My sister Jill is a rabid Marc Maron fan. From the early days of his show Morning Sedition on Air America radio, she was singing the praises of Marc Maron, who she calls the Funniest Man in America. So when she asked me to do a profile for him and his new show of course I said yes. The fact that she promised to peddle links to Astrological Musings everywhere she could didn’t hurt either!

According to his publicist:

“Marc Maron is a stand-up comic by trade but his performance style is anything but the typical set-up-punchline formula. Maron engages his audience as a storyteller with an intelligence that digs deep into subjects, illuminating common truths that usually go unseen. There is a thought provoking excitement watching Maron take the risks of uncharted territory and riffing on subjects ranging from corporate domination of the planet to why the cooking channel is the only pure television. He always manages to ride that fine line.”

Marc has been quoted as saying he is a serious person by nature, and uses his comedy as a cathartic tool. Marc has a Libra Sun and Venus, showing that relationships are critically important to him. Libras are unhappy if they have to operate alone: they prefer to be in partnership with others and their very sense of self tends to be tied up in the state of their relationships. However, Marc also has Jupiter in Aries, the warrior sign, giving him a great deal of personal power and ability to assert himself (Aries) into all arenas. In addition, he has the tenacity of Mars (drive) in intense Scorpio, a fixed sign that is intensely passionate. Jupiter in Marc’s chart is retrograde, showing that he may not always take advantage of opportunities (Jupiter) that are presented to him.

Mercury is retrograde in Marc’s birthchart, indicating that he may have difficulty making himself understood by others, and Saturn is also retrograde, showing that he is very self critical (the negative voice of Saturn turns inward when retrograde). This may have posed early problems for Marc in his career, although he has said himself that when faced with difficulties: “ I always had this theory in life, just moving through going, “Ok, what’s next? What’s next? What’s next? How do we get to that next thing? How do we get there?” The strong drive of Jupiter in Aries combined with the tenacity of Mars in Scorpio keeps him moving forward despite temporary crises in confidence, and this is what will bring him great success unless he becomes caught in his own forward momentum and fails to watch for the opportunities of Jupiter retrograde to lead him in a different direction.

In 2005 Marc experienced the “Uranus Opposition,” one of the “midlife crisis” transits that occurs for everyone in their early 40s when Uranus (pronounced by astrologers as “your-ah’nus” so put your jokes away!) in the sky makes a 180 degree angle, or opposition, to Uranus in the chart. During this time we often feel restless and agitated, and dissatisfied with the way our life is going. This is a period where we want to make changes, and if we don’t make a conscious choice for things to change, change will happen anyway. I suspect that there was a lot going on behind the scenes to precipitate the canceling of the Morning Sedition show, and it could turn out to be a liberating event for Marc. His new show may provide opportunities for him to express himself in a way that he was unable to do before.

Around the same time, from March until the end of January, transiting Neptune (illusion and confusion) conjuncted Saturn (discipline, structure) in Marc’s chart. This is a time when we can feel lost and somewhat unsettled as the structures that we build in our life (Saturn) are clouded by the mists of Neptune’s tendency towards illusion and unreality. Saturn also helps to define our careers, making this a difficult time for a career path to find its way.

Marc will be undergoing a transit of Uranus (breaking up old routines) to Pluto (power structures and personal empowerment) in his chart beginning in April. This can be an exhilarating time where we gain new ways of empowering ourselves, but it can also be a challenging one as Uranus accelerates Pluto’s tendency to end situations that no longer serve us. This will likely be a time of great changes for Marc, and as long as he continues to embrace these changes and move forward through them as he tends to do, he will continue to grow and become increasingly successful.

A series of positive and challenging Jupiter transits, will bring confidence, optimism and opportunity (Jupiter) from now throughout the summer. The only danger for Marc is to keep his eyes open for opportunities that arrive, and resist the impulse to grow too fast before his life can catch up to his ideas.