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.
