Mark Maron takes a swing, er, swig, between jibes

Although most comic professionals aspire for lucrative television spots, many still enjoy the intimate atmosphere available only during stand-up routines. Don Rickles earned his appelation, "Mr. Warmth," for lampooning hapless audience members. "Are you on the toilet?" Rickles once asked a man staring blankly from the front row. "You want a magazine?"

However, the majority of stand-up comedians enjoy feeding off the positive vibes of the crowd, knowing that their reputations can be made or broken based upon audience support. For all the excitement and tension comedians generate, most of the skewering of the audience today is playful.

 Adam Harris gives the authors his "rigid" conditions for us to engage him in an interview (19 seconds).


In the middle of his act, comedian Mark Maron decided to pick on those "rich" Columbia kids:



[To the author] "What are you writing, buddy? Making notes? Doing up my shit? . . . . Oh, it's the Columbia thing. They're doing a little web thing on comedy. There's a lot of money behind them, you can tell by the camera. [Motioning to our Kodak throwaway.] 'You don't need a digital camera here, take this box, it's 25 cents.' Rich kids . . . . What are you gonna do with that degree, get a job? ['Maybe get you jobs,' I replied.] Get me jobs – Don't flatter yourself, fuckhead. Come on, I can't get work with a good agent, and you're going to help me?

I used to live in Manhattan. I was on the Lower East Side. [Pointing to the authors.] Have you ever been there? It's downtown. . . . I had to leave – because people would steal everything around there. They used to steal things out of your car, off your body, out of your apartment. And then they'd turn around and sell it right on the street. This actually happened. A guy came up to me, he was running – ' Wanna buy this Walkman? Seven bucks.' And there was another guy running after him, going, 'What the fuck, you stole my Walkman!' And he had the headset on still.

Hey, take another picture [Maron poses.] I'm so fucking lame, I'm sorry. Good luck with it, really. If you're doing a paper on me, you're off to a great start, cubs. . . ."