LOS ANGELES (AP) — Barack Obama helped Marc Maron lock the gates on his podcast Monday, returning to the show for the final episode after 16 years and more than 1,600 episodes.
The former president gave new status to “WTF With Marc Maron” and to podcasts in general when he visited Maron's Los Angeles garage studio while still in office a decade ago. Obama brought the 62-year-old host, stand-up comic and actor to his Washington office for the last interview.
Obama asked the initial questions.
“How are you feeling about this whole thing?,” he said, “transition, moving on from this thing that has been one of the defining parts of your career and your life?”
“I feel OK,” Maron answered. “I feel like I’m sort of ready for the break, but there is sort of a fear there, of what do I do now? I’m busy. But, not unlike your job … I’ve got a lot of people who over the last 16 years have grown to rely on me.”
Maron laughed as he acknowledged he was comparing his podcasting gig to the presidency.
“I think it's pretty similar,” Obama said.
The identity of the guest was not revealed until the episode dropped, and fans had been speculating. Obama was a popular guess, both because of his relationship with “WTF” and because Maron in an interview with Variety in July said Obama would be his ideal final conversation.
The host explained the decision in an unusually brief and straightforward introduction to the episode.
“It became clear that the guest we needed to have was singular,” Maron said, “in that he could address the importance of this being our final episode, but also address how we move through the world we're living in, as frightening as it is.”
Maron asked Obama for advice on moving on from your life's biggest job.
“You've still got a couple of chapters left,” Obama said. “Don't rush into what the next thing is. Take a beat. Take some satisfaction looking backwards.”
After a much talk on the state of the world, Obama brought it back around to Maron's farewell.
“I think we're going to be OK,” Obama said. “I think part of the reason you had such a big fan base during this 16-year run is there was a core decency to you and the conversations that you had.”
Maron avoided sentimental farewell talk during the episode — he got that out of the way on Thursday in his penultimate episode, where talked directly and emotionally to his listeners.
“I'm grateful to have been part of your lives,” he said. “We've been through a lot of stuff together. A lot of breakups. Death. Cats. The world.”
The new Obama episode was No. 1,686 of the pioneering and influential long-form interview podcast that had humble beginnings in 2009 as a place where he worked out his issues with other stand-up comedians in the garage of his home that he dubbed “The Cat Ranch.”
Maron's cats were always an essential part of the show. His final words on Monday's episode were tributes to the ones who had died.
“Cat angels everywhere,” he said.
For most of its years the show has opened with a fan-composed rock ‘n’ roll theme song that opens with an audio sample of Maron in his small role in the film “Almost Famous” shouting, “Lock the gates!” The song is named for one of Maron's common phrases, “Are We Doing This?” Another such phrase, “Are we good?” was often his last question to guests and is the title of a new documentary on him.
Eventually, with help from guests like Obama, Robin Williams and Paul McCartney, “WTF” became a media institution where authors, artists, musicians, Hollywood stars and political leaders would give him their backstory.
Maron announced in June that he and longtime producing partner Brendan McDonald had decided to end the show. He said there was no particular reason, other than that he was tired and utterly satisfied with the work they had done.
On Monday, Maron seemed moved as he read from a pseudolegal document that he had drawn up for Obama to sign, releasing McDonald “from the professional responsibility to listening to me talk.”
President Barack Obama appears during his final presidential news conference at the White House in Washington on Jan. 18, 2017, left, and Marc Maron appears at a promotional event for his series "Glow" in Los Angeles on May 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, left, and Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
FILE - Marc Maron appears at a promotional event for his series "Glow" in Los Angeles on May 30, 2018. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Comedian and podcaster Marc Maron poses for a portrait in New York on April 11, 2013. (Photo by Dan Hallman/Invision/AP, File)
Boeing warned plane owners in 2011 about a broken part that contributed to a UPS plane crash that killed 15 last year but at that point the plane manufacturer didn't believe it threatened safety, the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday.
The UPS plane crashed in November 2025 shortly after taking off in Louisville, Kentucky, when the left engine flew off the wing as the plane rolled down the runway. Three pilots on the plane that was headed for Hawaii were killed along with 12 more people on the ground near Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport.
The NTSB said Wednesday that Boeing had documented in 2011 there were four previous failures of a part that helps secure the MD-11's engines to the wings on three different planes, but at that point the plane manufacturer "determined it would not result in a safety of flight condition." These planes were actually built by McDonnell Douglas, which was later bought by Boeing.
The NTSB previously said investigators found cracks in some of the parts that held the engine to the wing. Those cracks hadn’t been caught in regular maintenance done on the plane, which raised questions about the adequacy of the maintenance schedule. The last time those key engine mount parts were examined closely was in October 2021, and the plane wasn’t due for another detailed inspection for roughly 7,000 more takeoffs and landings.
It’s not clear when the cracks started to develop in the parts that helped hold the engine on the wing, but this crash is reminiscent of a 1979 crash in Chicago when the left engine flew off an American Airlines DC-10 during takeoff, killing 273 people. The DC-10 was the predecessor of the MD-11.
That previous crash led to the worldwide grounding of 274 DC-10s. The airline workhorse was allowed to return to the skies because the NTSB determined that maintenance workers damaged the plane that crashed while improperly using a forklift to reattach the engine. That meant the crash wasn’t caused by a fatal design flaw even though there had already been a number of accidents involving DC-10s.
But former FAA and NTSB crash investigator Jeff Guzzetti said that a service bulletin McDonnell Douglas issued in 1980 did identify failures of the spherical bearing race as a “safety of flight condition” so it's surprising that Boeing didn't call it that in 2011. He said that American had removed the engine of that plane so it could inspect that bearing.
“I just think it raises questions regarding the adequacy of the severity of the 2011 service letter, and it also raises questions about how UPS incorporated that information and acted upon it,” Guzzetti said.
The service bulletin that Boeing issued didn't require plane owners to make repairs like an FAA airworthiness directive would, and the agency didn't issue such a directive.
Former federal crash investigator Alan Diehl said the notice from Boeing recommended replacing the bearings with a redesigned part that was less likely to fail, but it still allowed operators to replace defective bearings with another older bearing that had demonstrated it was prone to failing.
“As the investigation continues, the NTSB will have to address whether this service bulletin was an adequate solution to a known problem which could have had catastrophic results,” Diehl said. “The UPS crash highlights the need for increased maintenance measures on older airframes.”
NTSB didn't say whether there had been additional documented failures of the spherical bearing race since 2011. Investigators found that part broken into two pieces after the UPS crash, and the lugs that held that part were cracked.
Photos released by the NTSB of the Nov. 4 crash show flames erupting as the rear of the engine starting to detach before it flew up and over the wing. Then the wing was engulfed by fire as the burning engine flew above it.
The factual report released Wednesday doesn’t state what caused the engine to fly off, but it's clear that investigators are focused on the failure of this bearing. The ultimate conclusion won't come though until the NTSB's final report, which usually doesn't come until more than a year after a crash.
But the report will undoubtedly be cited in the first lawsuit over the crash that was filed last month and subsequent lawsuits.
The report does make clear that neither of the plane's two other engines were on fire before the crash. Some experts had previously speculated that debris flying off of the left engine might have damaged the engine on the tail.
Boeing, UPS and the Federal Aviation Administration are limited on what they can say while the NTSB investigation is ongoing, so they all declined to comment on Wednesday's report. Boeing and UPS both expressed condolences to the families that lost loved ones in the crash.
“We remain profoundly saddened by the Flight 2976 accident," UPS spokesperson Jim Mayer said. "Our thoughts continue to be with the families and Louisville community who are grieving, and we remain focused on the recovery effort,” Mayer said.
The 34-year-old MD-11 plane only got 30 feet (9.1 meters) off the ground before crashing into several industrial buildings just past the runway and generating a massive fireball that could be seen for miles. Dramatic videos of the crash showed the plane on fire as it plowed into buildings and released a massive plume of smoke.
Airlines quit flying this type of plane commercially years ago because it isn't as efficient as newer models, but they had continued to fly for cargo carriers like UPS and FedEx and a few of these planes were also modified for use in firefighting. All the MD-11s that had been in use and 10 related DC-10s have been grounded since the crash.
A cleanup crew detects and decontaminates water in a ditch during a tour of the UPS plane crash site, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg speaks during a tour of the UPS plane crash site, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
A UPS Boeing 737 takes over a destroyed truck during a tour of the UPS plane crash site, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
FILE - This photo provided by the National Transportation Safety Board shows UPS plane crash scene on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025 in Louisville, Ky. (NTSB via AP, File)
FILE - Plumes of smoke rise from the area of a UPS cargo plane crash at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry, File)
