Re: Stephen Merchant episode. I'm about twenty minutes in but seriously, I know England is the scary place with comedy that you can't get into, Marc, but would it kill you to do a little bit of research so you're not just asking questions to a stranger at random?
"So, how did you get famous?" Ugh.
Wikipedia was down that day, y'know.
Maron obviously wants a loosey-goosey, chatting-in-the-garage vibe, but he could certainly tighten up his preparation for guests that he may not know that well. For example, he asked Carrie Brownstein if anyone from Sleater-Kinney was in Wild Flag.
I felt embarassed for Maron in the Carrie Brownstein WTF b/c he came off sounding like a classic-rock DJ trying to relate to the new rock music. Also, no recognition of Mary Timony of Helium, maybe he was out of Boston by the time they did their thing there.
The Steve Merchant WTF was pretty good but I agree: there's a lot of "What's England like?" talk. Whenever Brit comedy comes up he gets real antsy. In the Michael Cera WTF he asked what Brit-com shows he watched (when MC brought the subject up) when Maron interrupted him mid-answer with a different question.
Still, I've followed Maron through his Conan appearances through all the Air America shows up to this so I've accepted him for who he is- extremely funny, brutally honest but with deep flaws.
When the Kevin Hart WTF arrives tomorrow I wouldn't be surprised if Maron asks him if he's got an entourage like he did another black comedian Chris Rock. (Maron forgets he himself was in one- Sam Kinison's)