IR TV Review: MARC MARON - FROM BLEAK TO DARK [HBO]
Marc Maron has an interesting perspective in terms of life led, a specific point of view but also an intentional filter that gives his comedy context of weight both because of his selected subjects but also his perception. This is of course helped by his popular WTF Podcast which shows his understanding of the human spirit without taking it too seriously. On top of that as an actor (we recently spoke to him for "For Leslie" which garnered Andrea Riseborough a recent Oscar nomination). That film was about looking at certain aspects of self, which include trauma and betrayal in a way, from a certain perspective. Maron's new HBO comedy stand-up special "From Bleak To Dark" tackles many different subjects including the pandemic, abortion rights, having kids and certain aspects of self-harm. However it is the personal elements including talking about his father descending into dementia and the hard aspect of talking about the death and impending/resulting grief of his partner, filmmaker Lynn Shelton that are the most raw and telling.
The tricky element, he says, is that he needed to talk about the latter subject (and yet people would utterly understand if that would be off limits) because that in itself can be healing but how do you do that? Maron uses the isolation and almost the spiritual projection of certain coping mechanisms to channel the personification of his grief and thereby his understanding. However, it is one joke (which he does tell the audience he wasn't sure he should tell because of its inherent proximity to mortality) that hits the hardest. It is very simple and human and yet modern and ironic. And you can feel the pain of the moment and yet the joke works. Many other aspects of the show like the perception of old, memory (in a way) and the passing of time cradle the other aspects of the hour-plus show. But it is that human and comedic approach of that one moment that enhances everything that is being spoken of yet it speaks to the heart of the special. "From Bleak To Dark" is an interesting title and yet it also conversely speaks of light at the end of the tunnel without being overly specific. B+
By Tim Wassberg
