JumbledPileOfPerson

Hey Marc, weird timing. I literally just sent you an email about an hour ago. The bulk of which consisted of me expressing my concern and offering a bit of advice about a personal matter you’ve mentioned on the podcast a few times (which I hope doesn’t come across as so presumptuous and inappropriate once you read the whole email) followed by a lot of the standard fan mail gushing about how much I love your work. I’ll copy and paste the only two actual questions I asked below because they probably have a better chance of being answered here than amongst everything else in what I imagine is an incredibly full inbox.

Some of the most interesting and moving WTF guests have been the friends and partners of comedians who have passed away. It’s been fascinating to hear about people like George Carlin, Sam Kinison, Andy Kaufman and Mitch Hedberg from those who were closest to them. I’d love to hear an episode like this devoted to Bill Hicks. You've mentioned that you knew Bill personally although I’m not sure how well. It would be great to hear an interview with someone like his friend and ‘Agent of Evolution’ biographer Kevin Booth. If he can’t do it I know Bill’s brother is quite passionate about preserving his legacy too. Maybe even one of the other Texas Outlaw comics would be appropriate, I recall the late Ron Shock sharing some great stories about Bill during your interview with him and I’m sure there’d be more than enough of such stories out there to fill a whole episode. Obviously there are a lot of other tragic heroes of comedy that never made it to your garage, too many to name, although Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor immediately come to mind. What do you think? Are you planning on continuing the tradition of posthumous What The Fucks?

Do you plan on returning to Australia in the foreseeable future? You kicked ass at the Melbourne International comedy festival in 2011.

While I have the opportunity to ask you questions, here’s few more. Feel free to answer any or none of the following:

What’s your favourite movie? Novel? Ben & Jerry’s flavour? Historical figure? Comedian? Podcast?

Do you have a dream guitar and if so, do you own it?

Are there any upcoming episodes of Maron that you’re particularly proud of?

What’s going on with you and Jon Stewart? I know you had a falling out a while ago which led him to turn down your offer to be on the podcast but a commenter on a more recent episode of WTF said that they asked him about it during a pre taping Q&A and he claimed that “the ball is in Marc’s court”.

Okay, I’ve never gotten in so early on an AMA before, I think I’m getting a little carried away here. I’ll leave it at that. Thanks for doing this.

Are any athiests ever satisfied with the answers provided in these sorts of threads? As an Agnostic Athiest I came here excited to hear a different perspective but the Bishop's answers are all so vague and wishy washy. I can't imagine being converted by this kind of stuff.

Thank you for taking the time to answer, but with all due respect...

Your responses, although well written, are just vague platitudes and equivocations.There are no compelling arguments for the existence of God in this thread. You haven't presented any evidence.

Why would a loving God create a world so full of suffering? - "we cannot understand what God is up to" isn't a satisfying answer. Would that stand up in court? What could God possibly be "up to" that would justify allowing innocent children to suffer and die from agonising diseases? If a God exists it is either evil or indifferent.

How do you know Christianity is the correct religion? "Catholicism represents the fullness of God's revelation" - That completely dodges the point of the question. Catholicism most fully represents YOUR interpretation of God. Billions of people throughout history have believed the same thing about their own religions with just as much conviction as you. How do you know your idea of "God's revelation" is accurate and therefore most fully represented by Catholocism? What are the chances that you guys are the ones that got it right?

Nobody knows exactly what occurred prior to the big bang, what lies beyond the observable universe, or how many universes there are. So I can understand why many people believe in a higher power, but there is absolutely no way we can know what that power is unless it reveals itself to us. There is just zero evidence to back up Christianity or any other religion, certainly not in this thread.