day Weekend, complete with the play-by-play from Earl – just as anyone who has ever called a repair person has heard.
Listening to Maron discuss a trip to the Kentucky Creation Museum “as a Jew that doesn’t believe in any of this shit,” is glorious. The 17+ minute bit is the centerpiece of the album (the rest of the tracks average 5 minutes) as he rips apart the morons that actually believe that the Earth is just 6,000 years old, and that “dinosaurs and people could hang out” once upon a time. His detail of the exhibits is astounding, none more-so than his discussion of three old testament characters that “couldn’t have looked more jew-y.” He goes onto say that Isaiah the Prophet, Moses, and Abraham, “might as well have been Sid Caesar, Gabe Kaplan, and Richard Lewis sitting there” as “Jews of the past.” As an atheist myself, I’m almost sold on paying a trip to the museum just to see a pineapple-eating T-rex and a penguin hanging out with Adam in the Garden of Eden.
Bottom Line: THIS HAS TO BE FUNNY really is.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
