How much joy can a relatively unknown stand-up comedian derive from interviewing President Obama?
So much so that Marc David Maron was moved to tears.
Maron’s interview is now the infamous discussion in which Obama used the n-word. It led to CNN’s Don Lemon holding up a “n****r” sign on TV. It’ll be Googled for years to come.
NPR’s Terry Gross interviewed Maron about his unexpected get on Friday. The interview posted on Monday. Maron conducts a regular “WTF” podcast out of his “broken-down” garage in Los Angeles. This is where he chatted with Obama. Secret Service stood behind him. A sniper stood watch on a roof next door.
In his chat with Gross he sounds like a spaz. He admitted as much.
“I’m like, ‘What do I do, do I go to Washington? Do I go to his hotel? What happens?'” he recalled asking.”I was a bit of a nervous wreck and he immediately put me at ease. I don’t know how, I’m not easy to put at ease. I’m a nut bag.”
Maron said his interview with Obama moved him to tears.
“I cried a little bit, right in front of Brendan,” he said, referring to his producer. “It was a weird moment for us, he handled it pretty well. … A crew of people came and they started disassembling the tents that were on my driveway and then all the Secret Service got their stuff and they just were gone, it was all gone. I let my cats out of the bedroom … and they were like, ‘Can we have our house back, please?'”
Photo: Pete Souza, The White House.