Marc Maron, Kevin Bacon, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and More Mix Comedy and Music at The Soho Sessions

Last night, Dec. 5, The Soho Sessions returned with its final staging of 2024, closing out a year lined with unparalleled intimate performances with its first-ever comedy program. To drive this new offering, the esteemed benefit series welcomed iconic comedian, actor and writer Marc Maron, whose singular brand of thought-provoking humor brought heart, gravity and riotous laughs to the close-quarters crowd. Furthering its founding principle, the 16th installment of The Soho Sessions dedicated its premier mix of comedy and music to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), with all proceeds advancing the organization’s 40-year mission of serving the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.

Once an audience of donors, artist, friends and lucky onlookers had congregated in the series’ downtown Manhattan loft space, organizers Greg Williamson and Nicole Rechter opened the show with a warm welcome. The producers and RWE Partners co-founders set a tone for the evening by expressing gratitude for the performers and re-affirming The Soho Sessions’ commitment to change, then introducing a representative from NAMI. NAMI’s spokesperson underscored the importance of the show by speaking to the scale of the organization’s mission, touching on a universal familiarity with mental illness and pointing attendees to donation QR codes throughout the space. As the show went on, mental health resounded as a central theme throughout the performances.

Volume 16 of The Soho Sessions followed a musical revue format, with performances from The Soho Sessions Band interspersed between stand-up sets. The house band–featuring drummer Shawn Pelton, bassist Adam Minkoff and keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist and bandleader Jimmy Vivino–gave Maron a chance to showcase his musical talents; in each performance, the host and noted blues devotee stole the show with his powerful vocals and virtuosic guitar. Maron and the band commenced the evening’s entertainment with a high-energy, heavy-hitting instrumental blues song, then turned the mic over to Maddie Wiener.

Wiener, a New York comedy circuit regular who previously opened for Maron on tour and recently appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, set a high bar. Maron warned that the up-and-comer is a hard act to follow, and Wiener surpassed those high expectations with a non-stop monologue that only built momentum with time, seamlessly flowing from creepy uncles, to gender identity, caveman incels and America’s unique brand of mental illness.

After a second set from the band, Nimesh Patel followed with a rough-edged, understated tone. The comedian, who previously wrote for Saturday Night Live, opened his spot by thanking Maron and saying he aspires to be “so funny that people let me play the guitar.” Through his set, he dished out deadpan jabs on politics, then found a roaring response with his desire to be “rich and evil”–the American dream as he sees it.

Between the comic openers, Maron and the house band staged two more thrilling tracks, beginning with a soul-stirring treatment of Bob Dylan’s 1974 Planet Waves standout “Going, Going, Gone” led by the host’s self-emptying vocals. Multi-hyphenate music powerhouse Vivino cued up the second track by noting the proximity of Andy Warhol’s famous Factory, then tore into a racing, gritty treatment of the Velvet Underground’s deep-cut “I Can’t Stand It.” After Patel’s set, the band invited Kevin Bacon up from the audience to lead a cover of Chuck Berry’s 1958 holiday favorite “Run Run Rudolph,” which saw the actor bust out his harmonica for a red-hot solo.

Maron’s stand-up set was as insightful as ever, balancing introspection with cutting jokes and anecdotes. “As I get older, I’m not even sure I can identify happiness,” the host riffed in a true highlight from the show. “I was changing my cat’s water, and one of my AirPods fell into the bowl. I fished it out and I put it back in my ear, and it worked. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that kind of happiness. I was like ‘Oh my God, everything’s turning around.’ I could hear Pink Floyd in both of my old ears!”

To close out the evening, The Soho Sessions Band, sans Maron, welcomed blues-rock torchbearer Christone “Kingfish” Ingram to the spotlight. Kingfish amazed with his unmatched guitar and vocal chops in a cover of B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone,” then snuck citations of Jimi into a tremendous treatment of “Hey Joe.” Maron and Bacon both returned to the front of the room for the final song, and the full ensemble traded solos and came together for top-tier interplay on an explosive finale of “Killing Floor”

“Comedy and music have always had an amazing ability to move people, and bringing comedy to The Soho Sessions feels like a natural progression,” Williamson offered in a release. “Marc Maron is a genius and the perfect person to do this. We’ve got a night that’s not just entertaining, but meaningful, as we support the critical work of NAMI. It’s the perfect way to wrap up the year.”


Through The Soho Sessions and the acclaimed annual Love Rocks NYC benefit concert, RWE Partners has raised north of $60 million for a variety of vital causes. NAMI, Maron’s chosen charity, is the largest grassroots mental health organization in the country, working with more than 600 local affiliates to offer support and educational resources for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. Learn more about the organization at nami.org.

The Soho Sessions will return in February. For more information on the series, visit thesohosessions.com. Read about Paul Simon’s performance for the star-studded 14th benefit event here.