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tommyhousworth's review
4.0
I enjoyed reading Maron's thoughts on family, addiction, success, failure, mortality, and other topics, as well as the insights of so many of his WTF podcast guests, including Bruce Springsteen, Michael Keaton, President Barack Obama, Maria Bamford, Patton Oswalt, Conan O'Brien, Kristin Wiig, Robin Williams, Garry Shandling, Will Ferrell, Mel Brooks....you get the idea. He's had some amazing guests.
The book is organized by topic and might include a sentence from one guest, followed by a four page response by another guest. I confess I skipped over some longer passages from guests I was less familiar with. My hope is that Maron might curate a Volume Two of this concept, as this book came out around 2017, and he's had a lot of great guests since then...and a shit-ton has happened in our world since then.
If you like this kind of book (a collection of interview snippets with smart, funny, creative people), then I recommend Maron's "Waiting for the Punch".
The book is organized by topic and might include a sentence from one guest, followed by a four page response by another guest. I confess I skipped over some longer passages from guests I was less familiar with. My hope is that Maron might curate a Volume Two of this concept, as this book came out around 2017, and he's had a lot of great guests since then...and a shit-ton has happened in our world since then.
If you like this kind of book (a collection of interview snippets with smart, funny, creative people), then I recommend Maron's "Waiting for the Punch".
steponitjenn's review
5.0
The WTF podcast has helped me through some tough times, and this book encapsulates some of those really profound, important moments.
erin_oriordan_is_reading_again's review
4.0
I’d never heard Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, but I read parts of this book because I was interested in a lot of the people he interviewed on his show about universal topics like relationships, mental health, and sexuality.
I skipped some of the interview subjects whose names I didn’t know or whom I didn’t think were quite as interesting, but the ones I read had a lot of good, insightful things to say. Some of the interviewees whose wisdom I gleaned from this book included:
Ali Wong
Anna Kendrick
Barack Obama
Carl Reiner
Carrie Brownstein
Chelsea Peretti
Dan Savage
Dave Foley
Elizabeth Banks
Judy Greer
Kevin Hart
Leslie Jones
Margaret Cho
Mel Brooks
Melissa Etheridge
Michael Keaton (talking about Tim Burton, Batman, and Beetlejuice)
Natasha Lyonne
Penn Jillette
Robin Williams
RuPaul Charles
Sarah Silverman
Sir Ian McKellen
Sir Patrick Stewart
Wanda Sykes
Some of these folks are real gems of human beings. They have a lot of worthwhile things to say. Some of these things are very funny, some are poignant, some are both. All of these people are smart people capable of articulating a coherent thought, which is shockingly refreshing in this era of idiocracy.
I skipped some of the interview subjects whose names I didn’t know or whom I didn’t think were quite as interesting, but the ones I read had a lot of good, insightful things to say. Some of the interviewees whose wisdom I gleaned from this book included:
Ali Wong
Anna Kendrick
Barack Obama
Carl Reiner
Carrie Brownstein
Chelsea Peretti
Dan Savage
Dave Foley
Elizabeth Banks
Judy Greer
Kevin Hart
Leslie Jones
Margaret Cho
Mel Brooks
Melissa Etheridge
Michael Keaton (talking about Tim Burton, Batman, and Beetlejuice)
Natasha Lyonne
Penn Jillette
Robin Williams
RuPaul Charles
Sarah Silverman
Sir Ian McKellen
Sir Patrick Stewart
Wanda Sykes
Some of these folks are real gems of human beings. They have a lot of worthwhile things to say. Some of these things are very funny, some are poignant, some are both. All of these people are smart people capable of articulating a coherent thought, which is shockingly refreshing in this era of idiocracy.
lookingtoheaven's review
3.0
The first half of this book was interesting with some great stories. The second half is unbelievablely depressing without the light of Jesus.
plaidpladd's review
1.0
Not sure why this book exists. I actually finished it days ago, but forgot to log it because it just made no impression on me whatsoever.
whimsicallymeghan's review
4.0
This book is a ‘best of’ based off of Marc Maron’s podcast, the WTF Podcast. This was actually a really good and fascinating read. Each chapter had a theme, for example, sexuality, parenting, success, failure, etc. etc. and from there are pulled quotes from the podcast based on that topic. Even though this wasn’t a continued flow of conversation on the topics, everything still fit together really well as if it was a continued conversation and that made for a fast-paced read. It was really interesting to read celebrities’ takes on things like having kids or relationships. Sometimes you think celebrities don’t know what they’re talking about, but this got deep and vulnerable in a lot of different ways. It also felt really inclusive to the fact that they truly got all angles to different topics. For example, on parenting they had opinions on people who wanted children, who didn’t want children, those who adopted, those who used a surrogate; it even dipped into people talking about their own parents and their parenting styles and how you realize as you get older, they had no idea what they were doing. All the conversations were so open and honest, no one held back and it was refreshing and a little affirming to read. This didn’t make this reader want to listen to the podcast because this felt like it curated all the best the podcast has to offer and it got to the point without wading through hours of a podcast. Overall, this was a surprisingly good read that is worth the time. Not all topics will resonate with all readers, but there is definitely something for everyone in this.
davekan's review
5.0
This book feels like gathering all of the great comedians (and others) and having them tell you stories and share life lessons one after the other.
bethreadsandnaps's review
4.0
I’ve listened to episodes of WTF with celebrities I’ve heard of for about five years now. Marc Maron has his own neurotic and slightly narcissistic style that can be irritating in an extended cut.
This has excerpts from interviews categorized by topics, like mortality, mental health and parenting.
I think it’s a great collection full of excellent and heartbreaking moments. I wish my library had this in an audiobook because that would have been terrific.
This has excerpts from interviews categorized by topics, like mortality, mental health and parenting.
I think it’s a great collection full of excellent and heartbreaking moments. I wish my library had this in an audiobook because that would have been terrific.
krw31's review
4.0
One of those books that said the exact things I needed to hear exactly when I needed to hear them, which doesn’t necessarily happen with WTF in audible form. I like Marc Maron and his podcast, though, which I think is technically grounds for judgment...? I can’t keep track anymore of who we should and shouldn’t like.
kristireads's review
3.0
I chose to read this book during the Covid-19 “self-isolation,” thinking it would be a funny, mood-lifter during an otherwise dark time. I was wrong. There are a few humorous stories that made me chuckle, but a lot of the book is dark and serious. It’s not a bad book, it’s just not what I expected nor what I needed at the time. “Success” was my favorite section...not surprising, since that was the most positive, uplifting section of the book. A lot of the advice shared in “Life Lessons” was appropriate for the Covid-19 situation, with the emphasis on understanding that you can’t control a lot of what happens in your life, and you have to try to make the best of whatever life throws at you.