What's the Origin of 'SNL' Alum Adam Sandler's Beef with Marc Maron?

In his most recent comedy special, Panicked, Marc Maron does a bit targeting the Austin comic scene and, specifically, calls out Theo Von with a genuinely good impression of the comedian/podcaster. Maron is one of the few comics who occasionally makes fun of other comics, unlike the Austin comics. They’re classy. They don’t take shots at other comics; they prefer to take aim at marginalized people.

At any rate, comedians are apparently a sensitive bunch because Marc Maron has collected a number of different beefs with other comics over the years. There’s the highly publicized Jon Stewart beef that’s been in the news in recent weeks, of course, but on The Endless Honeymoon Podcast with Moshe Kasher and Natasha Leggero, Maron — in weighing the decision to make fun of Theo Von — made a passing mention of a rift with Adam Sandler.

“I’ve had experiences in the past where, you know, I had a rift with Adam Sandler at some point after making reference to him at some point … the idea that it’s based in jealousy, or it’s player hating. You know, shut the f**k up. If someone is a large part of culture, and you are a satirist of any kind, it’s fair game … [Theo Von] should be able to take the hit. We’re all comics. I’m just bustin’ balls.”

In talking about how he interacts with comics after he makes fun of them, he again references Adam Sandler, saying that Sandler “just came up to me at The Improv” and took issue with Maron making fun of him and his fans. (The two are “OK” now, he says, although Sandler has never appeared on Maron’s podcast — in an interview earlier this year, Maron said he has asked, but Sandler has declined — though Sandler has appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast.)

Of course, I had to know what Marc Maron said about Adam Sandler to elicit this beef. I knew only that it was on an old episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Little did I realize that Maron has been on Conan’s show dozens of times, which meant listening to dozens of clips and witnessing dozens of different hairstyles. Here’s a quick sampling:

As an aside, I’ll also add that, based on Maron’s appearances on Conan, his early material was not great and doesn’t hold up particularly well, although it’s amusing to see him over the years talk about his various marriages and girlfriends because longtime listeners of his podcast can sort of identify which wife or girlfriend he’s talking about. He also talked a lot about new technology and cats (some things never change).

Around the 15th or 16th clip from Conan that I watched, I finally stumbled upon the joke that Sandler took offense to. It’s from a 2001 bit about adults riding around on scooters and the “progressive infantilization of the grown-up mind.”

“Hear me out,” he jokes. “They want us all to think like adolescents so we buy things we don’t need and we don’t care about anything. It happened like five years ago, I think, when the first grown-up turned his baseball hat backwards and no one stopped it. And then, out of nowhere, hey! Adam Sandler has a career.”

That joke elicited a lot of boos from the audience. But Maron continued.

“It’s not about Adam Sandler,” he said. “I like Adam Sandler. But he’s not infantile?! Like that’s some [great revelation]. Oh! The cat’s out of the bag now!”

(Fans of Bill Hicks, a hero of Maron’s, can see his influence even in that bit.)

And that’s basically the extent of the joke: that Adam Sandler either contributed to, or was a product of, the “progressive infantilization of the grown-up mind.” And to that, Sandler took enough offense to never appear on Maron’s show and call him out in person.

Here’s the clip.

Panicked is currently streaming on HBO Max. Maron’s podcast, meanwhile, ends sometime this fall.