Marc Maron has the late comedian Gallagher on his mind years after their contentious podcast conversation in 2011.
Hours after Gallagher died of organ failure on Friday, Maron reshared the “WTF” podcast episode featuring the watermelon-smashing comic. Gallagher infamously walked out of the January 2011 interview when he was pressed about jokes he made about marginalized communities.
“This one’s a unique interview because it’s really the first time where a guest has died and, frankly, might not want this episode remembered,” Maron said in Friday’s new podcast intro. “But it’s an honest representation of who he was 11 years ago and also who I was.”
The comedian and host said the chat in Portland, Ore., “went sideways pretty quickly” before Gallagher eventually stormed out of the hotel room.
“We got into it because he had gotten a reputation for being a bit of a bigot and a bully and doing old, horrible racist and gay-bashing jokes,” he said.
In the 2011 interview, Maron confronted Gallagher about making jokes about Black and gay people. The podcast host told his guest that “you reaffirm prejudice.” The two engaged in a heated conversation about which comedians can tell what jokes.
Minutes later, Gallagher got up from his seat and walked out.
“Why did you want me to do this interview, if you don’t think I know anything about what you’re asking?” he asked Maron.
The abrupt ending prompted Maron to reflect on “where a career in comedy can end up.”
“God knows there’s plenty of people out there that are experiencing frustration because they’ve reached a certain age and they don’t feel useful anymore,” he said in the original episode. “There’s anger there … you definitely see who he is.”
In Friday’s intro, Maron said he has “empathy for the guy” and that he “kind of [loves] this interview.”
“He was an interesting, aggravated, stubborn old guy, and now he’s gone and we have this conversation,” he said.
On Twitter, Maron remembered Gallagher as “one of a kind. A singular entertainer. A difficult man.”
“RIP Gallagher (if possible),” he tweeted Friday. Maron will bring his “This May Be the Last Time” tour to the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach on Saturday night.
Gallagher died in Palm Springs, his longtime manager, Craig Marquardo, said. He was 76.
