Marc Maron slammed fellow comedians Dave Chappelle and Bill Maher for their politics, critiquing Netflix for siding with the former amid backlash against his jokes about the trans community and the latter for his “desperate chasing of relevance.”
In a sprawling interview with Pod Saves America host Jon Lovett, the podcaster and comic reflected on everything from politics in comedy to how his previous struggles with addiction have influenced him. The former WTF host has been a vocal critic of anti-woke comedy and the role podcasting has had in the rise of the manosphere, conservatism and Donald Trump.
“Fascism is good for business,” Maron said. “Like, Netflix will just co-opt anybody that can tick that algorithm. I used to do a joke about it, that Netflix can become ‘Reich-flix’ very quickly. And I think the pivotal moment was when they had pushback from the trans community about Chappelle, they realized after several days that that community was not going to affect their bottom line at all, and they cut ’em loose. That is how fascism works in business.”
When Lovett countered that Netflix would argue the company is a “home for everybody” with plenty of LGBTQ+ content, Maron responded, “Sure, but ultimately, who’s getting the big deals? Which shows stay on the air? What do they keep repeating? It’s the bigger audience. That’s them saying, ‘We’ve got this other stuff, we know there’s a few of you, but we’re throwing you a bone, so shut up.’”
Later during the interview, when Lovett asked Maron of his opinion on Maher, he said: “I can’t do it.” He added, “I always had a problem with his tone,” acknowledging he’s guested before on his Politically Incorrect talk show and Real Time.
When Lovett noted that was around the time Maron was dating conservative pundit Ann Coulter, the comic threw some shots her way, joking it was a “dark time — I tried to help her.”
He continued, “I feel with Bill that there is this — and it happens with some of the other boomers, there’s this desperate chasing of relevance that changes someone’s mind in terms of how they approach what they do and also kind of makes the whole undertaking feel desperate,” adding that he “can’t see past the desperation and what he’s willing to do to stay in the conversation.”
Maron has previously criticized Maher, calling him a “bitch” for siding with Trump over certain policies. He’s not the only comic to have blasted Maher either; in April, Larry David penned a satirical essay in the New York Times titled “My Dinner with Hitler,” making fun of Maher’s meeting with Trump.
Elsewhere, Maron also commented on the state of late-night following the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, explaining that the “bar has been lowered to only consuming clips” given social media algorithms, people’s attention spans and media bubbles.
“People don’t care anymore, and they’re all chasing clicks for clips of having interesting people do dumb sh–,” he said.
Watch the full interview below:
