Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Wednesday 21 June 2017
Comedian Marc Maron more than

talk on Netflix comedy ‘GLOW’

By FRAZIER MOORE — compulsively,” says Ma- marily fellow comedians.
AP Television Writer ron, teasing out similarities But over time he has ap-
NEW YORK (AP) — When and differences. “But he IS plied his conversational
Marc Maron heard about a little grandiose and delu- style (Maron bares all, so
a role that might be right sional. I’ve been THERE! each guest feels safe doing
for him on “GLOW,” a new “The way I approached likewise) to a much broad-
Netflix comedy about the part,” he sums up, “was er range of invitees, includ-
women pro wrestlers in the to honor the script, listen to ing even President Barack
1980s, he got busy. the director, and do what I Obama in 2015. Among
Well, he was already pretty know how to do as an ac- the most-listened-to pod-
In this April 11, 2013, file photo, comedian Marc Maron poses in busy as a stand-up comic tor the best I can.” casts, “WTF” gets more
New York. and the host of a popular Despite some 30 years in than 6 million downloads
Associated Press interview-based podcast, show biz, Maron, 53, readily each month, according to
“WTF.” And he was just concedes that his dramat- the website.
wrapping up four seasons ic career is in its infancy. As one of the best inter-
as producer, writer and star “But he’s a really good ac- viewers in the business, Ma-
of “Maron,” a TV comedy tor,” said Flahive, speaking ron keeps it low-key from
largely based on his life. by phone from Los Ange- start to finish: “The routine
Now he was bucking for les. “He has so much depth is, I meet my guest. They
the role of Sam Sylvia, a and humanity, it was a walk through my house.
chain-smoking, washed-up deep well we got to keep They use my bathroom. We
B-movie filmmaker who’s drawing from. He has real go out back and we do the
launching a last-ditch proj- chops.” thing.”
ect: a bare-bones cable “So much of it was a new Both his career and his per-
show to feature his so- experience for me,” Maron sonal life (which includes
called Gorgeous Ladies of says. “For one thing, I’ve two failed marriages and
Wrestling. Among the odd- never been around that a bout with drug abuse)
lot GLOW dozen he rounds many women! They were were at a low ebb when he
up are an elfin struggling writing, behind the cam- staked his claim as a pod-
actress (Alison Brie) and a era, all the other positions. cast pioneer.
has-been former soap star And the women in the cast But he realized that a pod-
(Betty Gilpin). The 10-epi- had already been working cast was something he
sode series debuts Friday. together for weeks to learn could do on his own, with
“I know the owners of an how to wrestle.” no investment and no
eyeglass store up the street Since “GLOW” is set in the one’s go-ahead, to stay in
from me,” Maron says. mid-1980s, its female cast the game.
“I pictured the charac- members were further “I was desperate. I was like,
ter in aviator frames, so I taxed by their characters’ ‘You’re forty-something,
borrowed a pair. I put on attire: unforgiving Jane- success didn’t happen.
a Lacoste shirt and shot Fonda-Workout-era span- Now, how are you gonna
an audition scene on my dex. survive?’ So I let go of my
phone.” “Every other second, they dreams. That’s when things
“We watched it,” said were ... readjusting their started to happen.”
“GLOW” co-creator Liz Fla- leotards,” says Maron with More than 800 podcasts
hive, “and that was it for genuine concern. “The and a career renaissance
us. We didn’t even need to chore of it!” later, he prizes “WTF” as a
bring him in.” The run-down gym with its form of talk therapy that’s
“I don’t THINK I’m that guy,” practice ring stood on an different from his no-less-
muses Maron, who during L.A. soundstage that, by self-disclosive stand-up
a recent visit to Manhattan odd good fortune, turned comedy.
isn’t wearing those avia- out to be near Maron’s “The podcast functions
tor frames but, instead, his Highland Park home — and in my life as an important
own pair of what he calls even more importantly, his emotional and social out-
“almost-round thinking garage, from where he let,” he says before con-
glasses.” continued to originate his ceding with a wan smile,
“Sam Sylvia isn’t fundamen- twice-a-week podcasts. “I’m still anxious and I’m still
tally neurotic and not very When “WTF” began in 2009, consumed with dread and
self-reflective, which I am Maron’s subjects were pri- panic sometimes.q

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