John Mulaney
This next comedian I will be discussing today has been getting more popular by the second. He was one of the few comedians I listed to in high school that almost everyone else also knew of. His success has reached an all time high these past two years and I expect it to grow. I am talking about John Mulaney.
Biography:
Born in 1982, John Edmund Mulaney grew up in Chicago, Illinois. His mother taught law at Northwestern University and his father was an attorney. Both these things are relatively well known even without a source, because he talks about nearly everything in his life when performing comedy. One fact I don’t recall him ever mentioning, though, was that he was the third youngest out of four siblings. Growing up, Mulaney went to church every Sunday and was an altar boy as well — another talking point in his sets. Fun fact, according to this website, at a young age he was offered the chance to audition for the lead of the movie Home Alone, but his parents didn’t allow it! After graduating from St. Clement High School, he moved on to study English Literature at Georgetown University. Comedic actor Nick Kroll also attended the same college and (spoiler alert) as they work together on a show now, it has been mentioned that he and Mulaney were friends at the time. Mulaney’s wild college years are another topic he touches on quite a bit in his shows. He hints at lots of partying, drugs, lack of sleep, and writing papers on books he’s never read for years at school. In one of his bits, he even explains that he abstains from drinking now because he had an alcohol problem. But, after him seemingly eventful years in college, he then moved to the city to pursue a career in comedy. He started off working as an office assistant for Comedy Central and also worked on the show ‘Best Week Ever’. Eventually, in 2008 he applied for Saturday Night Live and landed himself a spot on the writing team. This is where his career really started taking off. He received a few nominations and actually won an Emmy award for his work. He also started his dive into voice acting in 2010 when he played multiple roles for a show called Ugly Americans. His number of guest appearances on different comedic shows kept increasing more rapidly. In 2014 he tried to start up a sitcom titled Mulaney, which — can easily be guessed — was about himself. Unfortunately, the show didn’t go over well with viewers and it was discontinued after two episodes. In an article by The New York Times, Mulaney comments on this part of his life stating “‘I’m not trying to be Frank Capra, but you truly learn so much from failure,’” he said. ‘After that, I just wanted to follow my instincts. I’d stopped doing that a bit.’” HIs positive reaction to a so-called failure helped him keep his head above water as he rocketed through the industry gaining popularity on his preformed Netflix specials titled New In Town, Comeback Kid, and his most recent, Kid Gorgeous. Besides continuing with his guest appearances and stand-up gigs, Mulaney has also voiced numerous characters on his previously mentioned friend, Nick Kroll’s cartoon Netflix show, Big Mouth. This show is extremely popular amongst many teens, therefore even further increasing Mulaney’s fame!
Review:
I love, love, LOVE John Mulaney! I think his sense of humor is so wholesome and he as a performer is so fun to watch. I was lucky enough to go see him perform his recent special Kid Gorgeous at Radio City Music Hall in New York. The show was so incredible! The stage was so grand and Mulaney found a way to work every single bit of it. Then again, him being a tall and lanky man with lots of childlike energy doesn’t allow me to expect anything less. The actual content of the show had my crying of laughter in my seat. He discussed his life, starting from his family when he was a young age, to his ridiculous college experience, to the present — where he even dives into a bit of political satire. The execution of his bits are always so entertaining to watch. His line delivery is so cleverly unique, there’s practically a format to it by this point. Nevertheless, it doesn’t get old whatsoever. I even watched the same special on Netflix after watching it live, because it was that good. The main component to his comedy that makes him so hilarious is perfectly worded in the NYT article I mentioned above, “Mr. Mulaney has earned a reputation as a comic’s comic, a choirboy type who makes the sort of embittered observations you’d expect from a much older, more cynical man.” This explanation of him is exact. He has a youth-like, innocent, sometimes even slightly flamboyant demeanor, but his experiences and takes on many things in life show otherwise. Before watching his specials, I used to just listen to his sets in audio clips. Even then, his storytelling skills and punchlines were so clever and properly delivered. Another thing to mention about Mulaney is that he is quite PG compared to most comics. This is the sort of comic I recommend to people who don’t usually listen to comedy. Although his style is very particular, the content is pretty personal to him, making it more experience-based and not geared in one specific direction the whole time. Going from that point on people can usually follow up by either turning towards the more dark and foul-mouthed comedy, or stick to the light-hearted comics like Mulaney. On top of his stand-up performances, his contribution to the television show Big Mouth are fantastic. While Nick Kroll is a master at voice acting, Mulaney holds his own as well, bringing his unique skills to the episodes, making them all the more hilarious. While the cartoon’s content is quite different and much more inappropriate than Mulaney’s usual (as expected because the show isn’t produced by him, he’s just a voice actor for it) I still highly recommend it to students in high school and college, as it tackles the turns and tales of growing up and more specifically — puberty. Going back to stand-up, I will link a few sets and shows below for you to listen to, and please listen to them as Mulaney is guaranteed to make you at least smile… laugh it up!
John Mulaney Favorites:
On the Phone with Blockbuster Video
Finally a comedian whose name I recognize! I tend to feel uncomfortable when comedians are too dark, discriminatory, or dirty, which makes me a big fan of John Mulaney’s “wholesome,” mostly-PG-rated style. I had no idea that he could have starred in “Home Alone” – thank you for sharing these fun facts about his life!