A Dire Warning for Liberals

In his latest HBO stand-up special, Marc Maron makes a crack about lefties that might be a tough pill to swallow.

View in Browser  Monday, August 4, 2025 Among the many problems dogging the American left is their perceived uptightness. In his new standup special, Panicked, comedian and podcaster Marc Maron dedicates just a few lines to this idea. It's surgical—and it speaks volumes coming from him. What he says is illuminating for progressives, if they choose to listen. You can read all about it below.   – Michael Sebastian, editor-in-chief   Plus: The next big thing in menswear is... gardening? Leave it to Trump to threaten nuclear war in response to a few mean tweets The 5 best handheld gaming consoles you can buy in 2025 The Dire Warning for Liberals Buried in Marc Maron's Panicked In his latest HBO stand-up special, the comic and podcaster makes a crack about lefties that might be a tough pill to swallow. A few minutes into the new HBO stand-up special Panicked, Marc Maron, America's poet laureate of dread and despair, says to his audience of mostly like-minded lefties, "Progressives have really got to figure out how to deal with this buzzkill problem. You do realize we annoyed the average American into fascism." He pauses for a big laugh and round of applause and adds, "No one can ruin a barbecue quicker than a liberal: So, you want something from the grill? What about the genocide?" At any other time in his career, the joke wouldn't seem so profound. READ THE STORY Tom Holland's new Spider-Man suit is bringing the hero back to basics. Eric Francisco explains how it lives up to the title, Spider-Man: Brand New Day. >>   Should men drink from a straw? In 2001, Esquire once declared: "No straws." What about now? Michael Sebastian weighs in on how grown men oughta drink. >> Pamela Anderson: What I've Learned "People say I'm the ultimate California girl, which is funny, being that I'm Canadian."   "I'm kind of proud of myself. I've been able to keep a certain grace about me, even in the times of disgrace and craziness."   "The best decisions you ever make are usually the ones you make even when everyone else says not to do it."   "Sometimes sex gets in the way of a relationship." By Mike Sager What It Feels Like to Climb a Skyscraper with Your Bare Hands The minutes before a climb are hell. Picture a drug addict receiving the worst news imaginable; that's how I look and sound to my friends who help me prepare. My words tumble out fast and incoherent. My hearing shuts off. My peripheral vision narrows to a tunnel. My shoulders and arms feel like they're made of lead. My knees go weak. I get goosebumps—what we call "chicken skin" in French.   The worst part? Cottonmouth. No matter how much I hydrate, my mouth goes completely dry. (I can't drink too much water because I don't want to pee midclimb.) In the final few moments before I start up any building, my entire body screams no. I have to force myself to override every survival instinct to step into that vertical world.   For the first forty or fifty feet, I feel like this. Then, once I leave the horizontal world and enter the vertical world—the point past which any fall will mean death—something magical happens. The tunnel vision clears. My shoulders lighten. My brain stops searching for phantom dangers because the danger is right here, real and immediate. This clarity is intoxicating. My mind can focus on one thing: keeping me alive. As Told to Sean Evans Follow Us Unsubscribe | Privacy Notice | CA Notice at Collection Esquire is a publication of Hearst Magazines. ©2025 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This email was sent by Hearst Magazines, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019-3779