Marc Maron's interview of Lorne Michaels was mostly gristle and very little steak
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Sometimes a sword, sometimes a surrender flag
Last Monday, Marc Maron finally got his white whale.
He had an interview with Lorne Michaels. Saturday Night Live has been a big obsession for Maron. He has interviewed many SNL cast members. He is always very forward with these people. He wants to know about their audition. He wants to know about fellow cast members. He wants to talk about certain hosts and musical guests. But, most importantly he wants to know about Lorne Michaels. He has so many questions about Lorne Michaels. It can get uncomfortable at times and you can hear in some of the interviewees voices that they're uncomfortable with the barrage of questions about Michaels. Sure, most of them aren't on the show anymore, but they don't want to speak ill of Michaels. In most cases, he gave them their break, and without him, they probably wouldn't have a real career.
I, for one, like when Maron pushes the envelope. I like all the questions, because I want to know too. I'm from Saint Louis and New York and SNL are like mythical beings to me. I have a real love hate relationship with SNL, and I want to know all I can. I like to hear from these people about their experience. I like knowing that SNL is a cutthroat place to work, and you have to stay on your toes if you want to keep your job. But, much like Maron himself, I want to know about Lorne Michaels. He is a mysterious show biz person and he seems to be a real hard ass. He, at least on the surface, doesn't seem like a guy that takes crap from anyone. He's a star maker and may be a career ender, if you cross him.
I've been listening to Maron's podcast since the beginning. I'm a big fan of his and I look forward to listening to his podcast every Monday and Thursday. He's gotten pretty big recently as well, the interview with President Barack Obama putting him on everybody's map. I weirdly looked forward to this interview as much as I did the Presidents. As I stated before, I love SNL and I was very interested to see how hard Maron would come at Lorne Michaels. Maron has had a bone to pick since he wasn't picked to be on the show when he auditioned back in the 90's. He's brought this up a lot, so when I saw that Lorne Michaels was going to be on last Monday, I figured he would press him hard on this, and a lot of other things. The fact he wasn't picked for SNL has always been a big bone of contention for him. I figured, finally, some closure.
Then, I listened to the interview. It was fine. Maron asked some questions and Lorne Michaels answered in kind. But, the questions were softballs in my opinion. He just kind of lobbed some stuff to Michaels and he answered very predictably. It kind of felt like Maron was told by Michaels people that he could only ask certain questions, and to not push him too hard on the tough questions. The interview was like an appetizer. It was good, but not filling. We just got the tip of the iceberg. This was a two hour interview also, so the fact that nothing was pressed on Michaels, in two hours, left me disappointed. When Maron did ask about his audition and the process of not being selected, Michaels gave a very typical answer. He told Maron that "his voice wasn't right for the show". Yeah, no duh Lorne Michaels. Maron is a foul mouthed comedian. He is filthier than Norm Macdonald on his filthiest day. Maron assumed that he would be a Weekend Update guy, and while that fits his identity, his style isn't a good fit at SNL. We all already knew this. This was no revelation.
After they settled Maron being passed over, the rest of the interview was very blasé. It was like a pat on the back session after that. Lorne Michaels praised Maron's comic voice and what he's done with the podcast medium. I say again, we all know what he's done. They talked about doing an internet show before the internet was popular. Not that big a deal. Maron never really asked any really tough questions. When it comes to Lorne Michaels, he couldn't have been more congratulatory of himself. He gave himself the credit for young generations wanting to be on TV and do comedy. He credited himself for making Jimmy Fallon a late night star, something which makes me angry because I cannot stand Jimmy Fallon. He said that he's never forced anyone out of SNL, and that he's still friends with "pretty much everybody". He couldn't have been more pleased with himself. I understand what he's done for late night TV, and how big he made SNL, but show some humility. He claimed that while he wasn't the guy in charge for 5 years, he never watched the show. I believe that, because he comes off as arrogant, so why would he watch something he had nothing to do with?
I guess, overall, I was just disappointed with the interview. It left so much to be desired. And even at the end, when Maron does his usual sign off, he said he got closure. I don't know, because as a listener, I felt like he could've gotten so much more out of this once in a lifetime interview. My excitement was dashed pretty early on in this WTF episode, but not all of them can be winners. I think even Marc Maron would agree with me about this. I should also temper my expectations because, not every interview is going to be President Obama's interview. I love WTF and I'm a big Marc Maron fan, but this episode just left me wanting more.
Oh well, this Monday he has Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe on. Hopefully, this one will be better.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He figures Lorne Michaels should have more humility after the Donald Trump SNL appearance last week. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.
