LOS ANGELES (AP) — Comic and actor Marc Maron said Monday that he's ending his popular and influential podcast “WTF with Marc Maron” after nearly 16 years.
Maron said on a newly released episode that the last of the nearly 2,000 episodes he has hosted will be released later this year.
“Sixteen years we’ve been doing this, and we’ve decided that we had a great run,” Maron said. “Now, basically, it’s time, folks. It’s time. ‘WTF’ is coming to an end. It’s our decision. We’ll have our final episode sometime in the fall.”
The 61-year-old Maron said he and producing partner Brendan McDonald are “tired” and “burnt out” but “utterly satisfied with the work we've done.”
Maron was a veteran stand-up comic who had dabbled in radio when he started the show in 2009, at a time when stand-ups were trying out the form in big numbers, and many listeners still downloaded episodes on to iPods.
The show early on was often about Maron talking through his beefs with fellow comedians, but it soon stood out and became a widely heard and medium-defining show with its thoughtful, probing longform interviews of cultural figures.
It became a key stop on press tours for authors, actors and musicians and reached a peak when then- President Barack Obama visited Maron's makeshift Los Angeles garage studio for an episode in 2015.
Maron used a simple interview style to get guests to share stories they'd rarely told elsewhere. Seeking to know the biggest influences on their lives and careers, Maron would ask, “Who are your guys?”
Other memorable episodes include a 2010 personal and emotional interview with Robin Williams that was re-posted and widely listened to after Williams' death in 2014. The episode earned a place in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.
Maron kept doing standup specials and expanded his acting career while the show aired, including a three-season run on the Netflix series “GLOW.”
The show's guitar-rock theme song opened with a clip of Maron shouting, “Lock the gates!” in his role as a promoter in the film “Almost Famous.”
The solo episode openings became a confessional space for Maron where he talked about his life, relationships, years of doing stand-up comedy and struggles with drug addiction.
Maron gave tearful tribute to his girlfriend, director Lynn Shelton, in the episode after her death in 2020.
“People who listen to the podcast know me pretty well, and it’s all good. They have a relationship with me that’s one sided, but it’s real and I try to be as gracious about that as possible,” Maron told The Associated Press in 2019. “My particular little slice of the show business world is very me specific and it’s very personal and usually that’s a good thing. But I’ve had to learn how to balance how much of my life I reveal and what I keep to myself, and try to find a little space.”
Marc Maron, a cast member in the Apple TV+ series "Stick," arrives at the premiere of the series on Thursday, May 29, 2025, at AMC Century City 15 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Marc Maron, a cast member in the Apple TV+ series "Stick," arrives at the premiere of "Stick" on Thursday, May 29, 2025, at AMC Century City 15 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
FILE - Marc Maron arrives at the premiere of "Stick" on Thursday, May 29, 2025, at AMC Century City 15 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel launched a new wave of attacks early Monday against Tehran and a top American commander told Iranians to remain in shelters for the foreseeable future, while Iran renewed strikes on its Gulf neighbors and threatened to start hitting their power plants.
As Iran continues its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. President Donald Trump gave a 48 hour deadline for Tehran to open the strategic waterway to all ships, saying that otherwise the United States would “obliterate” Iran’s power plants. Trump posted the threat to social media early Sunday in Middle East time zones.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Monday that if the U.S. did that, Iran would respond by hitting power plants in all areas that supply electricity to American bases, “as well as the economic, industrial and energy infrastructures in which Americans have shares.”
“Do not doubt that we will do this,” the Guard said in a statement read on Iranian state television.
As Israel hit the Iranian capital, the military said it had “begun a wide-scale wave of strikes” on infrastructure targets in Tehran without immediately elaborating.
United States Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper claimed in an interview aired Monday that Iran was launching missiles and drones from populated areas, and suggested those areas would be targeted.
“You need to stay inside for right now,” Cooper told Iranian civilians in the interview with the Farsi-language satellite network Iran International aired early Monday.
“There will be a clear signal at some point, as the president has indicated, for you to be able to come out.”
Air defenses in the United Arab Emirates intercepted a ballistic missile near the Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi, and one person on the ground was injured when hit with shrapnel.
Warning sirens sounded in Bahrain and Kuwait, while Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said it had intercepted a missile targeting Riyadh, and had destroyed drones over the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province.
Oil prices remained stubbornly high in early trading, with the price of Brent crude, the international standard at around $112 a barrel, up nearly 55% since Israel and the U.S. started the war on Feb. 28 by attacking Iran.
The war has also caused wild fluctuations in global stock markets as traders grow increasingly concerned about a world energy crisis and other issues.
In addition to targeting Israel and American bases, Iran has been hitting the energy infrastructure of its Gulf Arab neighbors.
It also has a tight grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which leads from the Persian Gulf toward the open ocean and through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped, along with other important commodities.
A trickle of ships has been getting through the strait and Iran insists it remains open — just not to the U.S., Israel or their allies. On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi blamed the U.S. for the problem facing everyone, saying that the attack on Iran made insurance companies shut down shipping through the strait for fear of having to pay large claims if tankers were damaged or destroyed.
Iran has said it will completely close the critical waterway if Trump follows through with the threat to attack Iranian power plants.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf also said Iran would then consider vital infrastructure across the region — including energy and desalination facilities critical for drinking water in Gulf nations — legitimate targets.
In his first one-on-one interview since the war started, Adm. Cooper said the campaign against Iran is “ahead or on plan” and that the U.S. and Israel were targeting infrastructure and manufacturing facilities to destroy Iran’s capabilities to rebuild its military.
“It’s not just about the threat today,” he said. “We’re eliminating the threat of the future, both in terms of the drones, the missiles as well as the navy.”
He suggested Iran could bring a quick end to the war if it stopped firing back, though did not say whether that would prompt Israel and the U.S. to relent before all infrastructure targets have been destroyed.
“They could stop this war right now, absolutely, if they chose to do so,” he said of Iran. “They need to stop putting the wonderful Iranian people at risk by firing missiles and drones from inside populated areas. ... They need to stop immediately attacking civilians throughout the Middle East region.”
Iran’s death toll in the war has surpassed 1,500, its health ministry has said. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian strikes. More than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states have been killed in strikes.
In Lebanon, authorities say Israeli strikes targeting Iran-linked militia Hezbollah have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than 1 million. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.
Rising reported from Bangkok. AP writer Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.
Smoke and flames rise from an Israeli airstrike that hit the Qasmiyeh Bridge near the coastal city of Tyre, Lebanon, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)
A cargo ship carrying vehicles sails through the Arabian Gulf toward the Strait of Hormuz in the United Arab Emirates, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
People follow a truck carrying the flag draped coffins of Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini, a spokesperson for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and one of his comrades Amir Hossein Bidi , during their funeral procession in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
