Life Lessons From Maron: "Mad Marc"

Left to right: Josh Brener and Marc Maron

Welcome to the return of the 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 Saturdays 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: After snapping at a comic, Marc must learn to keep his anger under control.

A Line That Sums Up the Episode: "Comedy is not supposed to be tiring."

Maria Bamford

Guests Review: It's the return of Dave Anthony as Marc's friend who suffers from anger issues. He also decides to take on some mannerisms of Marc, which are quite comical. There's a nod to Jonah Ray and Kumail Nanjiani in this episode with its two fictional antagonists. Dave also has an anger room that is quite disturbing. The guest on his show is Maria Bamford, whose conversation talks about how the Kumail character is unflappable. Overall, a solid group of people who make up a rather mediocre episode.

Anger Meter: 7 (out of 10)

To be honest, this is the type of episode that I was expecting the show to have more of when I initially thought of this category. I expected the show to explore his rage more head on. In this episode, it gets to be front and center and while it doesn't feel as great as it has been in recent weeks, it does get to explore what makes Marc such a complicated character. Overall, the episode is too reflective of his behavior to be a perfect 10 and by the time that he comes around, there's other characters with high anger meters that are a little bit scary.

We Good?: There's nothing inherently wrong with this week's Maron. In fact, there's too much about anger in the character's DNA to make it ever capable to remove. However, when the show chose to focus directly on it, it produced one of the more odd episodes. It doesn't reach the heights or clarity of past episodes, but it does reach an interesting study of anger. Also, it is an interesting choice that he chose to deliberately comment on a situation involving Kumail Nanjiani that is kind of well known. Even the character's name is a little wonky when everything is considered. However, it still is a nice episode with enough good moments to remind us why the show is still pretty good.

Rating: 3 out of 5