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Inhis previous special, released with uncanny timing in 2020,Marc Maronwas preoccupied with the apocalypse.
But the new special also reflects a palpable shift.
Rather than a collapse into nihilism, this special has a fundamentally loving, even tender worldview.
It is an exploration of how to keep living after the world has ended.
Despite that description, the special is not a sudden departure from Marons typical comedic identity.
He is not known for chipper optimism, and this specials title is not a misnomer.
They all ground Marons hour in who he is and how he approaches ideas.
It would all be relatively at home in his previous special.
The world is on fire.
From bleak to dark!
But after those first 20 minutes, Maron begins to shade in other colors.
What comes through instead is something much closer to wry but loving acceptance.
But he wont and doesnt want to.
Three times inFrom Bleak to Dark, Maron imagines himself creating a different kind of show.
I picture that when I produce it, itll be in a small black-box theater.
Then in the beginning of the Shelton section, the one-man-show idea returns.
Maybe he cant write jokes about this, he thinks.
Sort of a black-box theater.
Before the show theres Israeli music playing.
Humor that comes from real darkness is really the best, he says.
I believe its a beautiful thing, he says.
Its not even the material about Shelton, although that is clearly the specials highlight.
It was all bullshit!
Maron grunts, imagining this aggrieved man.
Theyre both Maron, those two old guys.
One of them sees the beauty in life, and the other one is constantly frustrated by its unfairness.
Marons last special was an incredible demonstration of himself as guy No.
From Bleak to Darkpremieres on HBO Saturday, February 11, at 10 p.m. ## Related
