Waiting for the Punch

Candid conversations from Marc Maron’s award-winning WTF podcast with guests from Amy Schumer to Mel Brooks to Bruce Springsteen to Barack Obama.

From the wildly popular podcast WTF with Marc Maron comes a book of intimate, hilarious, and life-changing conversations with some of the funniest and most famous people in the world. Waiting for the Punch features such luminaries as Amy Schumer, Mel Brooks, Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Sir Ian McKellen, Lorne Michaels, Maria Bamford, Wyatt Cenac, Judd Apatow, Lena Dunham, Jimmy Fallon, RuPaul, Louis CK, David Sedaris, Bruce Springsteen, and Barack Obama.

This book is not simply a collection of interviews, but something more wondrous: a running narrative of the world’s most recognizable names working through the problems, doubts, joys, triumphs, and failures we all experience. With chapters covering different topics—growing up, parenting, relationships, sexuality, mental health, and more—you’ll find Barack Obama candidly discussing the bittersweet moments of seeing your children grow up; Amy Schumer recounting the pain of her parents’ divorce; Molly Shannon uproariously remembering the time she and her best friend hopped a plane from Ohio to New York City at age twelve on a dare; and Bruce Springsteen expounding on how desperation can both motivate and devastate, in stories that are funny, heartbreakingly honest, joyous, tragic, and powerful.

“As readers will expect, there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, but what is more surprising and refreshing is how many profound and powerful insights Maron manages to draw from his guests. An insightful collection of interviews about what it means to be human.” —Kirkus Reviews

“I’m British, so I’m medically dead inside, but even I can’t help but open up whenever I talk to Marc. He uses his honesty like a scalpel, cutting himself open in front of anyone he’s talking to, and in doing so, invites you to do the same.” —John Oliver