Marc Maron thinks about what to do in his free time

Marc Maron signed off on his podcast for the last time more than a year ago, as he always does.

“Boomer is alive!”

It was an exclamation in homage to his cat. After moving from New York to Los Angeles, her cat went missing. Maron still talks to his pets these days.

“Go back to the room, Buster,” Maron tells his cat. Two of his furry roommates refuse to get along, forcing the comedian to switch which one gets to roam freely around the house.

“This is my life,” Maron said over Zoom, “but it’s a pain for me…”

Since wrapping his show “WTF With Marc Maron,” the comic has been reinventing the mundane routines that make up life.

“I do comedy every night, I work out, I work out at home, I read a lot, I try to fill my head with things that somehow make me smarter or kind of make me look at things differently,” he said. “I tend to be pretty busy in some ways, but I can get through a day with an errand or two.”

After 16 years of booking guests, scheduling interviews, and navigating the existential dread of the current political climate, Maron suddenly has more free time than she’s used to and must figure out what to do with it; He explores this question in his new special film, which he will shoot in December.

“We are thinking of calling the private time ‘Free Time’,” the comedian said.

Maron wasn’t sure how ending his podcast would affect his craft of comedy or his relationship with stand-up. It actually took him a few months to get used to being a comedian again.

“WTF” begins with a stream-of-consciousness monologue, and often those words are turned into fragments in its action. Without this creative streak, Maron is forced to give these speeches on stage instead of speaking twice a week.

In the first season of “Stick” with Marc Maron, Lilli Kay, Mariana Treviño and Judy Greer. Season 2 of the Apple TV series premieres on Wednesday.

(Apple)

“When I think out loud, I imagine more things are being produced every week, but that’s okay,” he said.

The change also gave Maron back his privacy. For 16 years, “WTF” served as a public diary. Across thousands of episodes, he processed relationships, grieved the loss of loved ones, including his creative collaborator and romantic partner Lynn Shelton, who died in May 2020 at age 54, and tried to make sense of his own anxieties.

“Now, without constant conversations other than chatting with my friends, a lot of ideas develop on stage and don’t start in public,” he said. “It allows me to have some privacy about what I’m working on and also about my life.”

Maron was also concerned that the show’s end might affect ticket sales. Instead, the newfound privacy sparked curiosity among viewers.

“People really want to see what’s going on with me because they’re so used to hearing about it every week,” he said. “So this is a big check-in.”

Although Maron spent years developing material by talking in the garage, he wasn’t sure how much of that experience translated into acting.

Maron is also developing his acting experience on Apple TV+’s series “Stick,” which was shot in Los Angeles, and is considering directing a film based on a friend’s novel.

(David Butow / For the Times)

“I think constantly interacting with people on the podcast or listening attentively or empathetically is what acting is all about,” Maron said. “But I definitely paid my dues in the garage.”

Despite the extra time he has to himself, Maron does not want to fully embrace the life of an actor and chooses not to stray too far from the stage.

While filming Season 2 of the Apple TV series “Stick,” which premieres Wednesday, she was afraid it would be shot far from Los Angeles.

“The great thing about this season was that everything was shot in Los Angeles, as it should be,” Maron said.

Although acting doesn’t offer the same creative freedom as comedy, Maron has become more comfortable working with someone else’s words. This experience allows her to tap into her own emotions and bring someone else’s writing to life. In stand-up, one’s own experiences and choices drive the performance.

Maron’s relationship with golf in real life is not as complicated as that of his character Mitts in the series. When asked about his own game, he quickly clarified that he was not playing and had no plans to move to clubs. This sentiment is also seen in his character, a former assistant to Pryce Cahill (Owen Wilson), who was once an up-and-coming star and tries to coach an up-and-coming star.

Still, learning to work within the emotional and physical boundaries of a script helped him understand what fulfillment can look like in acting.

“I think it takes getting more experienced with that and trying to work within those parameters to experience the satisfaction of what that craft has to offer,” he said.

Working with Owen Wilson, Timothy Olyphant and Rhea Seehorn on Season 2 of “Stick” also helped Maron appreciate the actors’ many approaches to their performances. As he gains more experience, he becomes increasingly confident in his ability to reach the emotional depth required to embody someone else’s writing.

“I think by constantly working with other actors, I’m kind of learning what my process is going to become,” he said.

The extra time also pushed Maron to challenge himself in new ways.

“We are in the process of preparing a film that I plan to direct, perhaps in the spring, based on a novel by my good friend Sam Lipsyte,” Maron said.

But for now, he will continue to live his real life and try to figure out how to deal with life.

“Theoretically, we should be protesting in the streets all day, every day,” Maron said. “But you know, I have things to do. I need to buy potting soil and plant a plant.”