LOS ANGELES — Barack Obama helped Marc Maron lock the gates on his podcast Monday, returning to the show for the final episode after 16 years and more than 1,600 episodes.
The former president gave new status to “WTF With Marc Maron” and to podcasts in general when he visited Maron’s Los Angeles garage studio while still in office a decade ago. Obama brought the 62-year-old host, stand-up comic and actor to his Washington office for the last interview.
Obama asked the initial questions.
“How are you feeling about this whole thing?” he said, “transition, moving on from this thing that has been one of the defining parts of your career and your life?”
“I feel OK,” Maron answered. “I feel like I’m sort of ready for the break, but there is sort of a fear there, of what do I do now? I’m busy. But, not unlike your job … I’ve got a lot of people who over the last 16 years have grown to rely on me.”
Maron laughed as he acknowledged he was comparing his podcasting gig to the presidency.
“I think it’s pretty similar,” Obama said.
The identity of the guest was not revealed until the episode dropped, and fans had been speculating. Obama was a popular guess, both because of his relationship with “WTF” and because Maron in an interview with Variety in July said Obama would be his ideal final conversation.
The host explained the decision in an unusually brief and straightforward introduction to the episode.
“It became clear that the guest we needed to have was singular,” Maron said, “in that he could address the importance of this being our final episode, but also address how we move through the world we’re living in, as frightening as it is.”
Maron asked Obama for advice on moving on from your life’s biggest job.
“You’ve still got a couple of chapters left,” Obama said. “Don’t rush into what the next thing is. Take a beat. Take some satisfaction looking backwards.”
After a much talk on the state of the world, Obama brought it back around to Maron’s farewell.
“I think we’re going to be OK,” Obama said. “I think part of the reason you had such a big fan base during this 16-year run is there was a core decency to you and the conversations that you had.”
He added, “I think speaks to who we are.”
Maron avoided sentimental farewell talk during the episode — he got that out of the way on Thursday in his penultimate episode, where talked directly and emotionally to his listeners.
“I’m grateful to have been part of your lives,” he said. “We’ve been through a lot of stuff together. A lot of breakups. Death. Cats. The world.”
The new Obama episode was No. 1,686 of the pioneering and influential long-form interview podcast that had humble beginnings in 2009 as a place where he worked out his issues with other stand-up comedians in the garage of his home that he dubbed “The Cat Ranch.”
Maron’s cats were always an essential part of the show. His final words on Monday’s episode were tributes to the ones who had died.
“Cat angels everywhere,” he said.
For most of its years the show has opened with a fan-composed rock ‘n’ roll theme song that opens with an audio sample of Maron in his small role in the film “Almost Famous” shouting, “Lock the gates!” The song is named for one of Maron’s common phrases, “Are We Doing This?” Another such phrase, “Are we good?” was often his last question to guests and is the title of a new documentary on him.
Eventually, with help from guests like Obama, Robin Williams and Paul McCartney, “WTF” became a media institution where authors, artists, musicians, Hollywood stars and political leaders would give him their backstory.
Maron announced in June that he and longtime producing partner Brendan McDonald had decided to end the show. He said there was no particular reason, other than that he was tired and utterly satisfied with the work they had done.
On Monday, Maron seemed moved as he read from a pseudolegal document that he had drawn up for Obama to sign, releasing McDonald “from the professional responsibility to listening to me talk.”