SPOILER WARNING: The following article gives away some of the best bits from Marc Maron’s latest stand-up special, Panicked. If you have not yet used your HBO Max subscription to check it out, instead of heckling me about it, just proceed with caution if you continue to read on.
I have always admired Marc Maron as a comedian, almost more than I enjoy him as the host of the influential podcast, WTF, which he is ending in 2025 after 16 years. However, given the intensely neurotic behavior that he bases a lot of his bits on and his aversion to comic book films (despite having a role in Joker), he has never been a person I could easily say I identify with… until now.
After his latest comedy special, Panicked, dropped on the 2025 TV premiere schedule, I made an effort to check it out as soon as I got the chance. Not only would I call it one of the best stand-up specials on HBO Max, I would also credit it with helping me realize how much I do identify with Maron after all, and for two particular reasons.
His Pet Owner Philosophies Mirror My Own
Maron spends a lot of time in Panicked discussing a topic that has also come up frequently on WTF and in some of his previous Netflix stand-up specials: his relationship with his cats. I have no feline pets, but I do have two dogs (one of which is the third I have shared with my wife), and his anecdotes from this special about his three cats reminded me quite a bit of the challenges I have faced while raising my furry friends, from the nearly combative way he must prepare to travel with them to the many frustrations that come with potty training.
On top of that, at one point, he mentions watching a docuseries about Adolf Hitler that the comedian of Jewish descent admits did not exactly shock or dishearten him until the program revealed that, before the dictator ended his own life, he killed his own dog, to which Maron exclaimed, "What an asshole!" Not to make light of any atrocities Hitler is responsible for, but I have no doubt that I likely would have reacted the same way, given how many humans I have seen die left and right in classic horror movies without any qualms, only to cower in distress at the sight of a domesticated animal in peril.
I Have Also Had My Fair Share Of Life-Changing Experiences With Pop Songs
The actor/comedian closes Panicked by detailing a time when he went on a hike and, in an effort to understand the singer-songwriter’s immense popularity, decided to put on Taylor Swift’s then-latest album, Midnights. At this time, he was still mourning the death of his partner, filmmaker Lynn Shelton, so when he got to a rather disheartening single about loss called “Bigger Than the Whole Sky,” it triggered such a strong emotional response that he temporarily passed out.
Now, I cannot say I have ever experienced a reaction to a sad song, let alone a Swift track, quite to the same degree, but I totally get it. Every so often, some decidedly sappy ballad, often sung by a female artist, comes on my Spotify that completely takes me out of myself for a while with the way it reminds me of a loved one, or invokes a feeling I have had before or even longed to have. This bit from Panicked, of all that I have seen from Maron so far, is easily his most vulnerable and humanizing to me, which makes me respect and admire him as more than just a comic.
Even if you do not end up having some unexpected bonding experience with this stand-up special like I did, I would still recommend that you stream Marc Maron: Panicked on HBO Max just for the good laughs it should provide.
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