Marc Maron and Comedian Bert Kreischer Clear the Air

Straight up, I’m not all that familiar with Bert Kreischer. I’ve seen enough of his stand-up to know he’s not my thing, which isn’t a knock against him. I don’t like The Big Bang Theory either, but I’ve got nothing against the cast (some good people made some nice paychecks off that franchise). From what I gather, Kreischer runs in the Joe Rogan circle of comics, but he’s not particularly political. In fact, on his podcast this week, he said he turned down an invite to the RNC because he knows how easily manipulated he is. He strikes me as a good-natured oaf—a galoot.

I am, however, a regular listener of Marc Maron, the surly comic who isn’t all that surly anymore. He was already softening before his girlfriend, Lynn Shelton, passed away, and now he’s a sensitive actor who sometimes cries and talks about feelings. But one thing that hasn’t changed? His disdain for the Rogan crowd. A couple of years ago, he delivered a killer rant about how anti-woke comics are the new hacks.

More recently, Maron called out a comedian for showing up wasted onstage and cashing in on their fame by phoning in a subpar set. For some reason, people assumed he was talking about Kreischer. Why? No clue. Is Kreischer known for getting trashed and half-assing shows?

Joe Rogan apparently thought Maron was talking about Kreischer and got into Kreischer’s head about it. And this is what happens when celebrities spill tea without dropping names: We all turn into detectives trying to crack the case like it’s a goddamn mystery.

The reality? Maron wasn’t talking about Kreischer—he was talking about Dave Chappelle. “I had heard that he did an arena show that was a pop-up and he was shitfaced. So, that was the point of reference,” Maron explained to Kreischer. “So when I saw you, I was like, ‘Oh my god.’ I’m not going to say anything bad about Bert. It got out of hand, and there was no way to put it back in the bottle.”

And the lesson here, as both comics agree: If you’re going to call someone out, you might as well say their name because it’s going to come back to you anyway.

I listened to most of that episode, and I stand by my assessment that he’s just not that bright. To wit, early on in the episode, Kreischer tries to convince Maron that he and Tucker Carlson would get along because “intellectually, you are peers.”

Maron disagreed. “I have a hard time talking to people who are sympathetic to anti-democratic governments … and he’s always been a dick.”