WTF with Marc Maron (podcast)

[RoyalDutchOfDukes]

Yeah, the fact that he's so mercenary about what he does is one of the things I hate so much about him. It's similar to Leno's "I make my real money doing stand-up" horseshit in that the subtext screams "fuck you, pay me."

I mean, I'm not one of those people who begrudges comedians making some money doing shit I don't like (David Cross can do as many Chipmunks movies as he wants and I hope he gets to because he deserves the money), but I've noticed that pretty much every comedian I flat out don't like shares this attitude, and the ones I love or even just like all seem to do comedy because they like it. I don't get the feeling Carlos Mencia even likes comedy but realized he isn't going to get anywhere trying to take roles away from, say, Esai Morales, hence comedy, I guess?

[spriest]

Yeah, the fact that he's so mercenary about what he does is one of the things I hate so much about him. It's similar to Leno's "I make my real money doing stand-up" horseshit in that the subtext screams "fuck you, pay me."

I didn't get that at all.

Leno saying that he doesn't touch his tonight show money I feel is coming more from a place that he's proud he still makes his living doing stand up. Despite how broad and how much he goes for easy jokes while he's dong his time at the Such n Such Casino... I dont think he's saying "fuck you" to anyone by mentioning that he lives off his stand up money. And to be honest, when's the last time you've seen HIM mention that and not like, I dont know Jimmy Dore or Pardo?

And Mencia seemed to be coming from a place of "Do I really deserve all the hatred and vile I get? I don't think so!" And... he just may have a point, he's just a guy telling jokes I don't particularly think are funny. And nowadays I don't have to sit through 30 second commercials for Mind of Mencia... so I'd say he doesn't bug me at all. If there's a combative tone to his response to that stuff, it seems to be a response to a criticism thrown at him, one that he can (unfortunately) reference his popularity to invalidate that criticism at least a little bit.

Again, I don't like these two guys or their comedy, but I don't think they're saying "fuck you" to anyone in particular. That seems unreasonable to paint them with such broad strokes.

[PunditFight]

I'm totally with Spriest. I don't get the random hate sometimes. Different strokes for different folks. Some people might like hacky, mediocre jokes. In fact i'm sure most non comedy nerds which is 99.5% of the population probably do.

The same way I don't think Death Cab for Cutie don't worry about Nickelback musically or them cutting into their market. I would feel comedians or any artist have a similar plight. It sucks as far getting mainstream attention and airtime but its always been a sh1tfight.

I can see the vitriol for joke thievery. But to hate someone for doing a certain brand of easy comedy. More power to them, let them fight it out with that pool of generic comedians.

[JustinGoff]

I've actually scene Mencia live unintentionally. Robert Schimmel was at the Tempe Improv over a year ago. After the opener and middle, Schimmel was introduced, came on stage and said that he had a friend in town who'd be at Jobing.com the following night and wanted to do some time. Since this guy has always been free with his own time for cancer benefits Schimmel was invoved in, he was happy to oblige. Mencia did about 30 minutes. It was to be expected--the kinda jokes teenage boys tell in the schoolyard and hallways. Thankfully, Schimmel still did more than an hour.

A friend lent me a Mencia cd about 10 years ago with the promise that Mencia was hilarious. I listened to about half of it and turned it off. He hasn't seemed to change at all in the time between the cd and the live show.

That written, the WFT episode was compelling and Maron did a great job. Yeah, he let Mencia off the hook a little in projecting a couple answers, but that's not an easy interview. I agree with the sentiment that Mencia seemed a little like a fatcat testifying before Congress.

[Cupid Stunt]

Just downloaded the new ep....should I live tweet?

[Taul F. Pompkins]

he definitely seemd like he was making it all up and his stories about his family and shit seemed made up too. the interview had a really weird feeling to it and i can't wait for part two.

[smartbunny]

Wikipedia says Ned's mom is Mexican... I mean, you cannot trust that completely but I've read it in a few places. But he did not mention this in the interview.

[scamboogah]

Just downloaded the new ep....should I live tweet?

Nope. We can all download it and listen to it as well.

[Aaron1933]

It's insane to hear Mencia desperately hanging on to squeeze out any sympathy he can get as Marc repeatedly tries to wrap up the interview near the end.

This was like a little comedy Frost/Nixon. I really enjoyed it. Great work, Marc Maron.

[learnit]

It's insane to hear Mencia desperately hanging on to squeeze out any sympathy he can get as Marc repeatedly tries to wrap up the interview near the end.

Great observation. I was feeling for Marc because he seemed to be getting uncomfortable (some nervous laughter) as Mencia wouldn't give it up.

A really fascinating couple of podcasts. I admire Marc's ambition.

[Adult Ed]

Wikipedia says Ned's mom is Mexican... I mean, you cannot trust that completely but I've read it in a few places. But he did not mention this in the interview.

Yes he did. He said that his birth parents are both Honduran but that the wife of the uncle who raised him is Mexican.

[nathansmart]

wow - he can remember hours and hours of material that is not written down, but he just can't seem to remember doing 2 hours in front of his friend, seeing Billy Cosby, or any of the other stuff that people said he did (except when he was confronted face to face with Marc's personal story) - the most incriminating line from the interview was when he was talking about absorbing material from headliners and not open-micers - "even from people I stole from, supposedly" - those aren't exact words but the "supposedly" is the incriminating part, he tacks that on - and then he brings up that line from George Lopez that he "forgot" from the last interview? - wow

[davidlidsky]

Mencia may not really drink, but he was weaving all over the road on this one. It was hard to keep up with his shifting emotions/tactics. He sounded like that old Martin Short bit with the tobacco lawyer. I honestly wanted to come to a place of understanding with him in the first one, as I did with Robin Williams after Maron's interview, at least until he got to the Bill Cosby Himself stuff. This second chat left little doubt. Great job, team WTF.

[nathansmart]

I love it when Marc just starts laughing at all of Mencia's fake sorrow

[nathansmart]

oh, and what was it like in the room after the interview - "no way" to being Marc in that scenario

[nathansmart]

okay, I have to chime in here one last time for this - did anyone else just hear Mencia basically threaten every person that talks shit about him? He said that his friends all talk about kicking the asses of people who talk shit and he tells them not to - but - all the people that talk shit better realize that he's stopped a lot of bad stuff from happening to them.

this guy is a maniac

[MikThrontveit]

Mencia may not really drink, but he was weaving all over the road on this one. It was hard to keep up with his shifting emotions/tactics. He sounded like that old Martin Short bit with the tobacco lawyer. I honestly wanted to come to a place of understanding with him in the first one, as I did with Robin Williams after Maron's interview, at least until he got to the Bill Cosby Himself stuff. This second chat left little doubt. Great job, team WTF.

YES.

Here's what he does. He strings words together that he thinks sound good together. I suppose this is what all of us do, but the difference is that when most people talk they have real emotion behind the words (meaning: they mean what they say). He's a sociopath with no real personality of his own, so he mimics how he perceives people talk to each other. He mimics emotions that he observes other people having.

Just like he mimics other people's acts. It's pretty simple psychologically.

EDIT: Damn, I hadn't listened to Marc's rundown at the end. So he pretty much says this too.

[maxbarth]

Just listened to the second interview. Very interesting stuff, Marc did a great job.

Did the interviews change my opinion on Carlos Mencia? Not particularly - but they did show, I think, that there is some depth to the guy that he usually isn't credited for. I think he knows the type of material he does, understands why some people don't like it...but what do you expect, an apology for his comedic voice? People pay to see him, and he makes people laugh.

Obviously the joke-theft/"absorption" thing is a huge problem, and I think he never really owned up to it. I get the "sociopath" thing people here are expressing but it is very possible that he just keeps his emotional cards very close to his chest. It's interesting - on one hand he clearly has done a lot of negative things to other people in the business, on the other hand he has been so vilified and scorned for that behavior that he's probably been forced to really internalize it. The whole thing seems oddly cyclical.

EDIT: Then again, the threat at the end - "I've stopped bad shit from happening." - I don't think you get credit for NOT having people beat up people. That's bullshit.

[smartbunny]

Yes he did. He said that his birth parents are both Honduran but that the wife of the uncle who raised him is Mexican.

The wife of the uncle is Mexican? So that's not his mom; I was reading his birth mom was Mexican, but I suppose people could have mixed that up.

[Adult Ed]

The wife of the uncle is Mexican? So that's not his mom; I was reading his birth mom was Mexican, but I suppose people could have mixed that up.

He also talked about referring to his uncle and aunt as "mom and dad" because they raised him. [EDIT: I may be misremembering whether he said his birth mother or the woman he raised him was Mexican; I assume wikipedia has it right. My point was that he did mention that one of his parents/surrogate parents was Mexican.]

He does enough bullshitting that you don't need to look for extra things that he is making up.