Marc Maron is taking accountability for his longstanding feud with fellow comedian Jon Stewart, admitting that it was “petty” and “fully fueled” by his own “insecurity.”
Speaking with Esquire for its latest “What I’ve Learned” video interview series, Maron, 62, explained that their rivalry dates back to when they were both up and coming in the comedy scene in the 1990s.
“Jon never did anything to me,” the WTF podcast host clarified, confessing, “[I was] just jealous because when I was coming up, you know, he was this smart, cute Jewish guy, who was good at... some people have foresight and are disciplined careerists, and they know how to understand their talent, harness it, and then figure out how to capitalize on it with their skillset on their terms.”
Recalling that “throughout my early career, Jon, who is roughly my age, was everywhere,” Maron said it made him envious.
“I would just s*** on him, and to his face. It was consuming. I couldn’t get through a week without him being on the cover of a magazine,” he said of the 62-year-old Daily Show host. “For some reason, I saw him as, ‘If I could only have my s*** together, I could be more like that guy.’ … Which wasn’t true, because I was out of my mind, and I was definitely gunning for something else.”
He added that he didn’t get into comedy to be an entertainer or to become a talk show host, but instead “to hold space and to speak my mind.”
Comedy, he explained, has no rules. “You can do whatever you want up there, as long as you’re funny,” Maron said. “If you can make it funny, you can be who you are. So, I think I had a big belief in that I will eventually be who I am. And I always was, but it was not whole until fairly recently. So Jon really just represented that, and I was annoying to him.”
Asked if he had ever tried getting Stewart to come on his WTF podcast, Maron revealed he had “early on.”
He remembered calling Stewart and “kind of apologizing” before bringing up his podcast. Immediately, however, the Comedy Central star told him, “There’s no love here.”
“And I’m like, ‘Ok,’ and he then basically said, ‘I might be willing to have coffee or something, but I’m not doing that [podcast] with you,’” Maron recounted.
“And then he said, ‘I’m sure what you’re doing is very creative, and good luck with it.’ Just the stinging condescension of that… it didn’t help anything. And now he’s doing a podcast. So, full circle!”
The Independent has contacted Stewart’s representative for comment.
Maron previously replaced Stewart in 1993 as the host of Comedy Central’s clip show Short Attention Span Theater. It was canceled shortly thereafter in 1994. He has since starred in numerous TV shows and films, including Sean Cooper’s forthcoming Bruce Springsteen biopic, Deliver Me from Nowhere.
Meanwhile, Stewart would go on to become the host of The Daily Show, garnering nationwide recognition and acclaim.
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