Marc Maron mourns Lynn Shelton
If you know who he is, you may consider Marc Maron a friend, even if you’ve never met him. Plenty of podcasts are personal, none more than Maron’s. He’s shared his own struggles over the years with celebrity guests, who, in the seeming safety of Maron’s garage, have shared their own. Some of his guests have succumbed to their demons in the years since, from Robin Williams to Parks and Rec’s Harris Wittels. In each case, Maron has dusted off the old interview and replayed it.
A little more than a week ago, Maron and his partner, the acclaimed film director, Lynn Shelton, gave a witty, technical glitch-filled interview to Indiewire from Maron’s home, where the two were sheltering in place during the pandemic. By this past weekend, Shelton was dead of a previously undiagnosed blood disorder.
Dutifully, Maron replayed his first interview with Shelton, from 2005, when they first met.
“So, this is what we do here,” he said on the podcast, choking back tears. “When somebody who’s been on the show passes away, we repost the episode. We take it out from behind the paywall and repost it. Not just out of respect or in memorial, but as a portrait of the person, a reminder, a reconnection with an artist. A reminder of who they were when they were vital and alive[.]”
The interview is Maron at his best; one might like to say that we can tell that they would fall in love, but to be honest, Maron makes connections like this all the time, with his guests, with his audience.
“I’m so glad that Lynn was so well-loved,” Maron said, “because now everybody’s saying ‘I hope that guy’s OK. How’s the cranky guy doing?’ ”
We hope the cranky guy will be OK.
Marc, let us know if there is anything we can do to help.
^^^
Image: Maron and Shelton on Indiewire, May 2020.