When Marc first met Andy Blitz during the rise of the alt-comedy scene in New York City, Andy still thought show business was magical. And why wouldn’t he? As he tells Marc, he was a kid who grew up in the rough East Village of the 1970s and found himself dealing with depression and panic attacks in college. Andy talks about how his days at Luna Lounge paved the way for his job as a writer and sketch performer on Conan, and how that in turn opened doors for writing on shows like Human Giant, Review and Master of None. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What was the New York alt-comedy scene like in the 90s?
And, you know, sometimes I like to reflect and reconnect. And I... I had seen Andy around occasionally, but he's kind of a mysterious character. But I thought, well, hell, let's get him in here after all these years and have a conversation. So he was working at Conan for years as a writer and he was in a lot of sketches. He's written for television a lot since then. You know, he told me he's...
He's going to be working on this new late night show. They call it Late Night, starring Jason Kelsey. That's going to be on Friday nights in January on ESPN. He's also writing for Ted on Peacock. And he's connected into the fabric of the great comedy blanket that I'm knitting. I'm at Largo in LA tomorrow night, Friday, December 13th, for a comedy and music show.
For those of you, I don't even know if there's tickets for that, but I can give you the song list. I can tell you what me and my late boomer slash Gen X cusp band are doing. I don't even know how old most of them are. I don't know how old anybody is. But the song list for tomorrow, I think we're going to do Stepping Out, the Blues Breakers version, so me and Jason can...
Chapter 2: How did Andy Blitz's career evolve from Luna Lounge?
play guitar cool and then we're gonna do what goes on by the velvet underground which is a favorite of mine and i just played it in new york so it's still in my head we're gonna do going going gone uh the bob dylan song which i find is very um relevant to my place in life now i think we're gonna do carmelita the warren zevon song because we enjoyed playing that before then we might step out on a limb
und versuche, Lust for Life von Iggy Pop zu machen, was leicht klingt, aber es ist sehr schwer für mich, diesen Beat zu halten, während ich singe. Wir werden sehen. Es ist entweder das oder Call Me The Breeze, die Lynyrd Skynyrd-Version der J.J. Cale-Song. Dann glaube ich, wir werden New Speedway Boogie machen. Das ist eine Grateful Dead-Song. Wie viele sind das?
Das scheint die meisten, nicht wahr? Das scheint eine gute Auswahl von Tönen zu sein. Well, I feel like there's one other one. God damn it. But yeah, so we're gonna, that's what we're doing. Friday night, I'm gonna do comedy. Fahim Anwar is gonna do comedy. I'm not sure who the other comic will be. We'll find out.
Chapter 3: What challenges did Andy face with anxiety and depression?
In the new year, I'm in Sacramento, California at the Crest Theater on Friday, January 10th. I'll be in Napa, California at the Uptown Theater on Saturday, January 11th. I'm in Fort Collins, Colorado at the Lincoln Center Performance Hall on Friday, January 17th. Then Boulder, Colorado at the Boulder Theater on Saturday, January 18th.
I'll be in Santa Barbara, California at the Lobero Theater on Thursday, January 30th. Then San Luis Obispo, California at the Fremont Center on Friday, January 31st. And Monterey, California at the Golden State Theater on Saturday, 31st. Am 1. Februar. Geht zu www.wtfpod.com für alle meine Dates und Links zu Tickets. Ja. Ja, das passiert alles. Ich muss diese Stunde wieder zusammenbringen.
Ich weiß nicht, ob ihr das wisst, aber wir haben eine HBO-Spezial-Taping auf den Büchern für Mai. In New York City, if all goes as planned, I'll let you know when tickets are available for that. There's also a lot of dates in other places. Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, South Carolina. Yeah, we'll get it in shape, maybe, if my brain continues to work all right.
Chapter 4: How did Marc Maron's perspective on comedy change over time?
Ich habe gestern einen Truck gefahren, ich habe einen Pickup gekauft, hatte die Kette, hatte ihre Sachen in einen anderen Ort geführt und ich fahre den Truck. Und, weißt du, ich glaube wirklich, dass es eine Part von mir ist, die das ist. Is that possible? Is there a part of me that's a guy who drives a truck? Sure, why not? I can do it.
I'm not afraid of trucks, not afraid of tools, not afraid of lifting stuff. I'm telling you, man, all this is leading to me in my retirement seeking a job in the sort of construction sector. Is that possible? I'm sure there's a lot of opportunities for guys in their early 60s to drive trucks and move things. I don't know. Keeps me focused. Which gets us back to the ADHD business.
Look, getting a lot of input. I'm getting a lot of input from people. I'm in the zone, man. I'm in the zone. You know what zone I'm always in? I gotta quit doing this shit. I gotta quit doing this shit. Whatever shit it is. Jetzt muss ich aus den fucking Zinsen gehen. Ich habe einfach alles auf der Wand geschlagen. Essen, Nikotin, Kaffee, Kaffee, Drogen, das ist hinter mir.
Gambling, niemals meine Tasche. Es kommt einfach zu einem Punkt, wo ich mich frage, was mache ich? Was sehe ich auf der Basis? Warum mache ich das immer? Warum drehe ich mich um? Und ich komme zu dem Punkt, wo ich verärgert werde von etwas. Und dann bin ich so, ich muss all diese Scheiße stoppen. Und ich habe es vorher gemacht.
But now with this whole idea, with the ADHD idea, I guess I just got to go get broke down. I got to go get it broken down for me. I got to go get, what is it, evaluated. Because I've gotten a lot of emails about the ADHD business and a psychotherapist, a psychologist, she said, basically she said, Quote, Quote, Quote. It's not like I recommend nicotine, but I get that it scratches the itch.
Is that what it is? Is that what it's always been? I mean, I feel like I've thought along these lines before. Do you know how much coffee I drink a day? So many of you have been up and down this goddamn tree with me so many times. It's stupid. Why? Why don't I just go get medicine? Why? Because I'll tell you why. There's a couple of reasons.
There's the age old idea that like, well, I don't want to lose my edge. I don't want to lose my personality. I don't want to, you know, feel, you know, different. In a way that I'm uncomfortable with. I'd rather stay with the thing that makes me uncomfortable all the time. But I know it. I live it. It is mine. It has always been mine. I don't need a new discomfort.
Even if it means I get rid of the old discomfort. That's one angle. The other angle is, if I have ADHD, what's the medication? Like Adderall? Look, I'll be honest with you. I've been sober a long fucking time. And I think no matter how old I am or how strong my sobriety is, if I got an Adderall prescription, that would be tough. That would be tough because I like the go fast. I like it.
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Chapter 5: What are Andy Blitz's upcoming projects?
And I guess that's part of the condition. Why wouldn't I like to go fast? Back when I did blow, I used to do blow and I'd be like, this makes me feel normal. I mean, a little intensely normal, a little like sweaty normal. But in terms of how I thought my brain should feel, like cocaine, yeah, I would get high. But there was a point where I'm like, oh, everything just quiets down.
I definitely noticed that back in the day. I definitely knew why that was my thing. And then just the balance of it. The balance of booze and blow. So I don't know. I don't know anything about the medications available. And I imagine an anti-anxiety might also be part of the package. But the idea of Adderall, look, I'll be honest with you. I'll call myself out.
When I have a cold, I'm pretty excited to take those, you know, those pseudopheds that you got to get from the pharmacist with the phenosudopheterin in there. I don't overdo it and I'm not even sure I can feel it, but I'm pretty excited because I think it gives me a little zing, gives me a little zip, makes me think, you know what, fuck it, man. Enough of this shit. Enough of it.
I'm 61 years old. I don't know what's going to, what can I fix still? But I don't know. Maybe I'm going to go get evaluated and keep you in the loop on that. All right? Because I know you're just wondering. And I appreciate the support and the outreach. And I appreciate that there may be treatment for this. But I also appreciate that there's a whole spectrum involved.
of psychological profiles that weren't around when I was younger. And there's also that part of me that's sort of like, you know, just deal with it, man. I used to do jokes about that. This is a reasonable response to what's going on in the world. Yeah, that might be true, but I don't have to personalize it all the time.
I mean, what is going on in the world is, yes, it is happening to me, but I'm not alone in that. So what about that part of it? The personalization, the grandiosity of that, the self-centeredness of that. Could I use some relief from that? For me, the only relief that I find in my head is the relief of someday stopping everything that I'm doing and just disappearing and living a quiet life.
Maybe driving a truck. I don't really want a truck. Actually, maybe a Subaru Outback. Wilderness. Is that weird? So Andy Blitz, as I said, he's a writer. He's a comic. I've known him many years from back in the Luna Lounge days. He... He's got some stuff coming up, but it's not exactly clear what it is. There is this, they call it Late Night, starring Jason Kelsey. Is it Kelsey or Kels?
I should know. That's going to be on ESPN on Friday nights in January. And he might be doing some stand-up around town. But I've known him a long time. And now his time has come to talk. This is me and Andy Blitz.
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Chapter 6: How did Marc and Andy meet and what was their connection?
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So this beard project, how long have you been working on that?
This is, I think, a few months. Wow. Yeah. You're one of those guys. I had one that got, I think, about this big, and then I shaved it New Year's Day. So it's been a year, almost. Yeah, I guess so. And then I was going to, I was going to shave it, and then I decided to keep it as like a lucky thing for... For what? For Kamala.
Oh, yeah? Yeah. Well, first... You wanted to be one of the few men who aren't bears that looks like that, that voted for Kamala?
I do feel that people silently assume I'm a... A what? A Trumpy, when I walk around.
A Trumpy or a, you know, psycho-libertarian making cooking outdoors videos? Yeah. Here I am in the Antarctic, and I've got a fire going... I would love to infiltrate that community, but just be like... Why couldn't you?
I could, I guess, at this point.
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Chapter 7: What insights does Andy share about his family background?
Yeah. That'll work. This climate change thing might be for real.
Cold, right? Weather seems weird. Yeah, I think that's a good plan. Yeah. Now, I feel like we're okay, right?
Me and you. I think so.
Okay. Do you have any problem? No. I do feel like I might have been... A dick at some point to you, maybe in the Luna days, but I don't think it was ongoing.
Es war gut, es hat mich nicht bedroht. Es war... Ich habe mich über dich gewarnt. Was? Ernsthaft? Nein. Nein, du warst grumpel. Aber du hast es nie persönlich genommen. Ich habe es nie persönlich genommen. Ich war... Ich habe es nicht verstanden. Ich dachte, ich dachte, Showbusiness war alles großartig. Ja, an dem Zeitpunkt. Ja. Ja. Also habe ich es nicht verstanden.
Yeah.
Take your time. There's no reason to rush to a conclusion. Or a punchline. Yeah. Yeah.
I remember when I started doing the five-minute sets on late-night TV. And I was just like, oh, I can't possibly finish a joke in five minutes.
I know. Yeah, impossible. Yeah, we're going to have to stretch it out a little bit. We'll bring him back to finish the joke. But I was trying to think, because the last time I think I ran into you was in New York. At that place that used to be, did it used to be Max Fish? It's a coffee shop. Right, yeah. On Ludlow Street, right across the street from what was Luna Lounge.
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Chapter 8: How does Marc reflect on his experiences in comedy?
It was either formerly Max Fish or Pink Pony or something like that, yeah. Really? I think, I feel like... Or maybe it was Max Fish.
Yeah, I think one of them, isn't one of them, oh no, Pianos, I think, might still be there. Do you remember that place?
Yeah, that's a block down?
Block down, yeah. Or something like that? Yeah. I feel like I missed most of the, I think I was in New York for the original alternative explosion, which was sort of focused on one place. Ja. Ja.
You would have like, right, at Luna you might have Reverend Jen followed by Roseanne or something like that.
Pre-insane Roseanne. Yes. Or latent insane Roseanne. Did she ever come there? Do you feel like she did? I wish she did one set there, yeah. Really? Yeah. I feel like everyone kind of did one set there because they felt like it was something to do. It's kind of like this podcast. It feels like everyone's got to do it once.
But now that everyone has a podcast and everyone is yammering, there's no end all of a sudden. It's the biggest... Ja. And do you feel like...
I don't know a lot about the podcasting world, but when these podcasts pop up, is it similar to how you would feel when new comics would show up at LUNA?
It used to be, but not anymore. Now I just feel like I've done something horribly irresponsible. I championed something early on. I opened a portal. Me and a couple other people. But we keep it real. We keep it audio. Yeah. Yeah, so people don't feel pressed to dress up or show up with people. And I think there is a different way one takes in audio than watching. Right. I think it's more intimate.
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