Latest news with #WTFPodcast
Globe and Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Globe and Mail
WTF with Marc Maron podcast to end after nearly 16 years
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.' From the archives: Interview | Podcast maestro Marc Maron shuts up just long enough to listen 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.'
News18
13-05-2025
- Business
- News18
Tired Of Traffic Talk, Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath Meets Bengaluru Top Cops For Answers
Last Updated: Bengaluru Traffic Police Commissioner MN Anucheth explained that the city's unplanned growth following the IT boom has led to a traffic crisis. Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, tired of hearing constant complaints about Bengaluru's traffic, decided to go straight to the top. He met with Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda and Traffic Police Commissioner MN Anucheth to understand the root of the problem. During his WTF Podcast, Kamath said, 'Wherever I go and tell good things about Bengaluru, people tell me, 'traffic, traffic, traffic.' What is the problem? What is the solution? Is there a solution?" Commissioner Anucheth explained that the traffic issue is mainly due to the city's unplanned growth after the IT boom. Unlike other major cities, Bengaluru didn't have a proper public transport system for a long time, and the metro came in only recently. He also pointed out that the city has a much higher number of vehicles compared to Mumbai or Delhi. Commissioner MN Anucheth replied, 'I think every major metropolitan city across the world faces the issue of traffic. Because, let's face it, cities are magnets or attractive places for employment. It attracts a lot of people. Year on year, a city grows. The thing with Bengaluru has been that post 2000, after the IT boom, there has been a significant explosive growth, and the infrastructure has not commensurately grown with the growth of vehicles or the human population. Now, Bengaluru has the highest number of vehicles, it's 872 per 1000 population. So, we havea 1.5 crore population with 1.23 crore vehicle population. We doubled between 2013 and 2023. It was 56 lakhs, it became 1.12 crores." 'So, if you see that kind of growth rate, infrastructure will never be enough. So, with that in mind, the government had planned for various public transportation systems to come up." Anucheth believes the only real solution lies in improving public transport, as the city still depends heavily on BMTC buses. 'Historically, Bengaluru has had this problem of lack of public transport facilities. The only public transport facilities before the metro came in was the BMTC buses. Unlike other cities like Kolkata, you had the trams. In Delhi, you had the metro. In Mumbai, you had the Mumbai locals, which is not the case here," the officer added. Nikhil Kamath shared his frustration about the slow metro work near his home, saying construction began nearly a decade ago but is still unfinished. He questioned whether public infrastructure is just too hard to manage or if someone is at fault. Commissioner Anucheth replied that it's not about blame. He said that without ongoing efforts, traffic would be far worse. Linking Baiyappanahalli and Whitefield metro lines, for example, cut peak-hour traffic by 17%. He added that while metro expansion takes time, it's the key to long-term relief. In the short term, authorities are using AI traffic signals, redesigning junctions, and applying engineering fixes to ease flow. First Published: May 13, 2025, 17:44 IST
Buzz Feed
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
'He Was A Bad Man': Macaulay Culkin Opened Up About His Estrangement From His Abusive Father As He Confirmed He's Not Spoken To Him In Over 30 Years
This article details allegations of child abuse. Macaulay Culkin was just 6 years old when he first started acting, and as you probably know, he quickly became one of the most famous child stars of all time. While he initially quit the industry at 14, he slowly returned to the spotlight in adulthood — and since then, he has not held back when it comes to his difficult relationship with his father, Kit Culkin. For reference, Kit quit his job to manage Macaulay's career when he first started to find success in the '80s. In a 2001 interview with New York magazine, Macaulay said that his dad was 'always abusive, but it didn't get really, really, really bad until later on.' Recalling one instance in particular, he said that his dad denied him a bed to sleep on in an apparent power trip. Macaulay explained: 'I was making God-knows-how-much money, and Kit was making me sleep on the couch, just because he could. Just to let you know who's in charge and just to let you know if he doesn't want you to sleep in a bed, you're not going to sleep in a bed.' In the same interview, Macaulay also said that Kit would physically abuse him, his mom, and his six siblings. He doubled down on this during a 2018 appearance on the WTF Podcast with Marc Maron, where he said: 'He was a bad man. He was abusive, physically and mentally — I can show you all my scars if I wanted to.' Over the years, Macaulay also said that his father kept booking him onto acting projects despite him begging for a break, and he was only able to step away from acting at 14 because his dad was tied up in a custody trial amid his split from Macaulay's mom, Patricia Brentrup. And during an appearance on the Sibling Revelry podcast on Monday, Macaulay, now 44, opened up even more about how he was treated by his father throughout his childhood as he confirmed that he'd not seen or spoken to him in more than 30 years. Explaining why he walked away from his child stardom as a teen, Macaulay shared: 'I was tired, man. I was so tired. And the thing is, I remember when I was probably about 11 or 12, I remember talking to my father. And I said: 'I'm getting tired, I think I need a break,' and he goes: 'Yeah, yeah, I'll look into it.' And the next thing I know, I was in the next thing, and the next thing, and the next thing. I was like: 'Oh, I'm stuck. Now, I'm stuck.'' 'When I turned 14, my dad and my mom were having a thing, they kind of split up, and I said: 'Great, I quit, now he's out of the picture, I quit. I hope you guys had a good time, I hope you guys all made as much money as you possibly could because there's no more coming from me,'' he went on. 'And that was it. I started taking ownership of myself.' Prior to his fame, Macaulay said that his parents struggled to make ends meet, and didn't even have enough money to feed the family. When asked how his parents reacted to him stepping away from being the breadwinner, the star admitted that they 'were pretty well set' by that point — and added that his mom and dad were 'too busy fighting each other' to worry too much about his decision. 'Also, I had a certain amount of autonomy,' he pointed out. 'Like: 'You're gonna do this movie,' at that point, I go: 'No, fuck you, what you gonna do?'' Macaulay also enforced this newfound autonomy when it came to the custody arrangement with his father. He recalled: 'During the whole custody thing, I wanted nothing to do with my fucking father. He was just the worst, and the judge was like: 'Well, you have to do visitations with him.' I didn't say this to the judge — I was a smartass, but I wasn't that much of a smartass — but I told my lawyer: 'I'm not doing that.' He's like: 'Well, you'll be in contempt of court,' I go: 'OK, how about I dare this judge to put me in jail for not wanting to visit [my] abusive father. Actually, I'm going to double down on that; I double dare him to arrest the most famous kid in the world…' I never played that card, but that was the one time I kind of played that card.' When asked about his relationship with his dad now, Macaulay confirmed: 'I haven't spoken to him in what would be about 30-something years. Oh, he deserves it, too. He's a man who had seven kids, and he has four grandkids, and none of them want anything to do with him. As a man myself, I would know that I fucked up, I really must have done something wrong… I have more than an inkling that he does not feel that way. Like, we're wrong, and he's right — he's one of those kind of like narcissistic, crazy people.' Emma McIntyre / Getty Images for Academy Museum of Motion Pictures 'Me and him were always butting heads; he was a bad man,' Macaulay went on. 'I would take his whooping and stuff like that, but the whole time, I was sitting there going: 'Oh, I'm going to win at the end. I just sit tight, I'll take the whoopings, but I'm going to outlast him; I'm going to win.'' Macaulay added that as far as he is aware, Kit is still alive, and while his older brother once tried to make contact with him at one point, 'it turned sour pretty fast again.' The star also shared his belief that his father resented him because he'd wanted to be an actor himself but never made it. Macaulay explained: 'Then, all of a sudden, he has this kid that didn't look anything like him — I look a lot like my mother, I don't look like him — and right off the bat, I instantly got the lead stuff in the ballet company, I instantly booked all these things, I think he resented me for that. I think he kind of hated me a little bit for that, so I think that's why he was a little bit harsh with me.' And while Kit was abusive toward all seven of his children, Macaulay said that he 'took a big brunt of it,' sharing: 'A lot of the time, when I was on the road doing things, it was just me and him, so I was kind of locked in a room with a crazy person. I really took the brunt of it for the family, but they got their licks, too; like I said, he was just a bad guy across the board.' Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic, Inc 'He was a son of a bitch; he was bad to his kids, he was bad to his wife, he was the worst person I've ever known in my entire life,' Macaulay concluded, before poignantly adding: 'It super sucks, but I wouldn't be the man, I wouldn't be the father I am today if it wasn't for my experience. At the end of the day, I was like: 'I'm gonna win,' and here I am.' Macaulay shares two children with his wife, Brenda Song, 3-year-old Dakota and 2-year-old Carson. In the podcast, he confirmed that he and his kids have a good relationship with his mom, who married another man around 15 years ago and now lives on a ranch in Montana. If you are concerned that a child is experiencing or may be in danger of abuse, you can call or text the National Child Abuse Hotline
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'We're real people': Actor's fury as Disney replaces Snow White dwarves with CGI
A Manchester-born actor has told of his outrage at Disney's decision to use CGI for the role of the seven dwarves in the new Snow White film. Greg Doherty, who has dwarfism, accused Disney of going 'backwards' and said the decision could damage the careers of dwarf actors. The 47-year-old, who has appeared in the Harry Potter films and is a regular in panto, said: "Film work for little people doesn't come around too often, but when it does it's really enjoyable, which makes what Disney is doing so disappointing. I think they've gone backwards. "What they have done is deny very talented and hard-working people with dwarfism that are out there and could have fulfilled these roles." READ MORE: Man rushed to hospital after being found 'high on drugs at work' READ MORE: 'I was booted out of the army - now I'm on my way to making millions' Doherty, who has been acting professionally since his early 20s after studying a degree in performing arts and has also appeared in Phoenix Nights, said Disney's decision also undermines the previous work done by actors with dwarfism. He said: "I hold in really high esteem some of the famous actors like Peter Dinklage, who have left a real legacy by making some really great movies and TV shows like Game of Thrones, and that's something he should be really proud of. But there are young actors coming through the ranks now that have got more confidence in themselves because these actors have done these great roles. "You can see them in their interviews, on the streets; they aren't CGI dwarves, they're real people. There are many people that I know with dwarfism and this has upset them. "By Disney doing this, they've gotten rid of those little people being able to have a chance for community in and around the shoots, and have basically said they don't need these people in the future." Dinklage has also criticised the decision to remake Snow White. Speaking on the WTF Podcast in 2022, he said it 'makes no sense'. He added: "You're progressive in one way and you're still making that f***king backwards story about seven dwarves living in a cave together, what the f*** are you doing man?" The Manchester Evening News has contacted Disney for comment. In a statement provided to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney said: "To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community."
