From the Jill Schwartz Memorial Library, here in the wilds of Connecticut, this is obscure

season 2, Frankenstein, I am your host, your friend, your earlover, your literary mansplainer

in chief and geogenologist, Michael Ian Black, it's a chilly spring day here in the wilds

of Connecticut, the sweater is on the Jill Schwartz Memorial Library, is if not frigid, then at

least chilly, the way like a wine refrigerator would be chilly, that's what it feels like in here,

and I've got a I've got a delicious dry white for you today, the dry white of course, being me.

So, you know, these beginnings, the beginnings of these episodes, I always think to myself,

gee, what if you're listening to this the way people listen to the beginnings of Mark

Maren's WTF podcast, which is they just fast forward, and that would be tragic to me to discover

that. On the other hand, it seems unlikely because there's no reason to listen to this purely

for the story, like if you're listening to Maren, you're like, yeah, okay, yeah, I get it, Mark,

you're anxious, but I want to hear what Flea Estes said, but you know, it's unlikely you're

listening to this going, yeah, I get it, Michael, you're anxious, but I want to hear what Mary

Shelley asked to say, because frankly, the novel isn't that good, although it's getting better.

Somebody asked me last night, I was on a Zoom stand-up comedy show, and if you've never

participated in one of those, either as a performer or as an audience member, let me tell you,

a lot is lost in translation from live environment to the Zoom environment. You probably figured that

out on your own, but it was a funny evening, and somebody asked me if my beef with Mark Maren

is real, because this person had listened to myself and Mark Maren ragging on each other for about

eight minutes straight at a comedy festival years ago, and then we did the same when I was on his

podcast. And so I guess that's why I have Mark Maren top of mind, and I will answer that question.

It was a two-part question. The first is, is your beef with Mark Maren real? The second is,

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