Taylor Swift has a massive catalog that doesn’t come cheap, just ask comedian Marc Maron.
Maron’s upcoming comedy special, “Marc Maron: Panicked,” features Swift’s ballad “Bigger Than the Whole Sky,” as part of the closing for the show.
“I think it came out to $50K, around that,” Maron explained on Vulture’s “Good One” podcast. “I did everything I could to get the joke in front of her.”
Maron really wanted to have the song in his show, as it holds a special meaning for him and details in the show, so he tried reaching out to Swift’s friend and frequent producer, Jack Antonoff.
“I know Jack Antonoff enough to text him, and he’s the co-writer on that song,” the “Stick” star said. “I said, ‘I don’t know what’s proper or how to do this, but we’re running out of money on this thing. It’s probably going to come out of my pocket. Is there anything you can do about this song or talk to Taylor?’”
Antonoff suggested he go through more official channels with representatives and labels, and it worked out, even with the high price tag and brief usage of the song.
“It was doable,” Maron said. “We made enough money. It was tight, but because of the ticket sales for the special, we were able to get that song.”
He added, “My relationship with that song, and just the fact that I’m playing it on my phone, it had to happen.”
Maron recently performed a cover of the song live on stage at Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles.
During the performance, he became choked up near the end but finished and joked with the audience about getting emotional before performing a stand up set.
The venue shared the clip online, writing, “When you see Marc’s new HBO special, you will know that this song has a lot of deeply emotional meaning to him. Thank you for sharing, Marc!”
