CHAPTER 36

Author: With Marc Maron then, you wouldn’t book him, would you? And did he complain about that in person?

Bill Grundfest: Sure. Sure. Oh, he cursed me out something fierce.

Author: Where did that happen?

Bill: The Comedy Cellar. Well, at some point he was like … Why would you go to a place … Even Marc Maron wouldn’t go to a place specifically just to curse somebody out, I mean, that would be odd behaviour, but no, listen, what he was doing, it didn’t work in the room. This room was a positive energy place. One of the common denominators of all of the acts, and it’s continued, it is still part of the DNA of the club, everybody has got a positive energy. Nobody is working that angry. There’s only one comic that has any hint of anger, you know, like real anger, and that’s Allan Havey. And I’m not sure why he has always worked well in the room. I think people feel his essential niceness and so, the anger, they’re not really threatened by it. But Marc Maron’s anger? That’s unfiltered. That’s unbridled. That’s just pure rage. That’s, ‘Here, let me spew.’ And I would say, ‘It’s not therapy Marc.’

Author: Did you say that to him?

Bill: Yes. ‘It’s not a therapy session where you get to share your rage. It’s not like inverted …’ Some comedians think that this is inverted group therapy. In group therapy you have a group of patients and one therapist. In stand-up comedy you have a group of therapists and one patient. It’s not that.