John Mulaney Comedy Specials

[Hilary Laite]

Ifyou're looking for a whole lot of laughs, find out where you can watch all of the John Mulaney specials. The former Saturday Night Live writer stepped into the spotlight with his first televised comedy show in 2009 and evolved into one of the industry's most recognizable voices. In 2018, Mulaney made his feature film debut by voicing Peter Porker/Spider-Ham in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, a role that elevated his status within pop culture. However, Mulaney is perhaps best known for voicing the anxious teenager Andrew Glouberman in Big Mouth, a Netflix show that co-stars his frequent collaborator Nick Kroll.

Mulaney also hosted Saturday Night Live five times between 2018 and 2022 and made headlines in 2021 upon being romantically linked to actress Olivia Munn. On the surface, Mulaney appears to be a family-friendly comedian, but his acts often include provocative jokes. He makes sharp observations about the entertainment industry and endears himself to audiences by reminding them that he's just a kid at heart. The comic typically wears a suit and tie on stage, resulting in an old-school presence that appeals to older audiences.

Comedy Central Presents: John Mulaney is the first John Mulaney special and introduced the world to the comic. In the 20-minute act, the comic discusses his move to New York City and how some women perceive him as a potential threat. Released in 2009, the comedy special shows Mulaney delivering self-deprecating humor and making perceptive observations about the Law & Order TV franchise. Though the special is short, it's still as good as his full sets.

In New In Town, Mulaney's first hour-long TV special, the comic once again discusses his childish appearance and later jokes about politically correct behavior and censorship. Mulaney also jokes about the Law & Order franchise once again, specifically the confused demeanor of Ice-T's character Fin Tutuola in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The 2012 John Mulaney special preceded the comic's starring role in the Fox series Mulaney, which was canceled in February 2015 after just one season.

Released in 2015, The Comeback Kid shows a wiser and more experienced Mulaney. He begins with the usual jokes about his fragile demeanor. He then settles into a rapid-fire routine that builds to a commentary about the unique relationship between Marty McFly and Doc Brown in the Back to the Future movie franchise. The 2015 John Mulaney special once again proves that he's one of the best comedians when it comes to discussing pop culture and that he's really a child at heart despite some crude humor.

In Oh, Hello On Broadway, Mulaney and Big Mouth's Nick Kroll reprise their roles as George St. Geegland and Gil Faizon, two characters from the Upper West Side of Manhattan with thick New York accents, and share their observations of the world at large. It's not a traditional John Mulaney special or even a normal stand-up routine, but it does establish both performers as the ideal hosts for a comedy variety show. Oh, Hello On Broadway also has some notable guest appearances from Steve Martin and Matthew Broderick. While the special seems like a novelty, for the most part, it's hilarious and totally pays off.

Kid Gorgeous at Radio City is a traditional one-hour comedy special where Mulaney recalls several childhood experiences, both with his father and the Chicago cop-turned-TV host, J. J. Bittenbinder. Overall, Mulaney sticks to his usual brand of humor, not straying too far from his usual pop culture observations, but he impressively won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. Kid Gorgeous at Radio City is one of the best John Mulaney specials.

John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch was released on Christmas Eve 2019. Like Oh, Hello on Broadway, the 2019 John Mulaney special isn't a traditional stand-up routine. The 70-minute Netflix show includes various skits, with Mulaney leading a star-studded cast featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, Talking Heads' David Byrne, and Poker Face's Natasha Lyonne. John Mulaney earned Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Variety Special and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special.

John Mulaney: Baby J is the comedian's newest stand-up performance, which is another John Mulaney Netflix special, and it's his first solo routine in five years since Kid Gorgeous at Radio City. Baby J is an incredible return to the stage, and in that respect, ironically, maybe the 2023 special should have been called The Comeback Kid. The 2023 special is Mulaney's darkest and most honest yet, as it chronicles his drug addiction, his intervention, and his time in rehabilitation. Though Baby J is the comedian's newest project, it's inarguably one of the best John Mulaney specials.

If it's one of those days when you just need a laugh, you'll want to know where you can watch every John Mulaney comedy special without having to break the bank. The cheapest way is to watch everything, except for Comedy Central Presents: John Mulaney, on Netflix. It is the only platform that has all the others available to stream right now so you can avoid paying a bunch of subscription costs. A Netflix subscription is $6.99 per month for a standard with ads subscription, and $15.49 per month to view without ads. A premium subscription, with 4K and HDR video quality, is $19.99. If you're interested in watching the Comedy Central special, as well, Paramount Plus is the cheapest streaming service option. A Paramount Plus subscription is $5.99 per month after a free weeklong trial.

That may be true, and is probably at least subconsciously motivating him in some small way. But what it ignores is that Baby J should be seen less as a cynical PR move, and more as a show dealing with the consequences of someone who has consistently created art that relies on letting people into his life, of creating relatability to power his stories and provide the fuel for his comedy. Baby J is a consequence, a symptom - and the hilarious thing is that it relies on relatability, that same double-edged sword, to work.

For most people, an intervention for a celebrity held by American comedy legends like Seth Meyers and Fred Armisen is not really relatable. John Mulaney helps make it relatable by viewing himself as a kind of silly, tragic figure, who the audience finds kinship with. In this case, Mulaney makes a clear distinction between his past self - a chaotic cocaine addict doofus - and his current self telling the story. He shares the experience with us.

But then he is also creating a NEW persona, similar to the old persona, that wants us to love him and relate to him in a new but similar way, but also absolve him of too much responsibility for his past self.

There was a time a few years ago where Twitter, every improv show I attended, and the entirety of Tumblr became a John Mulaney quote book. If it wasn\u2019t his various funny lines - \u201Cstreets smarts!\u201D or \u201CI was over on the bench\u201D, or the gag that I think most accurately summed up the Trump era \u201Cthere\u2019s a HORSE loose in the HOSPITAL\u201D - it was every skinny guy in his twenties imitating his delivery and physicality. I\u2019m guilty of it myself, I say things with intonation and I flounce. I am the target market.

But there\u2019s really only one line from his latest special, Baby J, that\u2019s stuck with me - and it comes after breaking out into a kind of whimsical song and dance, where he quickly and roguishly reflects on his personal yet very public scandals he was involved in over the last few years.

He\u2019s referring to his largely publicised divorce from his ex-wife, artist Anna Marie Tendler, his new relationship with actress Olivia Munn, the BABY he quickly had with Munn, and his stint in rehab. He\u2019s also obliquely referencing a couple of other moments of public criticism, such as when he brought Dave Chapelle out on tour, and Chapelle continued his trend of transphobic jokes. Don\u2019t ask me why, but John Mulaney has a large and vocal trans and queer fanbase (I think because he\u2019s tall and goofy and used to write shows about how much he loves his partner?), who felt justifiably ambushed by transphobic jokes at his show.

It\u2019s a throwaway joke that quickly winks at the near-cancellation levels of scrutiny and criticism he\u2019s had, and acknowledges in one form or another that he is aware of his own public persona and popularity - and subsequent decline.

It\u2019s an interesting way to frame things - essentially that he is helpless to be so beloved, and while he isn\u2019t proud of his actions, it\u2019s his audiences fault for putting him on a pedestal. He\u2019s essentially throwing responsibility back to the audience - which is not entirely incorrect.

I can\u2019t stop thinking about his statement that likability is a jail, because I think it reveals a really interesting truth about art and storytelling and relatability - and a lesson for people like John Mulaney and myself who peddle in the dangerous world of art about our own lives. Because while he\u2019s not unjustified in pointing out the audience\u2019s expectation that he adheres to some kind of likeable, toothless, goofy persona - all natty suits and anecdotes about his dog and his wife - what this ignores is that he\u2019s painstakingly built his career around relatable personas.

Baby J is a really interesting comedy special - he doesn\u2019t go into the new relationship or the divorce, but he delves deep into his drug addiction and rehab. It\u2019s funny, but in its attempt to deal with darker subject matter and still get laughs at the same time, it\u2019s less whimsical and quotable than his earlier specials. It\u2019s not all about rehab, but the sections structured around that experience are its most intimate. It\u2019s confessional comedy, which isn\u2019t a new phenomenon at all.

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