If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered what everyday stuff famous people add to their carts — like hair spray or an electric toothbrush. We asked comedian, actor, and podcaster Marc Maron — whose stand-up special From Bleak to Dark was released on vinyl earlier this year — about the walnut oil, face wash, and work boots he can’t live without.
The patchouli oil is a constant and it has been for decades. I just love this stuff, and I think I’m one of the few people that can wear it and not come off as obnoxious for whatever reason. I had a girlfriend when I was in college who was, oddly, not a hippie at all, just this kind of punk-rock, angry sculptor who really was an important person in my life. She was into patchouli oil, and she sent it to me in some sort of witch bag. From that point on, it’s always been part of my life on a daily basis.
I met Mike Elias at Ship John years ago with my buddy Dean Delray, who turned me onto them. Mike’s up there in Portland making his own stuff. It’s got kind of a rugged vibe to it. The Wills jacket is really the thing to get, and he doesn’t make a lot of ’em, so they’re kind of hard to come by, but that Wills jacket is pretty constant with me. Mike is a work-clothes nerd, a real historical stickler, that guy, and a real decent guy.
[Editor’s note: Ship John is currently not taking preorders for the Wills Jacket, but will open up preordering in early 2025.]
When I was in Spokane, Washington, doing a gig, I got into a car with a guy who was driving me, and he’s an old dude, an old Spokane guy, and we were talking about boots, and he goes, “Well, they make White’s Boots here, and they’re the best.” And I’d never heard of ’em at that time. I went over to White’s and got measured and made some choices about what I wanted on the boot. You had a choice of heel and leather and whether you wanted a toe strap or no toe strap, and at that time they had more types of leather to choose from. I’ve got five or six pairs of different kinds of White’s boots, and I wear them all the time.
I don’t know when I got into this, but I can’t live without it and it has to be this one because the other facial cleanser they have is smelly. This is just one of those products where I definitely use them, and I definitely need them, and I buy them in miniatures when I find them, so when I go on the road I can use them.
I’ve been a vegan for a year and a half, and I got obsessed with walnuts and walnut oil, so they seem to factor into my life quite a bit lately. I mix the walnut oil in with my smoothies because I think it’s going to fix my heart and brain and give me all the omega-3s that I need.
The SM7B was referred to me by a radio guy, Jesse Thorn, when I first started the podcast, and they’re just a great vocal mic. They’re a little pricey, but yeah, those are the mics I’ve used since the beginning of the podcast and a lot of other podcasts use them if they want to spend a little extra money to get something that is really designed for vocals. I love ’em. You kind of fetishize this stuff after a while. They’re the only mic I use also onstage.
I bought that from Howie at Rivington Guitars in New York City. It’s just like a classic Keith Richards guitar in a lot of ways. I’ve always been a bit of a Telecaster guy. It was just fortuitous that I found one of that era that just has a great sound.
[Editor’s note: Maron bought a 1974 Telecaster Custom, but Howie tells us this 1978 one is similar.]
Kent combs are just sturdy. They almost look like hand-cut combs. I order a bunch of ’em, and I kind of just have a fetish for ’em.
I got to interview the grandson who runs the company, and I got a lifetime supply of that liquid soap — the big things like the almond, the tea-tree oil, the lavender — and I use it. I haven’t bought a bar in a decade or more, I just use that for the shower and everything. I use it to wash dishes too sometimes. Just Dr. Bronner’s Castile all-in-one. That’s the stuff, man.
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