Available:*
Library | Collection | Collection | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Fig Garden Branch (Fresno Co.) | Searching... Unknown | Non-fiction Area | 082 MAR | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Woodward Park Library (Fresno Co.) | Searching... Unknown | Non-fiction Area | 082 MAR | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
"Public figures as you rarely if ever hear them: strikingly personal, surprisingly open, and profoundly emotional."
-- Entertainment Weekly
"I'm British, so I'm medically dead inside, but even I can't help but open up whenever I talk to Marc. He uses his honestly like a scalpel, cutting himself open in front of anyone he's talking to, and in doing so, invites you to do the same."
--John Oliver
From the beloved and wildly popular podcast WTF with Marc Maron comes a book of intimate, hilarious and life changing conversations with some of the funniest, and most important people in the world like you've never heard them before. Waiting for the Punch features the stories and thoughts of such luminaries as Amy Schumer, Mel Brooks, Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Sir Ian McKellen, Lorne Michels, Judd Apatow, Lena Dunham, Jimmy Fallon, RuPaul, Louis CK, David Sedaris, Bruce Springsteen, and President Obama.
This book is not simply a collection of these interviews, but instead something more wondrous: a running narrative of the world's most recognizable names working through the problems, doubts, joys, triumphs, and failures we all experience. With each chapter covering a different topic: parenting, childhood, relationships, sexuality, success, failures and others, Punch becomes a sort of everyman's guide to life. Barack Obama candidly discusses the challenges of the presidency, and the bittersweet moments of seeing your children grow up. Amy Schumer recounts the pain of her parents' divorce. Molly Shannon uproariously remembers the time she and her best friend hopped a plane from Ohio to New York City when they were twelve on a dare. Amy Poehler dishes on why just because you become a parent doesn't mean you have to like anybody else's kids but your own. Bruce Springsteen expounds on the dual nature of desperation to both motivate and devastate.
Full of stories that are at once laugh-out loud funny, heartbreakingly honest, joyous, tragic and powerful, Waiting for the Punch is a book to be read from cover to cover, but it is also one to return to again and again.
Author Notes
Marc Maron is a stand-up comedian and host of the podcast WTF with Marc Maron. He has appeared in his own comedy specials on Comedy Central, HBO, and Netflix, and his sitcom, Maron, airs on IFC. He lives in Los Angeles. In 2017 Marc Maron will star alongside Alison Brie in the Netflix original show GLOW.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Over the past nine years on his WTF podcast, Maron (Attempting Normal) has conducted fascinating, no-holds-barred conversations with a range of artists, comedians, musicians, writers, and other notables, including President Barack Obama. This is an extensive compilation of his guests' observations, organized under 11 subjects (including "Growing Up," "Addictions," "Sexuality," and "Life Lessons"). Together, they combine to make a moving and powerful testament to the ups and downs of life, to overcoming fear (the feeling, as Judd Apatow says, of constantly "waiting for a punch"), and to Maron's own struggles "to see myself in others and also hear of struggles that were harder and deeper than mine." It also is an amazing testament to Maron's ability to really engage with his guests to get "something to come up that enables us to engage authentically in that moment." He shares insights from many his guests, including comedian Louis C.K.'s account of watching his daughter's birth ("I instantly knew that I'm going to get old and die, and I wasn't afraid of it anymore, because it's about her now") and actress and comedian Rachael Harris's take on her divorce ("The thought of leaving was hideous and awful, but the thought of staying was worse"). Maron's latest is a deeply moving, inspirational, and witty work. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A popular podcast gets the book treatment.An accomplished and long-respected comedian, Maron is perhaps best known for his wildly popular eponymous podcast WTF with Marc Maron, which premiered in 2009. Throughout the podcast's successful run, Maron has shown a unique knack for getting famous (and semifamous) people to talk. And talk. As they talk, his guests reveal amazingand often previously unexploreddepths about their personal experiences. In the process, they also reveal a great deal about life in general, especially the many difficulties in navigating all the absurdity, drama, and tragicomedy. Maron did the majority of the work to get these words out there, as they are drawn from his podcast, but he strongly implies that the transcription was someone else's job. It is unclear who made perhaps the most important decision of all: organizing these transcriptions by theme. The book coalesces around chapters about such timeless themes as family, sex, addiction, mortality, and success and failure. Many of Maron's subjects are among his professional colleagues and friendsamong dozens of others, Robin Williams, Judd Apatow, Amy Poehler, Jimmy Fallon, Garry Shandling, Kevin Hart, Cheech Marin, Sarah Silvermanbut he has interviewed a wide range of people from other walks of life, including Terry Gross, Melissa Etheridge, David Sedaris, Paul Thomas Anderson, and even then-President Barack Obama. As readers will expect, there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, but what is more surprising and refreshing is how many profound and powerful insights Maron manages to draw from his guests. Many of the most tragic situations come from the comedians, and some of the funnier moments come from those whose job is not necessarily to make people laugh. An insightful collection of interviews about what it means to be human. This book, it turns out, helps explain W is TF. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Maron found some success as a stand-up comic and writer, but it wasn't until 2009, when he started his podcast, WTF with Marc Maron, that he found a huge audience and a true calling. Maron loves talking about himself and big-life issues, so chatting with a myriad of celebrities, in his garage, suited him well and lent itself to candid conversation. Waiting for the Punch collects these interviews in book form but accomplishes something more by organizing them by issues like identity, relationships, parenting, mental health, success, and failure so this reads like a true narrative, not just a series of transcripts. To hear Mel Brooks, Leslie Jones, Molly Shannon, Robin Williams, and then-President Barack Obama discuss mortality fairly openly and honestly is not only eye-opening, it's also strangely reassuring: hey, everyone has their issues! From a book by a comedian, filled with the words of other comedians, readers will expect some laughs. What they might not expect are heartfelt revelations, life lessons, and perhaps even a cry or two.--Sexton, Kathy Copyright 2017 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Maron is a stand-up comic, actor, and author, but his excellence as host of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast has thrust him into the spotlight. In this collection, he shares the most revealing, heartfelt moments from that (R-rated) podcast, which has featured a long list of celebrities from many walks of life. Amy Poehler, Patton Oswalt, Terry Gross, Bruce Springsteen, Judd Apatow, and Lena Dunham are but a few of the many luminaries Maron has interviewed. Each chapter begins with a brief meditation on a single topic-"Growing Up," "Sexuality," "Relationships," "Parenting," etc.-and then divides further with the name of the podcast guest above their most raw anecdotes on that topic. Some interviewees are included several times within each chapter, so that their anecdotes build to a suspenseful, evocative climax; the punch provided by the last piece of the story. Shining through each one is Maron's ability to coax honest and gut-wrenching responses from his guests, whether it's Amy Schumer discussing her sexual experiences or Barack Obama explaining the evolution of his identity. VERDICT A must-read for Maron fans and anyone curious about his work.-Paul Stenis, Pepperdine Univ. Lib., Malibu, CA © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Foreword | p. ix |
| In Memoriam | p. xi |
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| Growing Up: "The Smaller Place It Came From" | p. 5 |
| Sexuality: "An Obliteration of Self" | p. 45 |
| Identity: "Everybody Has a Community" | p. 87 |
| Relationships: "'Do I Like You?'" | p. 107 |
| Parenting: "I Was Doing It the Wrong Way" | p. 161 |
| Addiction: "Introduce Yourself to Your Sickness" | p. 199 |
| Mental Health: "The Wound Is Still There" | p. 231 |
| Failure: "An Uppercut Right to My Feelings" | p. 279 |
| Success: "Bawling Your Eyes Out on a Used Futon for a Good Reason" | p. 307 |
| Mortality: "I Wouldn't Want It to Go Away" | p. 343 |
| Life Lessons: "Messy for Everybody" | p. 373 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 387 |
| Index | p. 389 |