Marc Maron‘s WTF with Marc Maron Podcast is ending after 16 years.
Maron announced the news on his Monday show, saying, “It’s nice to be able to end things on our own terms. We started the show on our terms. We grew it on our terms, and we’ll end it on our terms.”
Maron and his producing partner Brendan McDonald made the decision together, he said, explaining that the pair behind the two-team groundbreaking podcast are simply burnt out.
“WTF will turn 16 years old on Sept. 1. Sixteen years, it’s a long time. It’s a long time to do anything,” he said to open his show, which welcomed on guest John Mulaney. “All of a sudden, you’re old and you realize you’ve been doing something for a long time. This started in the old garage. No one knew what a podcast was. I was coming out of a horrendous divorce. I was wanting to figure out how to continue living my life. Things were not looking good for me.”
He continued, “When Brendan and I started this thing, all we knew was that we were going to do it e very Monday and Thursday. And there was no way to make money. There was no way that we knew how to build an audience or anything. We were doing it in the garage in the beginning that was just a garage filled with junk. And it slowly evolved into the show that became what you listen to twice a week. Sixteen years we’ve been doing this and we’ve decided that we had a great run and now, basically, it’s time, folks, It’s time. WTF is coming to an end and it’s our decision.”
The final episode will be some time in the fall, and Maron said they will try to have as many people on as possible before they end in what he called the “home stretch.”
“Thankfully, we both realized, together, that we were done,” Maron, 62, continued in the announcement. “There was no convincing or pushback or arguing. We were done. And it’s OK. It’s OK for things to end. … This was a show that started when there were no podcasts. And now, there is nothing but podcasts.”
The GLOW star said this doesn’t mean he won’t ever have a talk or appear on a podcast again, but that he’s looking forward to starting another chapter.
“We have put up a new show every Monday and Thursday for almost 16 years and we’re tired,” he made clear. “We’re burnt out. And we are utterly satisfied with the work we’ve done.”
Maron thanked the iconic podcast’s fans while teasing his new chapter, which includes his new Apple show with Owen Wilson Stick releasing on Wednesday and the documentary focused on him, Are We Good? directed by Steven Feinartz, that follows the podcaster-comedian-actor as he deals with the loss of his partner, filmmaker Lynn Shelton, who died in 2020, amid a shifting comedy landscape.
Maron is also working on a new comedy special for HBO set to release this year, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The special filmed in New York City in May.
WTF has remained a top, most-streamed and downloaded podcast since it launched on Sept. 1, 2009, and now boasts nearly 2,000 episodes and more than 55 million listens per year. He’s interviewed actors, comedians and icons ranging from Robin Williams, Keith Richards and Nicole Kidman to former President Barack Obama.