Episode 1662 - Sarah Sherman

For anyone who knew Sarah Sherman’s act before she got hired for Saturday Night Live, her new gig might have come as a surprise. Rooted in the Chicago  DIY scene, she performed as Sarah Squirm, with a unique ability to make her audiences do just that. But Sarah tells Marc that despite all the meat and viscera in her act, she was always a straight-up comedy person at heart, growing up on Long Island with an affinity for Fran Drescher and a love of Three Amigos. They talk about her show Helltrap Nightmare, how Eric Andre changed her life, and how she adjusted to SNL.

Episode 1661 - Jena Friedman

Jena Friedman shares a lot of Marc’s concerns about doing politically relevant comedy during historically scary times. She felt the risk of it first-hand during a recent border crossing from Canada. Jena talks with Marc about how her comedy always stemmed from an activist impulse, how this benefitted her when she became a field producer for The Daily Show, and how that experience was invaluable when she was hired to work on Borat 2, for which she received an Oscar nomination.

Episode 1660 - Leanne Morgan

Leanne Morgan was a late bloomer in comedy but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t in her heart for a long time. Despite a life in Tennessee filled with tobacco farms and door-to-door jewelry sales, a trip to The Comedy Store in the early ‘90s left Leanne with no doubt as to what she wanted to do with her life. Leanne talks with Marc about her several false starts in show business and how she was worried she would have to give up the comedy dream until social media and Netflix changed everything for her.

Episode 1659 - Dustin Chafin / Darby Allin

Dustin Chafin's path to comedy went from a Texas trailer park to a Mormon conversion before winding up in New York where he almost met a tragic end. That's also where he met Marc and a young Nate Bargatze, who got his first stage time thanks to Dustin, a break that Nate did not forget. Dustin and Marc catch up on each other's lives after a nearly 20 year gap. Plus, Marc talks with AEW's Darby Allin who just got back from the tippy top of the world, having climbed Mount Everest.

Episode 1658 - Alexander Skarsgård

Alexander Skarsgård decided acting wasn't for him at age 13 and he went in a completely different direction with his life. But after time in the Swedish Navy and a false start at university in England, he couldn't fight the pull of acting. Alexander talks with Marc about his career-making roles in Generation Kill and True Blood, the difficulty of making The Northman, the ease of making Big Little Lies, and why he loves doing offbeat comedy, whether it's something goofy like Zoolander, pitch black like Succession, or sci-fi satire like his new series Murderbot.

Episode 1657 - Chad Kassem

Chad Kassem was a Louisiana kid running afoul of the law, caught in a spiral of substance abuse and arrests. Thankfully, as he puts it, music is a hell of a natural drug. In his 20s, Chad became obsessed with audio and his new mission was to save the world from bad sounding records. Chad talks with Marc about how he started Acoustic Sounds, which serves as a mastering lab, a pressing plant, a record label and more, all in pursuit of making records that sound better than the originals. Chad explains his uncompromising process that turned his Kansas operation into one of the biggest players in the vinyl record business.

Episode 1656 - Mariska Hargitay

Mariska Hargitay says the new documentary she made began as a search for the mother she never knew. But as she pursued it, she wound up coming to a new understanding of her own truth. Mariska and Marc talk about My Mom Jayne, the HBO doc about her mother Jayne Mansfield, who died in a car accident when Mariska was only three. Mariska explains why she kept her mother’s story at arm’s length through most of her life, even as she carved her own path of success in Hollywood, and how she ultimately embraced the revelations about her parents.

Episode 1655 - Rich Aronovitch

Many years after a life-changing one-on-one conversation between Rich Aronovitch and Marc in Queens, New York, Rich and Marc are sitting down once again. This time they’re talking about Rich’s new comedy special, his family’s immigrant journey that landed them in New Orleans, Rich’s first experience on the stage under the name Smooth Daddy Johnson, and why Rich went to jail for letting the air out of a police officer’s tires.

Episode 1654 - Jordan Klepper

Jordan Klepper and his Daily Show colleagues find themselves in the position of calling fascism out for what it is while also still finding comedy in an increasingly unstable world. But one way Jordan deals with the firehose of information is by going out into the field, like he did for his most recent special report, MAGA: The Next Generation. Jordan and Marc talk about his findings, but they get into his upbringing in Kalamazoo, his transition from math major to improv comic, and the understanding of show business he learned from family cousin Tim Allen.

Episode 1653 - Megan Stalter

Megan Stalter sees her comedic persona as a representation of both supreme confidence and a nervous breakdown simultaneously. It’s a demeanor that served her well, whether on the improv stages in Chicago or on her breakout Instagram videos or as the scene-stealing Kayla on Hacks or in her own Netflix series Too Much. Megan and Marc talk about how her comedy chops took shape, her upbringing in the Pentecostal Church, and her identity as both queer and Christian.

Episode 1652 - Cristin Milioti

Cristin Milioti’s portrayal of the ruthless Sofia Falcone in The Penguin might seem like a departure for her. But Cristin tells Marc her goal has always been to avoid being pigeonholed. Also, the tone of The Penguin is so theatrical and operatic that Cristin fit right in as someone who, in her words, was saved by theater kids in high school. They also talk about her run on Broadway in Once, the fear she had while making The Wolf of Wall Street, and the heartbreak of having an entire two-season series, Made for Love, deleted from existence.

Episode 1651 - Mike Birbiglia

Perhaps a reason there’s always tension between Mike Birbiglia and Marc is they have a lot in common. That’s also probably the reason that, despite this tension, Mike has made multiple trips to the garage. This time, Mike and Marc talk about the job of making people laugh about things that make them sad or angry, the benefits and risks of centering your comedy around your personal life, and how they’ve both made peace with their doctor dads, with Mike dealing with it in his new Netflix special, The Good Life.

Episode 1650 - Seth Meyers

Seth Meyers doesn’t get out to LA very often, but when he does he’s able to visit longtime friends, go on other late night shows, and head over to the garage to talk with Marc. This time they get into how Late Night is helping Seth process what’s going on in the world even has he helps viewer do the same. They also talk about SNL 50, including Seth’s interaction with Keith Richards and why Eddie Murphy and Will Ferrell are the greatest. Then they spend the rest of the time fanboying about Nathan Fielder and Tim Robinson.

Episode 1649 - Josh Homme

Josh Homme manifested an 18-year-old dream to perform a Queens of the Stone Age concert in the Catacombs of Paris. Josh tells Marc why it was such a meaningful undertaking two years after he survived a bout with cancer. They also talk about his collaborations and friendship with Iggy Pop, the 2015 terrorist attack during an Eagles of Death Metal concert, and the difference between giving up and giving in.

Episode 1648 - John Mulaney

John Mulaney has been through a lot since the last time he was on the show, so it’s nice he can identify the present as, in his words, a happy time that he can appreciate. John offers Marc his reflections on the first run of his Netflix talk show Everybody’s Live, reflections on his sobriety five years after everything fell apart, and reflections on the history of WTF, a show he was listening to right from the beginning.

Episode 1647 - Scott Frank

Scott Frank is one of Hollywood’s most prolific screenwriters but he still has perpetual anxiety about his job security. Scott and Marc talk about the impulse that keeps him grinding away, whether he’s working on original screenplays, rewrites, or his limited series like Godless, The Queen’s Gambit and his new Netflix show Department Q. They also talk about Scott’s mentors, his influences, and the construction of his most well known screenplays, like Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Minority Report, and Logan.

Episode 1646 - Nick Kroll

Nick Kroll was one of the first dozen guests on WTF and in the nearly sixteen years of his life since then, loved ones have been lost, babies have been welcomed to the world, and Nick can now see things about himself that he couldn’t identify before. Nick and Marc talk about those changes, as well as the artwork of his wife Lily Kwong, the trip to Italy he made for his new movie I Don’t Understand You, and the fulfillment of creating eight seasons of Big Mouth.

Episode 1645 - Peter Wolf

Peter Wolf didn’t want to write the typical rock and roll memoir filled with lurid tales and score settling. Instead he wanted to write a collection of short stories that stem from his serendipitous encounters with everyone from Marilyn Monroe to David Lynch. Peter tells Marc how he wrestled with his own memories to write the book, how he drew from his friendships with Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, and how he got right with the topics he wanted to avoid, namely his time with The J. Geils Band and his marriage to Faye Dunaway.