Marc Maron is, in a lot of ways, the epitome of the modern entertainer; a man with a varied set of skills who does a little bit of everything. While Maron got his start in the world of stand-up comedy, he is now a widely popular podcaster, musician, writer, and actor, dipping his toe into pretty much every aspect of the entertainment business. It’s pretty incredible, when you think about it, that Maron went from being a featured performer on shows like Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O’Brien to interviewing former President Barack Obama on his podcast. Such is the wild ride that is the life of Marc Maron. As of late, though, we’ve seen Maron flex his skills as an actor, taking on more and more roles and coming into his own as one of the more exciting character actors of his generation. In honor of this, we have collected some of his best movies and TV shows, ranked from worst to best.
8. Almost Famous (2000)
If you are familiar at all with Maron’s podcast, WTF With Marc Maron, you probably know that the show’s intro sound bite comes from Maron’s cameo performance in 2000’s Almost Famous, in which he plays as a character known only as “angry promoter.” It’s a very small part, but as the saying insists, there are no small roles and Maron does a fantastic job here in limited time. It should really come as no surprise, though, as Maron does ‘angry’ better than most actors could ever hope. Though he may not play an essential role in Cameron Crowe’s coming-of-age rock-and-roll drama about the fictional band, Stillwater, he does deliver what is asked, and got an intro for his podcast out of the deal as well.
7. Joker (2019)
19 years later and Maron still knows how to make the most of limited screen time. By the time of Joker, Maron was much better known, and yet is able to play his small role without making the scene feel out of place whatsoever. Obviously Joaquin Phoenix is the focus of this film, as the titular Joker driven mad by a series of mishaps which include incidents on a televised talk show hosted by Robert De Niro’s Murray Franklin. Here Maron plays Gene Ufland, a producer on Murray Franklin’s talk show who appears for only a few scenes but does an excellent job.
6. Easy
Do you remember when mumblecore was all the rage in small independent movies and TV shows? Well, there was no more influential force in the world of mumblecore than writer and director Joe Swanberg, who made movies like Drinking Buddies and Digging For Fire before turning to television for this half-hour dramedy series on Netflix. Premiering in 2016 and running for three seasons, Easy follows a handful of characters living in Chicago and navigating young adulthood as best as they can. Each episode of the series stands alone, telling its own contained stories serving almost as short films. There are, however, a series of recurring characters, which includes Maron as Jacob Malco, a self-centered graphic novelist who, when we first meet him, is questioning his relevance and trying desperately to regain some artistic notoriety. It marked one of the first times Maron was given a full, complete character on screen in which to explore and he does a fantastic job of injecting pathos into a character with more than a few flaws in his personality. You can stream the entirety of Easy on Netflix now.
5. The Bad Guys (2022)
In addition to performing in live-action movies and TV shows, Maron has made a nice little career for himself as a voice actor, appearing in a couple of children’s shows before starring last year in this big-budget DreamWorks film. The Bad Guys tells the story of a criminal gang of animals, which includes a wolf (Sam Rockwell), a tarantula (Awkwafina), a shark (Craig Robinson), a piranha (Anthony Ramos), and a snake, the latter of which is played by Maron. Snake’s skill is in sarcasm and safe-cracking, both of which he is equally adept at. The Bad Guys was a hugely successful movie, making over $250 million and was praised by critics, so much so that there have been discussions about a possible sequel.
4. Reservation Dogs
For number four on our list, we return to another minor role, one that Maron knocks out of the park. Reservation Dogs is the story of a group of teenagers growing up on a Native American reservation and Maron appears here in the show’s second season as a character named Gene who runs a boy’s home and is intent on helping the young men in his home with their recovery, even if his methods are a little unusual. Though he only appears in a single episode so far, we would not be surprised to see Maron’s Gene pop up again sometime soon.
3. Maron (2016)
In the lineage of shows like Seinfeld and Louie, Maron finally leveraged the success of his stand-up career and got his own TV show back in 2013. Playing a fictionalized version of himself, Maron ran for four seasons and 51 episodes with Maron serving as the primary creative mind behind much of the series.
2. GLOW (2017)
GLOW, which stands for Glorious Ladies Of Wrestling, features — as you might imagine — a heavily female cast, but Maron serves an important role here regardless, playing the role of Sam Sylvia. Maron’s Sylvia serves as the director of the wrestling show and so is responsible for establishing the ladies’ character, personas, and many storylines. Sylvia’s personality features much of the cantankerous sarcasm that has come to categorize many of Maron’s performances throughout the years.
1. To Leslie (2022)
Controversy aside, To Leslie remains one of the best reviewed films of the year, with many specifically praising Maron’s performance as Sweeney, a hotel proprietor who bonds with the film’s title character, played by Andrea Riseborough, who is struggling with alcoholism throughout the movie. Maron’s own history with addiction and subsequent sobriety make this an especially compelling role.
