Marc Maron has become one of the biggest names in comedy over the last decade with the success of his massively popular podcast, WTF with Marc Maron. While this has allowed him to release comedy albums and stand-up specials on a regular basis, such as the upcoming From Bleak To Dark on HBO, it’s also afforded him opportunities outside of the typical stand-up path, such as his critically acclaimed performances in shows like GLOW and films such as the Oscar-nominated To Leslie. Despite the praise, these performances are lacking in major awards love, which it turns out is fine by Maron, as he’s garnered the respect of a handful of Academy Award-winning legends.
I recently caught up with Marc Maron to discuss From Bleak To Dark, and when the subject of awards races came up, he provided his unique perspective and a charming anecdote about an exchange he had with Frances McDormand during his run on GLOW (which can be streamed with a Netflix subscription):
I don’t know, you know, how the awards work. I know that it’s not always on the level. I was nominated for a SAG Award, which I thought that was pretty good for my first outing in a role that wasn’t me. But I can’t pay attention to it all. I didn’t put any money into a campaign. I don't think I had, you know, a publicity operation behind me. I was happy about the SAG nomination and I was happy that Frances McDormand, Frances McDormand came up to me at the SAG Awards and said, ‘I love you.’ And I'm like, ‘oh you listen to the podcast?’ And she’s like, ‘no, on that show. You're great.’ And I'm like, ‘well, that's kind of like winning.’
A SAG Award nomination is nothing to scoff at, but getting props from the legend that is Frances McDormand is about as good as it gets. It’s charming to know that Maron still gets starstruck given that he interviews the biggest celebrities in the world on his podcast.
More recently, Maron is receiving rave reviews for his performance in To Leslie, which you can stream right now. His co-star Andrea Riseborough was nominated for an Oscar, and the grassroots campaign led to an investigation within the Academy that thankfully has been resolved. When it comes to Maron’s own performance, however, the lack of major awards nominations was countered by props from another legend, Kate Winslet. He went on to say this:
Kate Winslet was saying a lot of nice things about me for To Leslie. I posted a video on my Instagram. That was another - that's like, better than an award, really… It's not my destiny to win an award, it doesn't seem. And, you know, I just have to live with that. I don't know.
The list of 2023 Oscar nominees is stacked, so we’ll see if Andrea Riseborough and To Leslie can take this thing all the way. As for Marc Maron, he has some of the funniest comedy specials on Netflix, and From Bleak To Dark is a hilarious and poignant glimpse at grief through the lens of a comedic mind that you can see on HBO February 11 at 10 pm PST! The special will then surely be available afterward for HBO Max subscribers to stream.
