President Barack Obama visited with comedian Marc Maron in the garage of his Highland Park home Friday at the end of a two-day visit to Southern California.
The host of "WTF With Marc Maron" announced in his Thursday podcast that the interview with Obama, who arrived in Los Angeles Thursday for a fundraising stop, will be available Monday. The visit with Maron marks the latest unconventional interview for the president, who discussed the Affordable Care Act with actor Zach Galifianakis on comedy talk show "Between Two Ferns" and also chatted with YouTube personality GloZell.
"We think this is an opportunity to have an extended candid conversation, not necessarily about news of the day items, but I think this is going to be much more about areas of the president's life that don't always get reported in the news," Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman, told reporters aboard Air Force One Thursday en route to Los Angeles.
Secret Service personnel have been working with podcast producers to prepare for the president's visit to the historic neighborhood in northeast Los Angeles, Maron said. The interview was expected to last about an hour.
"What am I doing in terms of planning? That's a good question," Maron said on Thursday's podcast. "I'm thinking about it. I'm spinning. I haven't done political talk radio in years, no desire to.
"He's an incredibly brilliant and interesting man with a life that I'm going to talk to him about."
Past guests have included comic actors Nick Kroll, Jen Kirkman, and Bob Odenkirk.
Obama will leave Southern California following the interview, bound for the San Francisco area, where he will speak at the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and fundraisers for the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The president is expected to return to Southern California on Saturday, spending the night in the Coachella Valley, where he usually plays golf when he visits. Temperatures in the Coachella Valley this weekend are expected to be in the 100s.
Obama spoke at a pair of DNC fundraisers Thursday. In the lone event open to the news media, Obama told supporters he hoped they would leave with the sense that completing "the unfinished business we've got... depends on you."
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"If we want the change we believe in, then we're going to have to work harder than ever in our own communities and in our own places of worship and in our own workplaces and reflect those values and ideals and then push this society and ultimately push Congress in the direction of change," Obama told a crowd of approximately 250 at the home of filmmaker Tyler Perry near Beverly Hills.
Obama went on to call for "reforming our criminal justice system in a way that we are not incarcerating nonviolent offenders in ways that renders them incapable of getting a job" after they are released; "immigration reform" that would "bring millions of people out of the shadows"; increased spending on research and making college more affordable.
Tickets for the fundraiser were priced from $2,500 to attend a reception to $33,400, the maximum allowable donation to a national party committee, which included admission to the reception, where Obama spoke, and dinner and a photo with the president. Tickets for the dinner were priced at $20,000 per couple. The price to attend the reception and have a photo taken with Obama was $10,000, according to an invitation obtained by City News Service.
Obama earlier attended another DNC fundraiser -- at the Pacific Palisades home of television producer Chuck Lorre, which was closed to reporters. Approximately 30 supporters paid up to $33,400 to attend, according to the White House.
The visit was Obama's 22nd to Los Angeles and Orange counties as president.
