“When you're an asshole and your wife leaves you, there's a part of you that thinks, 'Good for her. That took a lot of guts to leave me,'” reasons beleaguered standup, author and Air America Media host Marc Maron. “I'm a little jealous. I've been trying to leave me for years. I had her convinced that this intense mixture of neediness, hostility and fear of abandonment was passion. Now, the jig is up.” Really, who would ever want to break from a marital union so blessed with unpredictability? Scorching the Earth is a one-man show that promises the official verbiage, “explores the concepts of love, need, hate, sex, anger, as well as the choice between humility and bitterness. And cats — lots of cats.” As a social critic, Maron has taken the world to task over the course of three albums and numerous specials brimming with cerebral, unapologetic ire. When he targets his own emotional shortcomings, however, the result is honest and cathartic.

Fri., June 12, 8 p.m., 2009

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