Marc Maron: Panicked – Review
I watched Marc Maron’s HBO special ‘Panicked’ and loved it. He reminded me that great stand-up comedy has nothing to do with laughs per minute or recycled stereotypes. It is about introspection and irony. It is those often bleak but very human realizations, and finding the right words to explain them to an audience.
Comedy is always supposed to make you laugh, but great comedy can transcend the form and leave you with some insight. Maron’s special is thoughtful, dark, very much of the time, and oddly hopeful.
I have shared some meals and green rooms with Maron. I have even interviewed him years ago. He is, by his own admission, a difficult personality. But he is giving voice to a lot of what is happening in stand-up right now and doing it in a way that is funny without being preachy.
He isn’t for everybody, and that, more than anything, is what we need more of. All the anti-woke stand-ups who are chasing the trend of punching down will be forgotten in five years. Not because they were canceled. They will be forgotten because they aren’t original or funny.
Marc Maron was a Finalist in the San Francisco Comedy Competition in 1993,
Joe Klocek is a San Francisco comedian who does a monthly game show at Cobbs Comedy Club in San Francisco.
He is also a Finalist in the comedy competition. You can find out more about Joe at https://stagejoe.com.
Joe Klocek was a Finalist in the San Francisco Comedy Competition and the Seattle International Comedy Competition. He is a resident of San Francisco and hosts two monthly shows, a game show at Cobbs and a showcase at the Punchline.