Marc Maron
Appearances
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
It was like, we didn't even know how to get people to listen to it.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
No one cared. I wasn't. Yeah. I wasn't even a meme at that point, but it worked out. I mean, you know, thank God it worked out. I don't even, I can't even explain it because I don't, I'm not like a big, not a big thing. I don't think about money, David. Yeah. Oh, you don't like having it enough to eat. Yeah.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
You know, like that's, that's the, that's how my brain works is like, well, what do you have? You have money now. What do you do? I can eat wherever I want.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
So that's interesting about Neil Young is he really, he kind of held back on what seems to be about 50 records he never released. So he somehow or another, he can release records every year or so, you know, from 1970. And it's amazing.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Something like that. Yeah, it's like about 1,600. But Neil came over once. That was interesting with Neil.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I didn't hear that one. Well, because I, you know, I'm enough of a fan to know enough about him. I'm much better if I'm not a big fan of somebody in terms of interviewing. And I didn't know what to expect. He was out pushing. Remember when he made that, he was partnered up with a company that made that thing that was supposed to compete with the iPod? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Do you want me to just send you a link to a map where everybody can... No, drop me a pic.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
No, it was like a box. Yeah. Like a portable box. Oh, what was it called? So they send me this thing and they send me these fancy ear headset and it's, it picks up a bigger spectrum of sound and people have to rerecord for, but what was it called? It doesn't matter. So they send me, they send me the thing and, And I listened to it. I'm like, all right, whatever.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I just want to, I'll talk to Neil Young. So, so he, they sent me the thing and there, and I was told that like, when they get there, you're going to have to give it back. And I'm like, all right, whatever. So Neil Young's coming over and I'm nervous because it's fucking Neil Young. And like, I, I know that with somebody like him, because I'm not a huge fan, every Neil Young nerd in the world is,
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
is going to be listening for, for new information or call me an idiot for not knowing something. That's something I've learned with, with guys like Springsteen, these guys interview. So Neil comes over with his like 80 year old posse. He's got, he's got two, two guys with him that, you know, must've been in their seventies. Elliot, his manager who passed away and another guy.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Oh yeah, yeah. Except for George Shapiro, who was Carl Reiner's cousin, younger, but still old. I don't even know if he's still alive. Was it called Pono? I think he passed away. Pono, yeah. Pono, yeah.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Pono Music, yeah. So they come over and Neil walks in and you remember the house. You said it, like it's just two rooms. He's looking at my records. He looks at a guitar I have out. He goes over and he plays the guitar. And he's looking around. And I say, all right, so I guess you guys can have back the Pomo and the headphones. And Neil just goes, no, you can keep them. So I'm thinking, I'm in.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
This guy likes me, right? So we go out to the garage.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And I decided the way to the way to start with him is just I have an old amplifier that I think he uses one similar to it. So I figured that would get things started. Right. So I get Neil out there and I'm like, so you probably recognize that amp there. Right. He's like, no, I don't know what you're talking about. And I'm like, fuck. And then it was just, well, he did though. But I didn't know.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
No one told me he likes to fuck with interviewers. So he's making me work my balls off. And it wasn't until I got him laughing that it opened up. But it took like 15 minutes. And it was like, it was hard. But then like all of a sudden he pops open. He's talking about doing Pilates with Daryl Hannah. And all this stuff is coming out. And then apparently he goes...
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
home and at his house dan rather is waiting to interview him for dan rather's podcast i don't know access or whatever that was right yeah cable yeah and my buddy brendan's friend works for rather and apparently neil young walks in and he come from my house he says i just did a really great interview And Dan Rather, off camera, of course, says, what made it great?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
He goes, the guy was fearless and he wasn't afraid to fail. And I'm like, hey, that's good. That's a good blurb. Wow. But he tested me. He definitely tested me. Wow.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I still got all that. A little more spread out. Before, that was less than 1,000 square feet, one bathroom. If you had to go to the bathroom, you had to go into the same bathroom that I use.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I I get what I get is like, fuck, I forgot to cover the most important thing they're known for. Yeah. But but I interrupt all the time and people sometimes get on me. But it's like for but for me, it's like it's got to be a conversation and I have to be part of it. So suck it up or don't listen. But McCartney was funny. I had to interview him in front of a crowd.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And that was really one of the best moments I've had talking to somebody. because I talked to a lot of these guys who are like, you know, pushing a record and, and a lot of them like Roger Waters or like, I've interviewed a lot of Thomas Dolby, whatever. They think that the record they're out promoting is their best shit. Right. And it's like, all right, I'll play along. So,
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
So with McCartney, he's out selling, it was a Capitol records. It was an event, but the record that he had had out was Egypt station or something, which no one bought. But I said to him, I said, so Paul, You know, a lot of artists who were in your age group, they really think that they're doing their best work now. Do you feel that way?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And without missing a beat, he goes, well, I was in the Beatles. So that's a pretty high bar. It was so funny. That's great. And I was the guy that told them that Manson had died. He didn't know.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Beatle was great. And I met Ringo recently, who I'm sure you've met. He's a pretty sweet guy.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah, I met him at some odd listening party that I got invited to by T-Bone Burnett of Ringo's new country record. And that crowd was pretty interesting to see these like 75-year-old hippie girls who are still kind of hippie girls, but they're 75. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah, just put it out. Yeah. Yeah. T-Bone Burnett produced it. And I think he... Now, Beyonce did. I think she got a little more press. But... Mm-hmm. But no, for me, the North Star, I've had most of them. Springsteen wasn't... Springsteen was funny because, you know... And I just saw him because I did a little part in that movie they're making about him. But I flew... I went to Jersey, dude.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I went to his house in Jersey, like Christmas week, and he just put that book out. And, you know, it turns out he's a very dark dude, very hard on himself, but all this stuff. But like, you know, he's got this thing he does publicly. That's the other trick, getting around people's public personas. Because, you know, Bruce is sort of like, hey, me and the guys went down the boardwalk. Yeah.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah, yeah. It's the underbite. I get there. And like I said, he's up in his house. I'm waiting in some sort of like this other structure that's got his guitars, his motorcycle in it. And I'm waiting for Bruce. And he, yeah, he has no idea really. I don't think who I am because he's walking down. He's walking down from the house. His publisher and publicist said, you should do this one.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And he's walking down from the house. I just see him coming down little Bruce. Yeah. And he's holding the book and I'm like, Oh, he doesn't know what he's getting into. So he sits down and I'm just trying, I want to break the ice quick. Cause again, I don't, I'm not, I love Bruce, but I'm not a huge Springsteen fan. So, So I said to him, I said, so, so what's going on up in the house?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I think you can fuck a house. It really just depends on where you enter. I saw a thing on A&E about it.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
We had a preparation for the holidays, cooking and presents. And he goes, correct. And I'm like, can I talk to that guy for the whole hour? Whoever the guy that just went correct with that tone. I want that.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah. I kind of reeled him in because like, I, by inserting myself into the conversation, they kind of, they're forced to kind of reckon with me unless they're complete douchebags like Ben Kingsley.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
It was the worst interview. Like I should have told him to leave. It was that bad. And I don't know why I didn't because he's hung up on me. I'm being called a night. Sir, sir, Ben. And I didn't do that at the beginning. And I wish I said I wish I just said, Sir Ben, we don't have to do this. We don't have to do it.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
But anyway, with Bruce, I kind of pushed in, you know, and to the point where I was relating to him and his experience with audiences and stuff. And I just remember there was this moment where, you know, we're talking about what you get from an audience and how like it is. It's like not enough sometimes. And he was like, of course it isn't.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
So I had him locked into a real conversation, which, again, I heard from another person. I got some notes on that, too, because Paul Wilkenfeld, you know, the bass player. She's a little prodigy. She plays with everybody.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And she hangs around the store a lot and stuff. Well, she was going on a press tour, and she, I guess, was somewhere with Bruce. And she was asking for advice on how to handle interviewers. And, and Bruce told her that no matter what they want to talk about, you just talk about what you want to talk about. Just, you know, bulldoze.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And then she said, well, you know, my friend Mark Marin interviewed you and he said, yeah, he pushed.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
The best dance he does is around his dad probably being a Nazi. That's the great dance because he'll always preempt that with like, you know, I have many Jewish friends, you know, like, okay.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
He has a relationship with the kids, you know, and I think you, after a certain point, you just kind of focus on that because whatever the transgression was, he's, he's owned it and you know, he's, he's, he's good with the kids. So,
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Oh yeah. Well, that was the great thing about talking to Arnold is that he won't let you do that. He's got a switch in his head. Like he won't even hear it. Like, you know, and he's very charming. Like he, you know, like he, you know, he gets on, he sits down, he goes, look at your pecs.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And you kind of feel flattered. You're like, oh, thank you.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I think most people were still kind of like, what is a podcast exactly? Where do I got to go? Yeah. Totally. It was 2012, right? So it was nowhere. It was 16. Still nowhere. The number of people that used to come to that old house would drive up to my driveway and literally say like, where are we? Is this part of LA? I've never been out here. What are we doing?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I think his heart kind of blew up, didn't it? He had some work done in there.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I don't know what, I think Todd Phillips convinced himself that he was actually an artist of some kind and decided to take this interesting cinematic risk that, you know, you know, failed miserably apparently, but I didn't see it. Did you?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
The interesting thing is, is he, he had a, you know, he'd rebuilt a good franchise possibility by really exploring that character in the first one.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And, you know, uh, it was, I don't know. Yeah. He was nice to me. And that was an exciting day because, you know, I got to do like a little scene with Robert De Niro and, uh, You know, I thought that movie was pretty good, that first Joker. But who the hell knows why? You know, he's a gambler, dude. You know, he just is like, you know, fuck it. Sure. Let's do it. And yeah, I don't know.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Dude, he got a back end on everything. He's like, I think, known for going a director's fee. Super back end guy. Yeah, for a high percentage of the back end. But that scene with De Niro was like, that was, that was a great, that's a great moment for me because, you know, I, you know, I know that De Niro is not, he's not going to remember me.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
You know, I'm just one of those guys that he's met a hundred guys that do two lines with him. Right.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah. And I know it's painful, but, but we're chatting and whatever, you know, but it's one scene where we do a walk and talk, you know, and I'm supposed to be like, you know, his producer.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
It got cut out, but, uh, but then, you know, we, you know, Todd's there and Bob's there and it's like, you guys just want to go, you're ready to do it. And I'm like, yeah, let's, yeah, let's do one. So, so we do this walk and talk and I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And, uh, yeah. And Phillips goes, cut. And I go back to my chair and I see Robert go to his chair.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And I see Robert walk over to Todd and then walk back to his chair. And then Todd walks over to me and he goes, hey, you're coming in a little hot. Just remember Bob's your boss. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I got it. But you got to appreciate the fact that Bob handled it correctly on set. He wasn't told the director like, Hey, you know, I think he said, you know, he's, he's not really.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
That's interesting though, right? That's interesting because she said, kiss me like she's your girlfriend. But apparently the intimacy of the hand touch was not something she anticipated. Or maybe she just has never had a boyfriend that she let touch her face. Yes.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
You never know what's going to happen with those things, you know?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah. Rich Voss was right after Obama. That was tough to get him out. Yeah. It gets hard sometimes.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah, yeah. I'm improvising. Can we improvise?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah, I don't know if I said something to piss him off, but it was like, come on, dude. You know, it's like, just roll with me. Give me something. For fuck's sake. I got to look at your face for an hour. So... He's got a lot of character in his face. He's a great character. It's not a negative thing necessarily. It's intense. Not necessarily. It's an intense face to stare at for an hour.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
But no, in terms of nerves, I think doing the podcast helped me a lot in humanizing these people. Because after a certain number of celebrities you talk to, you're like, wow, they're just people. And some of them aren't even that interesting. So knowing that going in... It's true. And it's not a bad thing, but I seem to qualify a lot of things. That's not negative. No, it's positive.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
We just thought it was appropriate to continue what we were doing. We did one episode where me and my producer discussed the day of having Obama on the podcast, and we went right to Rich. And Rich is going to pull what he's going to pull. It's somewhere lower middle. It's okay.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I'd like to talk to him, but he's one of those guys I can't get. There are certain directors that are hard to get. He's got more chatty. Who are we talking about? I missed it. Bob De Niro. Oh, but like in terms of nerves, I was more nervous when I had to... I just did an indie where I had to play the lead. And that was a real... I was nervous about that because...
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I knew I had to carry the movie, but I'd learned a lot of lessons from a lot of actors, and I was pretty confident. And then I had to do a scene with Sharon Stone, and it was a life-changing, terrifying thing that was kind of amazing. And I was nervous to do a scene with her. She's kind of intimidating. She's a big star. That's a big star. Big dude. Big star.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I think I got to save the story for when and if the movie ever comes out because I told it and I don't want to necessarily spoil anything. But she did the movie because she likes me. And it's one scene. And it was great. And Lily Gladstone was in it. Alan Ruck.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
michael mckean played my manager um love him yeah the what's his name jason is it jason no it's not jason no the kid from um oh now i feel bad oh he was so fucking funny silver spoons bateman no you know the one who used to do the apple commercials was involved with you barrymore for justin long justin long oh justin long
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
No, no, I'm not in the business of sandbagging people. It's not our jam. That's our business. Well, that's good. I hope I gave you enough ammo. Just a little sand. Not enough for a bag. Almost always, I would say always, it's only because they said something about somebody else. That probably couldn't have even been taken in a negative way. It's never...
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
we like them yeah like just like you know i didn't have to say that about you know we're kind of friends yeah yeah yeah it comes off funny and then later they go what if they get mad or what yeah yeah and people do get mad everyone's talking too much that's the problem with everyone having a fucking podcast it's like you know actors you know are just coming out with like well 20 years ago it's like oh my god we can't get out from under this thing no one shuts up anymore
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah. Or people talking about moments they had with people like 20 years ago. Not even that. Just like awkward moments. And it's like, why'd you even have to do that? I mean, what was the point? Oh, yeah, yeah.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Right. Well, no, that's a problem. But with Robin, trending hadn't happened yet. So, and it was quite a lot of hoops to jump there just to get him to do it. And yeah, You know, it just worked out because I was a comic and I'm also like a dark side and there was no one else there that we got this conversation. And thank God we did, because it seems to be the only one.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
He literally talked about depression, addiction, suicide at the end. Both him and Jonathan Winters did riffs on suicide at their interviews. And Jonathan Winters, that was crazy. I went to Santa Barbara to talk to him.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I don't know if he... I don't know if he thought about it like that. Rich is a good guy. I don't think he gives a shit.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Jonathan Winters. He passed away in character, which is weird. So it's not clear whether he really dies.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
He was out there, dude. He was like out there. I had a beautiful moment with him in his house. I always tell the story. I don't know if it really lands. So that's a good setup.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And you're talking, you know, he's like, he's got this sort of weird, you know, childlike, you know, thing that, you know, he, in his house, they had moved his bedroom because he was kind of hobbling around with a cane and he wore a, like a union army colonels brimmed hat. But we, we were walking down this hallway. He wanted to show me, What he said, I want to show you the planes, right?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
So what that ultimately was is that he has this four-poster bed in this bedroom and hanging from the ceiling are all these model airplanes, right? That's the destination we're heading towards. But we're walking down this hallway past just pictures from a career in show business. There's Jonathan Winters in every star you could imagine.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And then he stops and he points to this old-ass picture of this boy with a puppy. And he goes, I miss that dog. And I was like, oh my gosh. You know, like this whole life of entertainment. And that's what, you know, the dog, he's a little kid. Sweet, right? That's supposed to be sad, David.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Here I am here. Have you watched any of those? Not the Dean Martin roasts, but there's footage somewhere. I don't know where I found it. Some streaming service of actual Friars Club roasts. That were done. Oh, yeah. I might have seen one. It's always the same guys. And it's not a great day as Henny Youngman's always there. And they literally have him on.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
It was really like Carolla was there. Rogan, I don't think started at the same. I think Rogan started a little after us. But like Jimmy Pardo was there. Benson was probably there. Maybe Hardwick was like starting out. But I think Rogan started a little after me. But there was like four or five guys collectively not making money doing podcasts. You know, Todd Gloss is good at not making money.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And you can tell the reason they have him on is just because he doesn't roast anybody. He just does his horrible jokes. So they just have him on to bust his balls. What was so interesting about so many of those is just how horribly unfunny some of them are.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah. If you wrote it all down, you couldn't find a funny joke in there. Look at this. Is that no, that suit come with two pairs of pants and a hockey puck. What does that mean? Yeah. Right.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah, that's it. He was very funny. Give him a cookie. Yeah, the funniest line he used to live, when he did those roasts and there were some of the old Hollywood guys there, like Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart, he would say, Jimmy, I talked to the family, you're doing fine.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Jimmy, do you know where you are? Yeah. Do you ever see that? The Clint Eastwood roast? He said one of the funniest things and the most honest thing I ever heard. It was the best. It was one of those, you know, AFI big, you know, it wasn't a roast. The tribute. So he gets up, he says, you know, he opens with, I don't know why I'm here. I thought this was a tribute to Merv Griffin or whatever.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
But they've had a whole evening at this point. And he says, what a wonderful evening. He says, Clint, your son played bass. We sat through that.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Everyone kind of laughs. They had to cut to the kids who took it well in the moment, but probably not great.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
He's so funny. That older Rickles on Letterman with Denzel Washington, that is, that's so funny.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Well, you know, it was a little post that, but he just kept busting on Letterman, mumbling. He just he wouldn't let up on Letterman. Like Letterman opens with like you and Frank have been friends a long time and both your wives are named Barbara. Right. And Rickles goes, what are you, a detective? Yeah, I've seen that.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Those are good. Yeah, they're great because it was like everybody in Hollywood. It felt like Hollywood was like a nice little town full of these special people. And now they just let anyone in. Have you been roasted on the... Any of these roasts.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I don't mind being roasted. I had one of the worst nights of my life on the dais of the Chevy Chase Road. Oh, that's a famous one, right? Oh, you were at that one? Yeah, I was one of the guys. And, you know, all I can say, I could say more. But after that, I was in a room at that that fucking Hilton in New York with my buddy Sam, almost on the verge of tears, thinking like, I can't do this.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I can't do comedy anymore. I can't do it anymore. It was so fucking I bombed so hard, so hard. And I'm not good at that. I'm better at that.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I don't have the distance necessary to make it funny, but I had good jokes and thank God they sweetened the fuck out of it. But in the room, I tanked hard and so did a lot of people.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
He didn't want to be there. Yeah. He didn't want to be there.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And so- We got 20 guys writing jokes about everyone in this fucking room.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
But Jesus, Ann Coulter, that's like giving the evening cancer.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
There's our trender. There's our trender. Thank you.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Teflon's a diplomatic word for her. I can't think of a- Yeah.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
No, I think that's Todd's whole plan in general is to try to get ahead of making the money.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I don't mind getting hit. You know, I don't think I'm in the position, so everybody wise, to ever get roasted as an evening. But I don't mind. Here's a couple minutes roasting Mark Barron.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I seem to be pretty disengaged from Twitter. I don't do the other ones that much. I'll look at Instagrams and occasionally I'll look at messages or posts on Instagram. But I don't... And I do get emails sometimes, but I... I got out of that because they all, you know, a troll that's worth his salt is going to really hit you where it hurts.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
So, you know, and, you know, when you read them, the part of your brain that lives in this real, the real world we live in goes like, well, that's just part of it. But the really is sort of like, Jesus Christ, is that fucking true? And then you've got to process that. I don't have, I can't detach from it, but they land, but not for that long.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I can't watch my producer. He gives you notes. I can watch my own special. No, but my producer, like since we're still audio and that's our game, he's very meticulous, very brilliant guy. But the weird thing about not listening to the podcast and only having memory of the conversation is, Like, you know, that's fleeting. You know, you can only remember certain things from conversation.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
So if I ever have a question about something I discuss with somebody, my producer has become like my active memory because he spends a few hours with it and he remembers everything. And he's like, well, you talked to so-and-so about that. I have no recollection. And so I really need him just to be, you know, my functioning memory of these things.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah. And... The odd thing about the whole undertaking was none of us really, there was really no money to be made. You know, Adam was like doing his radio show. So he was kind of subsidized somehow.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
i know that's left over i didn't talk to the producer i already asked that question okay you give us two movies three days of the condor or alien oh wow yeah well you know you kind of kind of have to go with alien on those two i mean three days the condor is great but like i i would imagine you probably get a little more if you if you really kind of uh
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah, that was great. I've been watching a lot of movies. I'll go to the theater to watch movies. Like, I like going to the movies because I'm pretty close to the Americana. And I'll go see shit. And I watch the old movies. Like, I just watched The Conversation again because I didn't really get it the first time. I should watch that again.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah, well, look at you with the fucking Google.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Uh, no, but like, I remember seeing it years ago and I was like, this is slow because I didn't lock in, but like Gene Hackman doing almost anything. He's kind of amazing. It's unbelievable.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
It's like a Sidney Pollack movie. I mean, people don't realize that there are these movies that these geniuses made. So that's a full-on, just because it's a Grisham book, doesn't mean it's going to be hacky. I mean, Pollack did that movie, and the cast was crazy. Yeah. Crazy cast. Doesn't mean it's going to be hacky. Yeah, true. Well, what was the other one?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I mean, Coppola directed The Rainmaker and that's another one that's fucking great. Another John Grissom book. Yeah, but that's like, it's Matt Damon, Danny DeVito, Mickey Rourke.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
No, that's another one. That was, it was earlier, but the firm is, the firm is great. Terry, Terry Keeney. Yeah. It's great. And Wilford Brimley, Wilford Brimley. Oh, Wilford Brimley.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Gary Busey. And, and what's her name? The genius actress. Uh, Holly Hunter. It's not Gene Triplehorn. Oh, Holly Hunter. Gene Triplehorn, yeah. Triplehorn.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Fucking Ed Harris is in it too. It's an insane cast.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
He was all worked up and, you know, he was going to take his stories about, you know, drywalling from 20 years ago elsewhere. Yeah.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
No kidding, dude. But what else did I watch recently? I tend to watch, like, lately I've been like, I just want to watch the beginning of this to get a couple laughs, you know? And then I'll be up till two in the morning watching the whole fucking movie. Mm-hmm. I watched the other guys the other night just because I wanted to watch the beginning to get a laugh from those two. Will Ferrell.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
It's so fun. Yeah, that thing with The Rock. And what's his name? Mark Wahlberg. No, The Rock and what's the- Sam Jackson. Sam Jackson jumping off the roof. That is hilarious. And the two of them together. When Wahlberg focuses, man, he's good at comedy. He can do it, dude.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
How's this movie with you and Theo Vaughn? What's that about?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Don't go around and say- He seems like he's got enough juice. I mean, someone will see it, but I thought Burt had enough juice too to put his little movie over the top, but I don't think it got there. But I mean, you know, people will watch it. People like Theo, they like you. What comedies are just live streaming now?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
We're going- So old. That reminds me of like when- One time I was like, this is in the last five years. I was at the comedy store. Right. And out of the darkness, like Steve Kravitz just emerges. Steve Kravitz. Yeah. He's still here, dude. I saw him the other night and he's okay. You know, he's okay. Oh, good. It's funny. Yeah. He was funny.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
But like, I just remember he was like, it was like, you know, he's 70 something now, but it was just a few years ago. And he's like, I don't know how the business works anymore. Like, Hey, where do I set my tape? And I'm like, maybe the 1985? Maybe he sent the tape?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Oh, my God. I remember there was a booking agency in Boston called Boston Comedy Company. Barry Katz used to run it out of the basement apartment in a building in Alston. And one of the women who would get tape submissions and she she was dating somebody like we knew, like we got hold of a couple of the tapes. And there's this one tape of a guy that's clearly in his basement or in his bedroom.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And he's doing jokes and he's got a friend dropping a phonograph needle onto a laughter of a laughter track on a record.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
So you would do a joke and you'd literally hear the needle drop. Oh, funny. Pulled back up again.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
So, Oh, well that's nice to hear. I definitely, I did the work on that one. Like, cause like, I don't know how, like I, I always wanted to act, but I know I'm okay at it and I got better, but I still never, I'm still like, it's, it's, it's not, it's not necessarily an exciting job. I mean, there's a lot of waiting around, which makes me crazy for sure. But like, I was trying with that movie.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I didn't want to do it. And the director kept bothering me because I was still kind of fucked up. It was during COVID, you know, Lynn had passed away and, you know, they were, The guy kept bothering me, you know, and it's it's the role is like this kind of slightly beaten up Texan guy. And I'm thinking like you get like nine, nine or 20 fucking cowboy character actors. You can get to do this.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Why me? And, you know, finally he gets through, he gets me on the phone. He's like, well, I really liked the last season of Marin. I'm like, oh, so you do like me. All right, I'll try. And I told him, I don't know about the accent. He said, don't worry about the accent. And then I realized like, dude, if you're going to do this, you know, take a risk. No one's going to see this movie.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
It shoots in like two weeks on film out in the desert here. So I worked with a dialect coach. And this is funny. You'll probably get it, Dana. Yeah, you will too, I guess. Because it's just a reference that no one fucking gets. But I'm talking to the dialect coach. And I'm like, how do I do a Texan accent? She's like, well, there really is no Texan accent specifically.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
But I think we'll do Lubbock. And I'm like... OK, love it. So he sends me, you know, the phonetics and then she sends me some tapes of what I think are the Lubbock accent. And it's just like like a few like behind the scenes Grammy interviews with Mac Davis. And I'm like, this is the only example of Mac Davis. Yeah. Oh yeah.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah. He's a good, he's a funny actor too, but, but yeah, I appreciate someone saying that. Cause I definitely put the work in and I was willing to fail with the accent, but I think I did. All right. And the only reason I had confidence to do that was before I interviewed James Kahn, I was watching movies. of the early movies of his.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And all these guys try accents and very few of them are any good at it. So I'm like, well, fuck it. If he's going to take the hit, I can take the hit, you know? Yeah.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah, no, but the good thing about when you guys got in is somebody realized, like, hey, you guys have names you can't lose. Before, it was like, who the fuck are these guys?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
you know, it's, I'm glad I've had all the opportunity and I, and I keep trying to get better. What can you do?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah. Well, the joy thing, that's a whole other thing. I mean, less miserable, less miserable. And in terms of like talking about SNL, I didn't get it.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I don't think anybody really realizes the, the excitement in, you know, when you, when, when Corolla was like the only game in town, like, I think there's a sort of baptism when one goes on to Corolla's show to be talked at by Corolla. Right. That's a good hour of entertainment where you're there as a guest and he talks at you and then says, okay, well, thanks for coming by.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
It's something to be experienced. We're working on that.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Hold on. I'm watching my cat throw up. Don't eat plastic.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Well... No, I'm kidding. I didn't check. What happened was... There was, like, at the beginning, you either had, if you were going to put up a paywall, you couldn't get new audience, right? So we had done a radio show.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Yeah, goodbye wall. No one welcome. Right. Let's put up a goodbye wall on ours, Dan. You can do it. Well, that was before the, what is it called? What's that thing everyone does where they can get a pay page? Pantheon or what is it? Oh, Raytheon. We all don't know. You know that. I know what you mean. Patreon. Patreon.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
yeah so what we did was we had like two advertisers from the old radio days it was sex toys it was like adam and eve sex toys and we had crazy eddie's electronics that kind of thing but then we had the coffee sponsor but there was there was really no way to to to make money and except for the old school radio way and then ultimately we started working with old-timey radio ad people.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And then Jeff Ulrich and Scott Aukerman put Midroll together and the Earwolf Network. And that created a platform to get advertisers into specifically podcasting. So everyone sort of came up together, but it wasn't until I guess, hey, Charlie, get away from the plastic. Charlie, I'm going to throw you out, stupid. So that's how you talk to a cat, by the way.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I don't know. It was a slow going, but the great thing about it was everybody kind of came up together, sort of like show business. Everybody was kind of figuring it out as we all went along, and then big money got involved, and then some people won, and some people did okay. Come on.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Hold on, let me get him out of here. Let me get him out of here. This cat is magic.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I know. Get out. You can eat plastic and throw up. I don't care.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
But yeah, I mean, it took a long time to really get it together and then to to make a living. It took years for my producer to come on with me permanently. He was actually had another job at MSNBC while he was kind of moonlighting and he couldn't even admit that he worked with me.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
because there's a non-disclosure you couldn't you know he couldn't um oh i see yeah it was it was part of his contract with msnbc and i felt horrible about it because he's doing half the work and i and i just had to be like well i have a mystery guy that uh helps me with this i send it into the ether once or twice a week it's good more attention on you that's not horrible yeah yeah sometimes not for not great for me
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Well, I think the exciting part about it was as the podcast situation grew, I was doing a type of interview that not many people were doing anymore. So the entertainment press sort of realized I was doing most of their job. So we got a lot of attention. But I was really focused on having these conversations and trying to... you know, make amends where necessary.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I think the first hundred episodes are me just having people over so I can talk about my problems and apologize to them. And that's... And it's weird how many times you do that and people go like, I had no idea what you're talking about. And you're like, I'm a fucking idiot. So... So that was how that unfolded.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
But the excitement of having Robin on, because that interview seems to be like the only interview like that. Like when he died, it was everywhere because he never talked like that. And those kind of rare conversations definitely happened.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
That's hilarious. That was the amends. It wasn't even like some personal affront. It's like, I know you might've called your dick, Mr. Happy. Oh, that's the best amends I've ever heard in my life.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
It stuck with him. Well, the funny thing about that interview is I drove up there to Mill Valley to his house. And what I realized, it was the same with Mel Brooks, is that if they don't have more than two people to play to, they're not going to turn it on like that. Like it was just me and Robin. If there had been one other person there, they would have had the Carnegie Hall set.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I just want to stop the momentum. My dick's name is, you got this. You got it.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
my obsession with it what's your question david i i'd like to converse this one will we we can do this first or snl first but mine was why did you start it was it only to make amends was that to start a podcast no because you know i was kind of down for the count you know it turns out that you know 50 conans don't don't necessarily don't add up to a carson an audience.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
And I don't even know, like I could, I never could pull an audience. And, and you know, I was, I was going through a divorce. I was in a dark place. I just gotten fired from this radio gig. Well, it was, it was a streaming gig for air America. And there were a couple of podcasts out there and we were like, well, let's, let's figure it out.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
I talked to my producer who I've known since he was a kid, uh, 24 years old. He worked with me forever and we just figured it out, but it was really desperation and wanting to stay in the game somehow. Cause I was looking down the barrel at a lifetime of, you know, kind of, you know, be comedy rooms as a non-selling headliner and match game. Well, maybe, uh,
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
yeah i know i know i have friends that are in that mid-level market and there's cruise ships and old books homes and clubs off label clubs out in the hindrance doing what you gotta do tough but i couldn't do it there was no way i could have done it how am i gonna do a cruise ship i can barely do like what i don't know but because of the podcast because of the cosmic timing or what
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Everything that I have now came from that. Like, you know, doing the TV show for IFC, you know, drawing an audience for my comedy, acting gigs. Everything happened because of that sort of act of desperation and Hail Mary pass, which had no future. There was no, I wasn't getting into a business that was like, this is going to, we're going to really make some money on this.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Marc Maron
Since you did it? Because it looks familiar. This is a different house, but the stuff behind me probably looks familiar because all the stuff from that original garage is in this room.