Are We Good?

Greetings again from the darkness. Marc Maron is the rare comedian who can make you laugh and make you think, while also making you feel beat down ... and often sad for him. Maron has done stand-up comedy. He's acted in TV series ("GLOW") and even had his own series (2013-16). You might have seen him acting in movies (THE ORDER, 2024) or perhaps heard his voice acting (THE BAD GUYS franchise). And beyond that, he may be best known as a trailblazer in the world of podcasts - his "WTF" launched in 2009 at a time when few even knew what a podcast was.

Director Steven Feinartz has quite a track record with comedy specials (Bill Burr, Eddie Pepitone, Steve Byrne, etc.), but this documentary is something a bit different. The film kicks off in 2020 as Maron (along with everyone else) is trying to figure out the new rules that go with COVID. It's also the year Maron's romantic partner and soul mate, director Lynn Shelton died. Ms. Shelton directed numerous TV shows as well as some movies (SWORD OF TRUST, 2019, which also starred Maron). The camera catches Maron's emotional response to her death and then follows as that grief sticks with him.

Much of what we see on screen is Maron using comedy and his work to process his grief. Directly to the camera he questions whether this is proper or not - is it an abuse of her memory? Maron's podcast has featured many guests over the years, including Paul McCartney and Robin Williams ... even Barack Obama showed up to tape a show in Maron's garage studio. Not surprisingly, Lynn Shelton was a podcast guest back in 2015. But this is something different. We are watching a guy dealing with loss. It all seems real, yet how are we to know for sure. That ending certainly catches us off guard - not that we don't wish him happiness.

It's quite interesting to watch as Maron goes back on stage in 2021. One 2022 segment features actor/comedian Patton Oswalt recounting the loss of his wife and sharing the emotions of grief with Maron. It's a powerful segment that ends too quickly. Fellow comedians John Mulaney, Nate Bargatze, and David Cross contribute, and Maron discloses some personal baggage: his love of cats, his use of cocaine in the 1980's, being sober since 1999, and having ex-wives. One of my favorite parts involves his dad jokes - jokes specifically for his dad, who was in the audience for a show. Maron's 60th birthday party wraps things up, and though we aren't exactly sure what we've watched - it's certainly more personal than most celebrities would accept.

Utopia will release the film in theaters in NY and LA on October 3rd and nationwide theatrical events on October 5th & 8th.

The theatrical releasee will coincide with the end of Maron's enormously popular podcast WTF. 16 years in, WTF is one of the most streamed and longest running podcasts of all time.

I know Marc Maron from his films, his writing and his guest appearances on late night television, wherever live comedy is found. Yet I've never listened to a single episode of his award-winning WTF podcast. Actually, I don't listen to any podcasts, so please don't hold that against me. Maron's comedy is sarcastic, smart and self-deprecating, exactly how Marc presents himself in person. He doesn't tell jokes, he makes observations. His biopic, Are We Good? Takes old and new fans on a journey into his private world. A world in which he was left floundering after the death of his life and work partner, filmmaker Lynn Shelton. To hear him describe her loss, you know he still carries the sorrow with him everywhere.

The film picks up two months into the 2020 COVID lockdown. To hear Marc tell it, he and Lynn were negotiating the lockdown together, when she suddenly collapsed at their home. Shelton was a two-time Emmy-nominated actress and director; Marc worked with her on some of her projects including GLOW and Sword of Trust. Shelton directed tv episodes of Little Fires Everywhere and The Morning Show, just to name a few. At the hospital it was found Shelton had been suffering from undiagnosed acute myeloid leukemia, blood cancer, without any symptoms. She died just a few days after she was admitted; she was 54 years old. Maron is quite open about his life and how he took years to negotiate a path through her loss. His home is still filled with her things.

You'll certainly know the names and faces of the actors and comedians who pepper Are We Good? Maron has known and worked with many in the entertainment world including Nate Bargatze, Michaela Watkins, Patton Oswald, W. Kamau Bell, David Cross and John Mulaney. Marc was part of the Air America radio network, which specilized in progressive talk radio. Other luminaries on AA included Al Franken, Rachel Maddow, Ron Reagan and Janeane Garofalo. Maron's WTF podcast launched in 2009; nobody thought it would survive. However, the show did more than survive, garnering national awards from the Academy of Podcasters and IHeartRadio.

With a total of 1686 episodes spread over 16 years, Maron was able to convince many special guests to visit his home, where he usually aired the show. Guests including Robin Williams, Mandy Moore, Pete Davidson, Peter Dinklage and President Barack Obama, some of whom appear in the film. In such an intimate setting, just Marc and the mic, guests opened up about their dissolving marriages, their drug addictions, their medical treatments and, in President Obama's case, the state of the world. President Obama was the final guest in the last episode of the show, which aired October 13, 2025.

Marc actually withdrew from live standup for an extended period of time. In the film, we see that he's just as nervous about his 'coming out' to a live audience after years of self-imposed seclusion, both during and after COVID, as any first-time comedian. Though I expected Marc to be overwhelmingly bitter about his loss, his cat and his close friends are always around to keep him from going under. When you hear him say of Shelton, "we didn't have enough time together", you know he's still recovering from the loss of this life partner. With WTF ending its run, Maron is taking some time off to figure out his next steps. Between touring in 2025 to promoting this film as well as appearing in the Springsteen biopic to be released later this year, he'll certainly have enough appearances to keep himself busy.

If you'd like to see what WTF was about, archives are available through platforms like Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music. You can catch the film itself on Apple TV, Netflix, Prime and MUBI. An Official Selection of the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival and the 2025 Tribeca Festival, Are We Good? Is a very personal look into one man coping with a very personal loss as well as a loving homage from Marc to Lynn.

If you are a big fan of Marc's you'll get it & it will be an interesting watch. Otherwise, you probably won't get it.

This documentary follows Marc's journey from college thru present, chronicling his career as a stand up, TV series actor, then early podcaster. It shiws how he is dealing with his addiction recovery , as well as his grief from the kids if his best friend & love of his life, Lynn Shelton.

While it wasn't uplifting or a very happy story, it was what you'd expect from Marc. "Marc had to learn to love himself before he can live me" Lynn Shelton's journal.