Attempting Normal

by Marc Maron

First published 2013

Marc Maron faces rock bottom when his radio career ends and his marriage crumbles. He sits surrounded by feral cats in his empty house, financially destroyed and emotionally wrecked. His childhood trauma shaped him into an anxious comedian who craved the simple things: a loving wife, a stable home, maybe his own sitcom. Instead he got fired, divorced, and left with nothing but his neuroses. Maron tries everything to heal. He hoards random objects. He develops a Viagra addiction. He profiles people by race without meaning to. He obsesses over his cats and imagines piloting planes with his thoughts. Nothing works until he strips away all pretense and finds his authentic voice. Through standup comedy, television work, and eventually his wildly successful WTF podcast, Maron discovers that his messy, honest approach to life resonates with audiences who recognize their own struggles in his stories.

Genres: autobiography, memoir, non-fiction, comedy

Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking

Tropes: personal-journey, self-discovery

240 pages · Hardcover · Spiegel & Grau

Content warnings: addiction, anxiety, depression, mental-illness

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