LetMyForbynGo

A hard-hitting comedy hero, Marc Maron, did a few shows in my hometown of Salt Lake City. That, and a ton of really sweet tweets and texts full of birthday wishes from very kind friends made passing mile marker 26 a good thing.

The Maron show was brilliant. I wrote him a little letter a few days before he came and feel like sticking it here because I formulated my personal cultural concerns fairly well, for once. (Also, I hear he did get a Belgian waffle here. Probably a coincidence, but perhaps my little message INFLUENCED COMEDY HISTORY……’s diet for like an afternoon?)

[Go here if unfamiliar with Marc and WTF: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/blog/2010/10/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast]

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10 January, 2012

Dear Marc,

I’ve been gorging on the podcast since I discovered it last year, and I want to thank you for all the valuable insights into a group of people and a form of entertainment that mean so much to me.

I respect your commitment to radical honesty and the authenticity of your personal voice. A lot of comics bare their dark side and air their dirty laundry, but you manage to share both the impressive and the embarrassing (and the sometimes both at once!) elements of your life in a way that strikes me as particularly earnest.

I’m excited for my creative/expressive friends and colleagues here in Utah to get to hear you in person. Your example is helpful to us — even and especially the Latter-Day Saints. It’s tricky to be part of a religion you really believe in, but whose culture doesn’t exactly foster the public expression of frustrations, doubts, mistakes, etc. The big idea is that we’re striving for eventual perfection, but the problem is that we carry that too far and actually pretend to already BE perfect, lest we disappoint or disillusion our onlookers. That makes us seem like weirdly robotic Mitt Romneys or inhumanly chipper Marie Osmonds and thus incomprehensible to potential friends and audiences around the world.

There’s no abundance of relatable, widely revered Mormon comics or artists not because we don’t have plenty of poignant personal shit to sort through and laugh at, but because it’s tricky to authentically express a Mormon sarcastic’s experience without stumbling into an uncanny valley where both one’s “own people” and the world at large find you unrelatable because you’re simultaneously too crass and too tame, too irreverent and yet too self-righteous.

It’s hard to not pander or compromise yourself to fit in. I know quite a few comedians, musicians, writers, and filmmakers who have unfortunately succumbed to that pressure to either sweep their Mormonness under the rug and conform, or else limit themselves to culturally orthodox, strictly-bland-and-G-rated esotericism and conform that way. Both end up incomplete and hindered, and a lot of truly human stories and a unique comedic perspective get passed up.

Anyway, I just want to thank you for maintaining a good example of being oneself. Your magic comes from a social and psychological courage which I, and hopefully many of my folks, find inspiring.

So, yeah. Thanks. And stuff.

I dunno if you already have some favorite eateries around here (or if it falls on a Cheat Day), but if you like waffles and/or fries, there’s this place called Bruges over by Pioneer Park which is run by a legit Belgian expat. Good winter food, what with the gravies and chocolate and fried joy.

Take care, we’re excited to see you,
John Forbyn
Salt Lake City, UT