LaughFest 2012 brings to Grand Rapids some big names in the comedy world, as part of its second annual festival of all things funny. Among them is veteran stand-up master Marc Maron, who headlines at the Wealthy Theatre tonight at 10 p.m. 

Maron's become a legend in the industry over the past fifteen years, working in a variety of formats. Starting out at LA's famous incubator The Comedy Store, where he linked up with the late great Sam Kinison, he later became a fixture in New York's alternative comedy scene. (His take on that genre was recently featured in another Laugh Fest event, the UICA-screened documentary Tell Your Friends.) Sharpening his skills in small clubs in New York and elsewhere, he then branched out into radio, co-hosting a popular take-off on the typical 'morning drive-time show' called Morning Sedition, hosted by the Air America network.

A string of short-lived radio shows followed, ultimately leading in 2009 to what would become his most popular offering, the twice-weekly podcast WTF with Marc Maron. The interview-and-monologue show often hits #1 on the iTune charts, while earning rave reviews from the New York Times and Vanity Fair. Rolling Stone says, “'WTF' may be his greatest achievement yet; a series of sh*t-shoots with comedians that move from laugh-geek joke anatomy to quasi-therapeutic venting.”

A one-man off-Broadway show, which later became a book, added to his growing portfolio. Of his talent in general, friend and fellow comic Louis CK shares, "Marc Maron is a startlingly honest, compelling and hilarious comedian-poet. Truly one of the greatest of all time.”

Tickets for Thursday's show are $22.50, available at the Wealthy Theatre ticket office. Doors open at 9:00 p.m.