Marc Maron has been hosting the “WTF” podcast for 16 years and recently noted (via The Daily Beast) that his show was an early one that proved podcasts were a “viable medium” with global appeal. However, Maron is aware that means he’s also partly to blame for podcasts ultimately becoming another entertainment avenue that promotes toxicity.
“We weren’t the first, but in terms of making it a viable medium, we were certainly one of the OGs. We changed the world, literally. We showed the world that it was possible to create a specific type of show on one’s own terms,” Maron wrote in a blog post. “We helped unleash an exciting type of delivery system for pure self expression. Sadly, on some level, we also unleashed a format that can be used for dubious means, propaganda and pure evil. But hey, it’s not the atomic bomb.”
Maron added on a recent episode of “WTF” that his podcast and Joe Rogan‘s podcast were two of the defining programs that ushered in the larger era of the medium, although the hosts could not be more different.
“It’s just interesting to me, in the big picture of what’s happening and what this medium has unleashed, that me and Joe Rogan—we’re both in the system,” Maron said. “Two ends of the spectrum of podcasting, coming from the same source… in a now truly apocalyptic landscape.”
Maron has been openly critical in the past about how podcasts have become a medium that “normalizes fascism.” He called out “comedians with podcasts” in October 2024 amid the election for having “shameless, self-proclaimed white supremacists and fascists on their show,” saying, “all it does is humanize and normalize fascism.”
“When someone uses their platform for that reason they are facilitating anti-American sentiment and promoting violent autocracy,” he wrote in a blog post shared to social media. While Maron did not call out anyone by name, the post came three days after Rogan released an episode with guest Donald Trump.
In the blog post, Maron wrote the “anti-woke flank of the new fascism” is being “driven almost exclusively by comics, my peers.” He also pondered whether “greedy influencers and comics” are aligning with the “right wing movement” for “self-serving reasons.”
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
“Fascism is good for business if you toe the line,” Maron wrote. “Popular podcasts became tribal and divisive years ago. Now they may be in the position to become part of the media oligarchy under the new anti-democratic government.”
Before appearing on Rogan’s podcast, Trump appeared on a handful of other podcasts hosted by comedians such as Andrew Schulz’s “Flagrant” and Theo Von’s “This Past Weekend.” Trump also invited comic Tony Hinchcliffe, host of the “Kill Tony” podcast, to perform at his Oct. 27 rally at Madison Square Garden. Hinchcliffe drew backlash after referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
Maron announced earlier this month that he is ending the “WTF” podcast in the fall. The podcast launched in 2009.
From Variety US