Marc Maron is a stand-up comedian, actor, author andhost of the podcast, WTF with Marc Maron. He has appeared in hisown comedy specials on HBO, Comedy Central, EPIX and Netflix, created the IFC sitcom Maron, and stars in the Netflix OriginalSeries GLOW. He lives in Los Angeles.

Brendan McDonald is the co-creator and executiveproducer of WTF with Marc Maron. Heis an Emmy-winner and a veteran producer of television, radio and digitalmedia. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.

“I’m British, so I’m medically dead inside, but even I can’t help but open up whenever I talk to Marc. He uses his honesty like a scalpel, cutting himself open in front of anyone he’s talking to, and in doing so, invites you to do the same. “
―John Oliver

“People say stuff to [Marc] that you can’t imagine them saying to anyone else.” – Ira Glass

Each week over a million and a half listeners tune into WTF with Marc Maron to hear Marc and a guest do something remarkable: talk.

Waiting for the Punch is not simply a collection of these interviews, but instead something more wondrous: a running narrative of the world’s most recognizable names working through the problems, doubts, joys, triumphs and failures we all experience. With each chapter covering a different topic: parenting, childhood, relationships, sexuality, success, failures and others, Punch becomes a sort of everyman’s guide to life. Barack Obama candidly discusses the challenges of the presidency, and the bittersweet moments of seeing your children grow up and away from you. Bruce Springsteen speaks on the dual nature of desperation to both motivate and devastate. Amy Schumer recounts the pain of a parents’ divorce.

At once laugh-out-loud funny, heartbreakingly honest, joyous, tragic and powerful, Waiting for the Punch is a book to be read from cover to cover, but it is also one to return to again and again.