John Mulaney is a stand-up comedian who wrote for SNL between 2008-2014 and has since had several Netflix original comedy specials. Mulaney’s stand up often centers around personal anecdotes about his past and present. Overall, the internet, Millennials, and Gen-Z have fallen in love with John Mulaney. Maybe it’s because of his classic suit, maybe it’s his quirky diction, maybe it’s because he has a french bulldog, but most of Mulaney’s audience often called the comedian an ‘unproblematic king’.
That is, until 2020 and 2021, when the media found out that Mulaney had checked into rehab for a coke addiction. Much of the comedian’s surface audience were surprised to hear this news, although anyone who seriously pays attention to Mulaney’s stand up would know that he’s struggled with addiction before. Despite this knowledge, fans of Mulaney were still shocked and disappointed, to say the least. But everyone hoped that this was just a small bump in the road for him.
This, of course, was not the case. At the beginning of 2021, Mulaney announced that he was divorcing his wife, Anna Marie Tendler, who was dearly loved by the comedian’s fanbase. Mulaney dedicated much of his stand up routine over the years gushing about his now ex-wife. Fans were destroyed by the announcement, but nothing could prepare them for what happened next: a new lover and a baby on the way. Yes, John Mulaney, who often claimed that he never wanted children, is now a father-to-be, in a relationship with Olivia Munn.
With all of this to unpack, John Mulaney is now back on tour with his new stand up show: From Scratch. I was lucky enough to get tickets to his new show, so I can now report to you how his comedy holds up post, well, everything.
Despite the popular rumor, John Mulaney still wore a suit to his stand up, which to his dedicated audience is a big deal. It just doesn’t feel like the Mulaney we know and love without a suit. Mulaney also looked rather healthy, and no longer (in his own words) “coke-skinny.”
John Mulaney started his set briefly touching on the fact that one of the first things he did after rehab was get “a woman” pregnant and how he’s received mixed reviews on his baby-announcement which he found rather odd. Mulaney didn’t mention his relationship with Munn or his child for the rest of his set. He also mentioned at the beginning of his set that he went through a divorce, but never went back to that topic, which is understandable. I’m sure it is still a tough subject.
John then spent a large portion of his set recounting the night of his intervention, which, in his words, was a “star studded event of 40-something year old alternative comedians.” He went into great detail about his perspective on the event, what he was doing before (buying cocaine and getting a haircut at SNL), and what rehab was like after. Mulaney did a bit of crowd-work, asking if anyone had been to rehab before, and had a short conversation with a girl up front about their time at rehab. John confessed that he had been sent to rehab for various drug addictions, including cocaine, adderall, percocet, xanax, and a couple others. He talked about several phone calls he received from Pete Davidson during his first night of rehab, and he told of the joys of coloring in a rehab center. He also admitted that he was extremely disappointed that nobody recognized him at the rehab center.
John did talk about more than just his intervention and rehab, though. He mentioned the insurrection earlier this year and how it wouldn’t have happened on his watch if he wasn’t in rehab. He talked about how he started drinking and doing drugs when he was younger – how his dad said he was preparing his palette for the taste of wine “in case he was invited to Buckingham Palace.” John talked about his lack of interest in science, saying that in school, science was incredibly boring to him, but that he understands we should trust science. John also joked that he thinks the moon belongs to America and about how he’s not entirely sure whether or not the earth is round. At the end of his set, John read an interview he had done with GQ Magazine three days before his intervention, when he was in the thralls of his coke addiction.
So, does the “Comeback Kid” of Chicago still have the same stand-up appeal he did two years ago? I would say yes. I spent the entire show laughing, and felt that his set didn’t lack the oomph it had pre-rehab. I think John’s audience overall is very proud of his recovery and wish him happy days. In his words, “baby J is back on the streets”, and I think that’s a great thing to hear.