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| Marc Maron |
Welcome to a new recap series on the IFC series Maron in which comedian/podcaster Marc Maron lives life and tries to learn how to be a better person. To pay homage to the series, these recaps will be released on Tuesdays and chronicle the various life lessons that are presented in the 30 minute format on a weekly basis as well as a meter that determines just how angry our protagonist seems to be. Join us as we tackle the psyche of the popular angry man and pray that he doesn't lose it entirely.
Plot: Marc Maron lives life by discovering that his ex-wife has a new boyfriend, his cat Boomer is sick, and he is on a quest to juggle an interview with comedian Dave Foley and taking down an angry online commenter named DragonMaster (Matt Mira).
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| Left to right: Dave Foley and Maron |
Guests Review: The big names this week are Dave Foley and Matt Mira. Of the two, fans of Maron's podcast WTF will know that Foley has had a long, complicated past. However, his sad, stumble-bum, burrito seeking self is the real voice of wisdom on the show, demanding that our star get a life. Mira later backs up this statement in a less interesting role that helps to only devolve the episode into a bunch of nerds quoting Kids in the Hall. Almost everyone in the episode seems somewhat pathetic, which only hurts this episode and makes it seem like a world full of miserable characters in between the darkness of Louie and the familiarity of a CBS show.
Anger Meter (7 out of 10): If it wasn't for episode 2, I would be rather worried about this show. As a devoted fan of his podcast, this has become my most anticipated new show of the year. However, if you were to judge everything based on this episode, it could be summed up not necessarily as an introduction, but as an angry old man yelling at people to get off his lawn, or in this case, the internet. He's consistently angry, and very little of it feels resolved at the end. This feels like an episode more about him trying to take down critics by taking down nerds, which weren't even that interestingly portrayed. It is a meta concept, but one that ends up making him seem like a bully instead of the frustrated protagonist that he should be.
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| Matt Mira |
We good?: As I have established, this episode was rather lackluster and featured too much complaining. While the internet trolling community is definitely a nuisance, Maron's approach doesn't necessarily come off as interesting and instead just feels like old established stereotypes. By picking an easy target, it only helps for Maron to come off as an uncomfortable curmudgeon and drowns the comedy out of the episode. It feels too self-involved, and as an introduction to his universe, not one that leaves much to be desired. While it is nice to see the show sticking true to the podcast roots, there's a sense that maybe the show should be looking at ways to translate it to the TV format better.
Rating: 2 out of 5
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