{"id":299837,"date":"2025-10-13T11:53:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T11:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/299837\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T11:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T11:53:10","slug":"barack-obama-joins-final-wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/299837\/","title":{"rendered":"Barack Obama joins final ‘WTF With Marc Maron’ podcast"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Barack Obama<\/a> helped Marc Maron<\/a> lock the gates on his podcast Monday, returning to the show for the final episode after 16 years and more than 1,600 episodes.<\/p>\n

The former president gave new status to \u201cWTF With Marc Maron\u201d<\/a> and to podcasts in general when he visited Maron\u2019s Los Angeles garage studio while still in office a decade ago. Obama brought the 62-year-old host, stand-up comic and actor to his Washington office for the last interview. <\/p>\n

Obama asked the initial questions. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow are you feeling about this whole thing?\u201d he said, \u201ctransition, moving on from this thing that has been one of the defining parts of your career and your life?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel OK,\u201d Maron answered. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m sort of ready for the break, but there is sort of a fear there, of what do I do now? I\u2019m busy. But, not unlike your job \u2026 I\u2019ve got a lot of people who over the last 16 years have grown to rely on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maron laughed as he acknowledged he was comparing his podcasting gig to the presidency. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s pretty similar,\u201d Obama said. <\/p>\n

The identity of the guest was not revealed until the episode dropped, and fans had been speculating. Obama was a popular guess, both because of his relationship with \u201cWTF\u201d and because Maron in an interview with Variety in July said Obama would be his ideal final conversation. <\/p>\n

The host explained the decision in an unusually brief and straightforward introduction to the episode. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt became clear that the guest we needed to have was singular,\u201d Maron said, \u201cin that he could address the importance of this being our final episode, but also address how we move through the world we\u2019re living in, as frightening as it is.\u201d <\/p>\n

Maron asked Obama for advice on moving on from your life\u2019s biggest job. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve still got a couple of chapters left,\u201d Obama said. \u201cDon\u2019t rush into what the next thing is. Take a beat. Take some satisfaction looking backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a much talk on the state of the world, Obama brought it back around to Maron\u2019s farewell. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re going to be OK,\u201d Obama said. \u201cI think part of the reason you had such a big fan base during this 16-year run is there was a core decency to you and the conversations that you had.\u201d <\/p>\n

He added, \u201cI think speaks to who we are.\u201d <\/p>\n

Maron avoided sentimental farewell talk during the episode \u2014 he got that out of the way on Thursday in his penultimate episode, where talked directly and emotionally to his listeners. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful to have been part of your lives,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been through a lot of stuff together. A lot of breakups. Death. Cats. The world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new Obama episode was No. 1,686 of the pioneering and influential long-form interview podcast that had humble beginnings in 2009 as a place where he worked out his issues with other stand-up comedians in the garage of his home that he dubbed \u201cThe Cat Ranch.\u201d <\/p>\n

Maron\u2019s cats were always an essential part of the show. His final words on Monday\u2019s episode were tributes to the ones who had died. <\/p>\n

\u201cCat angels everywhere,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

For most of its years the show has opened with a fan-composed rock \u2018n\u2019 roll theme song that opens with an audio sample of Maron in his small role in the film \u201cAlmost Famous\u201d shouting, \u201cLock the gates!\u201d The song is named for one of Maron\u2019s common phrases, \u201cAre We Doing This?\u201d Another such phrase, \u201cAre we good?\u201d was often his last question to guests and is the title of a new documentary on him.<\/p>\n

Eventually, with help from guests like Obama, Robin Williams and Paul McCartney, \u201cWTF\u201d became a media institution where authors, artists, musicians, Hollywood stars and political leaders would give him their backstory.<\/p>\n

Maron announced in June<\/a> that he and longtime producing partner Brendan McDonald had decided to end the show. He said there was no particular reason, other than that he was tired and utterly satisfied with the work they had done.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Maron seemed moved as he read from a pseudolegal document that he had drawn up for Obama to sign, releasing McDonald \u201cfrom the professional responsibility to listening to me talk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Barack Obama helped Marc Maron lock the gates on his podcast Monday, returning to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":299838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[11744,152640,276,84,168,171,57,224,59952,53324,5158,80,61,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-299837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-barack-obama","9":"tag-brendan-mcdonald","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-district-of-columbia","12":"tag-domestic-news","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-marc-maron","17":"tag-paul-mccartney","18":"tag-podcasts","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-u-s-news","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115366724198881869","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}