After I came upon that Marc Maron had a brand new stand-up comedy particular coming to HBO, I made positive so as to add it to my watchlist and test it out as quickly as humanly potential. Shortly after the particular hit the 2025 TV schedule, I fired up my HBO Max subscription and ready myself to soak up the WTF Podcast host’s observations, complaints, and anecdotes from his wild and neurotic life. Whereas the entire 70-minute Panicked routine was excellent and among the finest comedy I’ve seen in a very long time, there was one bit that hit me the toughest.
No, it wasn’t Maron’s critique of politics, celeb, or relationships that obtained me. As a substitute, it was when the Stick star began sharing anecdotes about residing with nervousness, or his “intrusive catastrophic pondering,” that each hit me like a ton of bricks and a heat pillow. Let me clarify.
Marc Maron Opening Up His ‘Intrusive Catastrophic Pondering’ Was So Trustworthy
Like a number of motion pictures that get trustworthy about psychological sickness, no punches are pulled in Marc Maron: Panicked, even when the comic/podcaster/actor is hitting himself within the face. As somebody who has handled nervousness for a lot of his life, it was each hilarious and relatable watching Maron speak about his “intrusive catastrophic pondering” that by no means actually appears to cease and permit him to take a break. One among my favourite traces from this bit follows:
If my mind rests for even three seconds, one other a part of my mind is like ‘You Need Me To Open The Fear Folder? Acquired an enormous listing right here. Let’s do it. What do you wish to take into consideration all day lengthy?’
I do know stand-up comedy has lengthy been an avenue for folks to open up about their issues, however the way in which Maron talked about that “fear folder” in his mind, and the way his nervousness doesn’t give him a break, was simply so rattling uncooked!
I’ve By no means Heard A Comedy Bit That Was So Relatable, Particularly When He Began Speaking About Anxiousness And Despair
There are such a lot of considerate motion pictures about melancholy, and the identical could be mentioned for stand-up specials. Like so many others residing with nervousness, I’ve lengthy battled melancholy, however the way in which that Marc Maron talked concerning the two issues in his Panicked particular made me really feel rather less alone when he mentioned:
The bizarre factor about nervousness and melancholy is that I assumed I used to be depressed in my life, however then I noticed that should you’re actually anxious, finally — there’s an arc to it — your nervousness will exhaust you and your mind will likely be like ‘Let’s simply be unhappy.’ That is just like the consolation zone on the arc of tension.
I don’t know, however seeing melancholy as your mind’s response to days, weeks, or months of residing by nervousness assaults offers me a brand new perspective on life, and I’ve Maron to thank for that.
I’ve been going to remedy for years, I’ve had trustworthy conversations with family and friends about psychological well being, and I’ve learn numerous books attempting to make sense of all of it. That mentioned, listening to a comic like Marc Maron be open concerning the day-in and day-out battles with nervousness and melancholy was extremely transferring. Each private and revealing story is adopted by a punchline of some variety, however actually, that’s my favourite method of dealing with severe matters. It’s necessary to search out the humor in it. In any other case, it’s really easy to get slowed down by it.
Additionally, I like the truth that Marc Maron: Panicked premiered on HBO the identical day his The Dangerous Guys 2 (a youngsters movie with a killer fart joke) landed on the 2025 film schedule. Discuss nice timing.