Marc Maron Goes Animated: Early Episodes of ‘WTF’ Will Become Human-Drawn YouTube Videos

Legendary podcast host Marc Maron is bringing some of his older episodes to YouTube with “human-generated animation” that will allow fans to engage with the material in a whole new way (and presumably make a few bucks for Maron and company along the way).

The simple animation feels a bit like 2009’s American: The Bill Hicks Story, in which the filmmakers used animation to gloss over sections of Hicks’s life where audio was available but either no, or very poor quality, video existed. The first such episode, featuring comedian Norm Macdonald, is already available online.

“We decided to do a visual experience with the older episodes,” Maron explains in the introduction. “It’s not a TV show, but it’s animated by humans, and there’s going to be other material there on the screen — like behind-the-scenes stuff from me and Brendan, and whatever’s happening there at the time.”

You can see it below.

Macdonald is the subject of a new documentary, Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald, from filmmaker Judd Apatow. The movie is now streaming on Netflix and serves as a companion to previous movies Apatow did about comics like Garry Shandling and Mel Brooks.

Here’s that movie’s logline:

From director Judd Apatow comes an intimate portrait of one of comedy’s most singular voices. Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald traces the life and career of the stand-up and Saturday Night Live legend, from his rise as the deadpan anchor of “Weekend Update” to his enduring legacy as a comedian’s comedian — a master of the absurd, the dry, and the unexpected.

Built entirely from archival footage, personal photos, and rare home videos contributed by fans and friends, the documentary lets Norm tell his own story in his own voice. This is a tribute to a comic genius whose influence on stand-up and television comedy remains unmatched.