Marc Maron on ‘The Bad Guys 2,’ His Reaction to Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ Being Canceled and Why Barack Obama Is His Dream Pick for Final ‘WTF’ Guest

Marc Maron says his dream guest for his final episode of “WTF With Marc Maron” would be Barack Obama.

The former president appeared on a previous episode of Maron’s show back in June 2015.

“If we could get President Obama back, that would be good to give us a little hope or some sense of reflection,” he told Variety Wednesday at the premiere of his new animated movie “The Bad Guys 2” in Los Angeles. “Ground us a little bit.”

In June, Maron made headlines when he and producer Brendan McDonald decided to end the podcast that launched in 2009. Maron made the announcement in an episode with John Mulaney as his guest. After recording more than 1,600 episodes, Maron said that the podcast will air its final episode in the fall.

Coming off the heels of announcing the end of his podcast, Maron shared his reaction to the report on CBS cancelling the ‘Late Show With Stephen Colbert.’

“The timing was bad,” he said. “It seems that there was a political element, at least in appearance. To a certain degree, the message is that if corporations are going to buckle to the whims of an autocrat, an authoritarian, then all of art and what we know as freedom of expression is compromised. The writing is on the wall for late-night in general because people don’t watch TV like that. I felt like a mixture of both. I don’t think it’s a complete fabrication that it was a business decision, but the other part of it, in terms of trying to appease this monster president, that should not be done.”

When asked about how new mediums and digital platforms will shape the future of TV, Maron admitted that he was unsure of what’s next.

“Show business is shrinking,” he said. “People are entrepreneurial and building their own show businesses that eventually get appropriated and used by what’s left of mainstream show business and streamers. Hopefully, enough interest and focus will be put on original productions, film and television. You have to hope for the best, or everything just turns to garbage.”

In “The Bad Guys 2,” Maron reprised his role as expert safecracker Mr. Snake. After struggling to find jobs as ex-convicts and framed for a crime they didn’t commit, the Bad Guys are forced to complete another heist with newcomers, the Bad Girls. In the Bad Girls trio is a wry raven named Doom (aka Susan), whom Mr. Snake falls smitten for, and is voiced by Natasha Lyonne.

“She has no problem being flirty, seductive and uniquely sexy,” Maron said about working with Lyonne. “I opened up to it and became jello. That was good for Mr. Snake. It worked that we were able to spend so much time in the studio together.”

Rounding out the cast are Sam Rockwell (Mr. Wolf), Craig Robinson (Mr. Shark), Anthony Ramos (Mr. Piranha), Awkwafina (Ms. Tarantula), Alex Borstein (The Police Commissioner), Danielle Brooks (Kitty Kat) and Maria Bakalova (Pigtail).

According to Maron, Mr. Snake and Doom’s romantic trope was almost buried underneath the other plots present in the film.

“Originally, the romance got lost in the chaos of the ending with everything else going on,” he explained. “When I saw an early cut, I told them, ‘You started this thing. You should land it.’ They realized it was an oversight, and they closed the circle.”

Maron said having an off-screen friendship with Lyonne created “a safe space” for building the chemistry between their characters.

“We let it happen,” he said. “We know each other well enough to let that happen in a safe space. We pushed it. It was interesting because she takes me for a ride, which I think would be seen as a betrayal by some, but Mr. Snake was impressed with it. I liked playing that a little bit.”