Marc Maron is another comedian/artist that I should be into but never took the chance. Much like Hannibal Buress’ latest (That I recently reviewed here), I finally took the plunge and, boy, am I glad that I did. Besides Maron’s appearance in Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk With Me and a friend of mine raving about his WTF podcast on a semi-daily basis I know nothing about the man except that apparently he’s awesome. Does Thinky Pain prove that theory? It definitely does.
Recorded at Le Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village, Thinky Pain sees Maron flying by the seat of his pants with a set that he seemingly makes up as he goes. And it works. Beginning with a story about following a set by the legendary Bill Hicks, Maron scores laugh after laugh with his acerbic wit and timing. Navigating from stories focusing on using a girlfriends hangover as an excuse to satisfy a need to purchase Captain Beefheart vinyl, meeting a mystical buddha waiting in line for a burrito (After purchasing said vinyl), and his thought process when formulating ideas for jokes which leads to a great bit on autoerotic asphyxiation and ultimately, more laughs.
Then there’s Maron noting how judgmental he can be (“Fuck those shorts!”) and connecting being on the “Morning Zoo” (You need to listen to know what that is) to the Zombie Apocalypse. As a mid-30 year old a lot of Maron’s jokes really struck a chord in my funny bone but after listening to Thinky Pain it’s apparent that his humor transcends generations and it’s definitely worth checking out.
Thinky Pain is available now through Comedy Central Records at all fine digital retailers or you can go old school and pick up the vinyl version here.