Blue Bridge Comedy Festival
Where: Esquimalt Sports Centre, Victoria Event Centre, Fort Street Caf脙漏, Hecklers, Upstairs Cabaret, Lucky Bar
When: Tonight through Sunday
Tickets: $10 to $50 at McPherson box office (250 386-6121)
bluebridgecomedyfestival.com
You'd think he'd be one of North America's most famous comedians.
After all, he's clocked 45-plus appearances on Conan O'Brien's show - the most of any comic. And his podcast is downloaded 700,000 times weekly.
But Marc Maron, a headliner at this weekend's Blue Bridge Comedy Festival, is far from a household name.
"Why has mainstream success eluded me? Who knows?" the 48-year-old comic said this week from his Los Angeles home.
Maron's greatest claim to fame is his twice-weekly podcast, WTF with Marc Maron. The show, featuring Maron's monologues and interviews with (mostly) comedians, has been downloaded a mind-boggling 53 million times since its launch four years ago, his publicist said.
A respected figure in showbiz - despite his legendary irascibility - Maron has interviewed many comedy greats, including Robin Williams, Russell Brand, Louis C.K., Sarah Silverman, Ben Stiller, Zach Galifianakis and Norm MacDonald. His conversations, conducted in the garage studio of his Los Angeles home, are in-depth. Maron manages to routinely coax guests to drop their guard and reveal their vulnerabilities.
For the average Canadian, Maron is certainly not as well known as Blue Bridge Comedy Festival headliner Brent Butt of Corner Gas fame. Or Nikki Payne, renowned for her guest appearances on CBC Radio's nationally broadcast The Debaters. He's a cult phenomenon, albeit a big one.
In the mid-'90s, New York magazine published a photo spread featuring Maron and other young upand-comers such as Louis C.K., Silverman and Dave Attell. The others made it big while Maron's career merely percolated. He admits during early episodes of WTF with Marc Maron "the theme of jealousy or bitterness was fairly prominent. - Now I seem to have found my place. It just took a long time."
Maron makes his debut Victoria appearances Friday and Saturday night. The first, at Esquimalt Sports Centre, is the festival's biggest show - a gala event featuring Butt, Payne, Damonde Tschritter, Rob Pue and others. His Saturday gig at Upstairs Cabaret is a solo show.
Maron says his standup, like his podcasts, deliberately avoids "fleeting or temporary" material linked to pop culture or political happenings. "There's plenty of talk about relationships, travelling. There's talk about animals. I cover a lot of stuff," he said.
The origins of WTF with Marc Maron are humble. Maron was at a low point when it started, struggling with a divorce and losing his job at the Air America radio network in New York. WTF with Marc Maron was originally produced in the evenings at Air America, with Maron having access to the building only because he'd yet to return his keys.
"We started using the studio there, breaking in after hours, hauling guests up in this freight elevator."
WTF with Marc Maron continues to gain new listeners. Maron admits it's not a huge money-maker, noting he still lives in a small two-bedroom house. Recent episodes of the podcast are free; however, listeners do pay a fee to download older ones. And the show does attract advertisers.
His successes appear to be building. The U.S. cable television network Independent Film Channel (IFC) has picked up 10 episodes of an autobiographical series to air next year. And Maron's memoirs are slated to be published in 2013.
Maron says the popularity of WTF with Marc Maron has made him more comfortable in his own skin. As well, doing the show has improved his standup comedy.
"I've found some success that really represents who I am - and I've done something completely on my own terms, which is a rare thing to achieve."
Payne's appearances at the Blue Bridge Comedy Festival also mark her Victoria comedy debut. The New Brunswick comedian said her Saturday night show at Hecklers may get risqu脙漏.
"It's not horrifying, your eyes won't burn out of your head. But I wouldn't bring the kiddies down with balloons," she said.
The festival is organized by Vancouver-based producer Dan Quinn. He books Hecklers comedy club in Victoria and brought the Snowed-In Comedy Tour here last January.
Quinn, who is also a comedian, knows Maron from having performed with him in New York City. He says the lineup for the Blue Bridge Comedy Festival - many of them friends - is his dream list: "I've brought in a who's who of people, if you know comedy."
He said he was approached by the Township of Esquimalt to stage the festival, operating on a $60,000 budget. "They're the ones paying. They get the profit or loss," Quinn said.
Vicki Klyne, Esquimalt's community services programmer, said the township is funding the comedy festival in partnership with local businesses.
She said the festival, along with events such as an outdoor Joe Walsh concert in Esquimalt on Aug. 28, is part of an initiative to attract newcomers to the township.
"It's something fun in Esquimalt. It's something new, something to look forward to," Klyne said.
