Veteran comedian Marc Maron, perhaps best known for his wildly popular podcast “WTF with Marc Maron” (for which he interviews personalities from his garage) lived in Boston during the early days of his stand up career after attending Boston University. Known for his frank, acerbic wit, Maron honed his comic chops in small venues across town. Maron spoke to the Metro about his visit to his old stomping grounds, for a stop in town to discuss his new book of essays “Attempting Normal.”
When you come back to Boston, does it feel familiar to you?
Definitely. I mean, you know, everything’s different. There’s remnants of what was there when I was there. There’s a tone to the place and a feeling to the air and that brings back a lot of memories. I was there kind of a long time.
Do you have any spots that you like to hit when you come back to Boston?
I don’t know what that city has anymore. It’s a strange thing. Out of all the places I’ve lived, I never really went back there much. I don’t even know why. I paid a lot of dues there as a comic, and I was in a lot of sticky situations, and there are just as many bad memories as there were good memories. But it’s weird, I don’t really know what’s there anymore. I’m looking forward to being in Harvard Square. Like at the Brattle Theatre, when I was in college. Sh—t, I saw Spalding Gray do “Swimming to Cambodia” there. I used to know the woman who ran the place because she was dating this older dude that I hung out with. How long have you lived in that area?
Since 2007.
Oh, there used to be this joint in Harvard Square called “The Tasty.” It was just a lunch counter on the corner there — like there were just five seats — and all he made was burgers and stuff. He was open all night. I used to work at the Coffee Connection, back in the day, before I started doing comedy. It was the first really chichi coffee joint and I would steal coffee from there, and I would end up just jacked and I couldn’t sleep, so I would end up at that place the Tasty at two or three in the morning because I knew the guy. Harvard Square’s not really any kind of crazy place, it’s a very well-managed bit of real estate. But this one joint was just this light in the middle of the night where you could sit there and eat hamburgers and talk to people at two or three in the morning. But it’s gone. [But] That old cigar shop’s probably still there.
It is still there. The cigar shop will always be there.
Yeah, I saw David Mamet in there. He used to hang out in there. One time I saw him there, and he had come in wearing these sunglasses, and I thought they were the best sunglasses I ever saw in my life. It took me about twenty years but I actually found a pair that looks just like them.
If you go
Brattle Theatre
40 Brattle St., Cambridge
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harvard.com
