Marc Maron

Thursday, Aug. 1–Saturday, Aug. 3, 8 & 10 p.m., $30

Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh

Actor, comic, and podcasting elder statesman Marc Maron is one of the most accomplished comedy artists of the last decade. His WTF podcast has elevated the celebrity interview to a kind of conversational art form. Maron’s archives, now at 1,040 episodes and counting, include in-depth conversations with some of the biggest names in comedy (check out the Chris Rock episode); music (definitely check out the Keith Richards episode), and politics (OMG, the Barack Obama episode). 

Maron has also cultivated an impressive new career as an actor. His performance in Sword of Trust isn’t just the best work he’s ever done, it’s among the best work anyone has done this year. His Hollywood résumé is getting deep: Aside from his regular gig on the Netflix series GLOW, he’s hitting the big screen later this year with roles in the crime drama Wonderland and the highly anticipated Joker, with Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro. But first, Maron returns to his core discipline of stand-up comedy this weekend for three nights at Raleigh’s venerable Goodnights Comedy Club. 

Maron is an old pro who can work a room with the best of them; his emotionally raw, extemporaneous style is so natural that you might not even notice the joke-writing chops underneath. At his best, he can conjure a feeling of genuine communion between performer and audience, generating a deeper kind of laughter through articulate storytelling, shared experience, and rigorous honesty. Success on screen and podcast aside, this is Maron’s natural habitat.

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