Legendary Show Ending After 16 Years

One of the longest-running podcasts in history is coming to a close.

Marc Maron’s WTF, a wildly popular show with almost 2,000 episodes since its launch in 2009, will come to an end this fall.

WTF with Marc Maron is, in some ways, responsible for the boom of the podcast industry. It was one of the first podcasts to establish the interview-style format that so many other podcasts use today, and has had over one billion downloads across the globe.

“Sixteen years we’ve been doing this, and we’ve decided that we had a great run. Now, basically, it’s time, folks. It’s time. WTF is coming to an end. It’s our decision. We’ll have our final episode sometime in the fall,” Maron said on today’s episode.

Maron has interviewed all sorts of guests, from A-list actors to pop superstars to presidents. His June 2015 interview with Barack Obama is still one of the most downloaded podcast episodes of all time.

“It really comes down to the fact that we’ve put up a new show every Monday and Thursday for almost sixteen years and we’re tired. We’re burnt out. And we are utterly satisfied with the work we’ve done. We’ve done great work. This doesn’t mean I’m never going to do something like this again. Doesn’t mean I’ll never have talks like I do here, or some kind of podcast at some point in time. But for now, we’re just wrapping things up… It’s okay to try to start some other chapter in your life,” Maron said today.

Maron has plenty of other projects on the way, including an upcoming HBO stand-up comedy special and a starring role in Rob Burnett’s In Memoriam alongside Sharon Stone and Regina Hall. He’ll also appear in the Jeremy Allen White-starring Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere, where he’ll play Springsteen’s producer Chuck Plotkin.

“It’s nice to be able to end things on our terms. We’ve always had that power to do that and that’s what we’re going to do. We started the show on our terms, we grew it on our terms, and we’ll end it on our terms,” he continued on the episode. “It’s been an incredible time in my life and Brendan’s life. We’ve done things that we never thought we’d be able to do because of the podcast. My life changed dramatically… But this is a full hearted decision. It’s the right decision for me. It’s the right decision for Brendan. It’s okay. It’s okay for things to end. It’s just time, folks.”

Episodes of WTF with Marc Maron are available wherever you get your podcasts.