The road to HBO’s Marc Maron: From gloomy to dark began during the pandemic when the comedian began sharing his grief with fans via Instagram. The longtime comedian and podcaster was devastated by the sudden death of his girlfriend Lynn Shelton and needed a place to vent.
“It was a way to connect with some kind of audience or community,” Maron recalled at Saturday’s Contenders TV event. “Hundreds to 1,000 watched me go through breakfast and grief every day. It was crazy.”
In the end, Maron spent two years developing material on aging, anti-Semitism and grief in particular. “It’s not talked about enough,” he said about the grief he started talking about in small halls. “Everyone has to deal with it at some point. Sadness will always be there.”
And now Maron calls From gloomy to dark – his first HBO comedy special filmed in front of a live audience at New York City Hall – his best work to date.
“It’s really hard to get this stuff to work,” Maron said. “This is the most complete work I have ever done and the most down to earth. Despite the subject matter, this is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.
That’s not to say that he didn’t have times when it was extremely difficult to talk about his late girlfriend. The writer/director passed away in 2020.
“I’m talking about losing someone. It wasn’t fun,” Maron remembers when he first presented parts of the special in smaller venues. “It became a support group. I would suffocate. How do you balance a joke about visiting her body the night she died? Working on some of these things was still very emotional. I had to find that balance.”
“I’m not an arena act,” Maron said. There’s no way I’m going to be that guy. I’m not even sure I became an entertainer. I [use it] to come to your personal truth. It was about being seen and making people see things differently. It is a noble profession.”
Check back Tuesday for the panel video.
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Source: Deadline
Ashley Root is an author and celebrity journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a keen eye for all things celebrity, Ashley is always up-to-date on the latest gossip and trends in the world of entertainment.
