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Tracing the Birth of the Comedy Podcast Boom

by | July 18th, 2012

The Montreal Just for Laughs Festival is not every comic’s cup of tea. That being said, many consider it to be the most prestigious event of the year. Not only is it the largest international comedy festival in the world, it is also the best attended by industry representatives, precisely the put-off for some. Last year at the 29th installment of the summer rendezvous in Quebec’s cultural capital the Keynote Address was delivered by Marc Maron and kicked off the Conference finale — a three-day parade of panels, parties, pitching and pimping between the purse-holders and the performers.

“I have never been more nervous about anything than to be doing this speech,” Maron recounted.

On the afternoon of July 28, 2011 I arrived at the Jeanne-Mance conference room inside the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Montreal thirty minutes before showtime. Maron, in jeans and a short-sleeve flannel, paced onstage. Stopping at the podium, he scratched his head and nervously sipped his coffee, a sea of neurotic rage swirling inside him. A producer inquired about a post-speech Q & A.

“Maybe. I don’t know. I couldn’t fucking sleep because of this shit!” he shouted. “I had an old-style, ruin-my-first-marriage kind of anxiety attack last night.”

“Because of this? No, come on. You’ll be great.”

“You have no idea who I am or what I’m capable of.” READ MORE

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