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Interview: Marc Maron rejoins his old Boston crowd

HOW HAS THE PODCAST'S POPULARITY AFFECTED YOUR STAND-UP? What happens now is that, for whatever reason, a lot of the people that listen to my podcast are not [stand-up] comedy people. What they do come to the show with is a very deep knowledge of my life and who I am, and sometimes I worry about that. Some of the stuff I talk about on the podcast I build out into stand-up pieces, which is a different experience for them, because their relationship with me is very personal, it's very one-on-one. So to sit in a room full of people that have never seen me and have that experience, it's different than listening to me on the podcast. I try to be as generous as I can with my time, and I like meeting my fans, and I know they come to the shows with a very personal relationship with me that I think is genuine. It's one-sided, and it's a little unusual, but it's genuine. They do know me. So that does make it unique.

ARE THERE ANY COMICS FROM THE BOSTON SCENE WHO YOU'RE SURPRISED DIDN'T MAKE IT BIGGER? I tend to not know what that means after a certain point. There's a lot of guys that work very regularly as professional comedians that make a pretty good living one way or the other. I think that anybody over a certain amount of time that can carve out a living for themselves — whether or not they're a national name or a household name — is successful. Some of the best comics in the world were around Boston when I started. I'm just thrilled that we're still alive and that they've continued to push forward.

IT MUST BE REWARDING TO HAVE GUYS YOU USED TO OPEN FOR AS GUESTS. I was nervous to ask these guys, and to do the show, and I wanted them to do it. I was sad there was a couple of guys that were gonna be out of town, like Gavin and Sweeney. These are guys that had a tremendous impact on my life, and I don't feel like I'm in a different zone from them. I look up to these guys. I think it's gonna be a blast, just because I'm excited to hang out with these guys, and I'm excited to do stand-up as well. I can't wait to come to Boston.

Marc Maron is at the Magners Comedy Festival at the Wilbur Theatre on January 27.