John Mulaney New In Town Full Special

[Rynn Bronaugh]

Thisarchival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

Four years ago I interviewed John Mulaney as he began a run of standup shows in Los Angeles and the West coast, shows that ended up being the basis for his album, The Top Part. Back in August I was very pleased to get an invite to be at the taping of Mulaney's new hour of material at the Skirball Center in New York City. The end product of that taping premieres tonight at 10pm on Comedy Central, "John Mulaney: New in Town."Earlier this week I had a conversation with the standup comedian and celebrated "Saturday Night Live" writer who told me how the special came about.

John Mulaney: For the most part it's all one show, apart from a couple moments, that were really small. Like when we would have a camera in a certain place that would capture an act-out from me that looked a little different. For the most part it was all from the later show. In doing the hour there was a lot of tags to every joke, and there were a lot of jokes in every bit. So there were a lot of those tags I enjoyed from the first taping.

John Mulaney: Not really, we had good coverage, and a great director named Ryan Calito and it all came together. When I walked off-stage after the first taping going "That was great, that's it if we need it." So I was very pleased after the first show and then for the second show, what was nice about that was, you want it to be as polished as possible but, part of standup is being loose and having a good time yourself and that translates to the audience. So after that first taping I just wanted to have a great time in the second one.

In preparing for the special, I'm sure you did a lot of work around town, but how do you translate something you do in a club to a venue like the Skirball Center, which has a pretty good-sized stage and auditorium. What kind of adjustments did you make in your performance?

John Mulaney: Pace is a little slower in a theater, it's actually, and this may sound strange, but it's a little more comfortable in a theater talking to a large group of people. They are extremely focused because they're just sitting in chairs staring straight at you. A lot of comedy clubs are set up with people sitting at little tables and you have everything from the way they are seated to them ordering or taking a sip of a drink, these can make a comedian go harder and faster in a club. Actually, even though it's bigger and the pressure might be on more, you can be a little more relaxed in front of a big crowd like that. I had also done a lot of one-hour shows at the UCB Theatre to get ready, just doing solo hours. I also went on the road a lot, doing three or four nights in a different city, doing an hour per show, a couple shows per night. Then I was also doing little sets in New York and L.A. working on certain sections.

I have to ask about your closing bit, which I don't want to spoil for anybody, but it deals with a medical issue [Laughs] and you spend quite a chunk of time on that bit. First of all, is it a true story? And how long did it take for you to develop it?

John Mulaney: I did my first special and album with Comedy Central and they just do a great job with standup, and have forever. They've always taken it very seriously and they treat it like what it is, one of the big cores of their channel. Specials premiere there like they are a special thing and that's cool for a standup, to be treated like that, it's one of the best vehicles for comedy. So I have always liked working with them and it was great working with them again.

John Mulaney: Oh yes! I will definitely have some people over. It's not like screening a short film for friends because the people in the audience laughed so even if my friends don't like it there's some built in enthusiasm and validation.

John Mulaney: Yes, "You see, they all liked it!" I'll say to my dear friends. [Laughs] But honestly, sometimes I hate watching myself and I've enjoyed watching this special as I was editing it.

John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City is a 2018 stand-up comedy film written by and starring John Mulaney. The special was recorded live in February 2018 at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City,[1] and released by Netflix on May 1, 2018.[2]

Similarly to Mulaney's previous show, The Comeback Kid, Kid Gorgeous is a visually simplistic stand-up routine with a major emphasis upon observational humor.[3] The majority of jokes are centered upon Mulaney's adolescence, celebrity, marriage, politics and anxieties associated with contemporary American life.

Kid Gorgeous has received an overwhelmingly positive critical response, with critics praising Mulaney for his compassionate delivery, observational wit[4] and, in particular, a prolonged analogy comparing U.S. President Donald Trump to a "horse loose in a hospital".[5] The special won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special in 2018.[6]

John Mulaney rose to prominence in 2008, when he performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival and earned a position on the writing team of Saturday Night Live.[7] Prior to his distribution deal with Netflix, Mulaney released two stand-up comedy albums through Comedy Central Records: The Top Part in 2009[8] and New In Town in 2012.[9]

The comedian's most recent stand-up show at the time of Kid Gorgeous's release was The Comeback Kid, which was performed throughout 2015 and released on Netflix in November of the same year. The Comeback Kid received similar acclaim from publications such as Paste Magazine[10] and The Atlantic,[11] and precipitated Netflix's decision to commission Mulaney's animated series Big Mouth in 2017.[12]

Mulaney began writing and touring Kid Gorgeous, his fourth stand-up tour, in February, 2017.[4] The Kid Gorgeous tour concluded in April 2018 in Jacksonville, Florida, following a sold-out, seven show run at Radio City in New York the preceding February; it was one such show that was filmed for the purposes of his Netflix special.[13] Following 2016's The Comeback Kid and 2017's Oh, Hello On Broadway, Kid Gorgeous was the third comedy special Mulaney had manufactured specifically for Netflix.[3]

The special's title "has no meaning" and derives from an episode of The Simpsons, wherein Moe Szyslak's boxing name was revealed to be "Kid Gorgeous".[4] Mulaney was considering old-fashioned nomenclature reminiscent of 1940s gangsters, such as the "Bachelor Bandit", but eventually decided upon "Kid Gorgeous" as it made his wife "laugh the hardest".[2] "Kid Charlemagne", a song by the American rock band Steely Dan, also provided inspiration for the title of Kid Gorgeous.[2]

Following the release of Kid Gorgeous, Mulaney revealed that he had refined and performed the routine while recovering from a labral tear in his knee.[4] Mulaney thought referring to himself as a "kid" whilst recovering from such an injury at age 35 highly amusing, which also influenced his choice of title.[2]

In the introduction, a nervous Mulaney prepares for his performance before he is ushered onstage by a mysterious chaperone (Carole Shelley).[14] The show begins when, accompanied by organist Jon Brion, Mulaney greets the audience directly and launches into an introspective monologue about his parents' marriage, and his mother's alleged encounters with the supernatural.

Following this, Mulaney describes memorable events that have occurred throughout his relationship with his father, who would "pick [him] apart psychologically" rather than enacting physical discipline. Among these are an awkward sex talk regarding composer Leonard Bernstein's perceived homosexuality,[15] and a humorous incident wherein six-year-old Mulaney was compared to a Nazi for failing to intervene during an act of schoolyard bullying.

The focus of the performance shifts to Mulaney's childhood, as he recalls the rituals associated with elementary school assemblies and the unusual antics of J. J. Bittenbinder, a retired Chicago police detective tasked with informing pupils of "stranger danger". Bittenbinder has since expressed his dismay with Mulaney's parody, disputing the notion that he ever "wore a three-piece suit with a cowboy hat".[16] Mulaney then examines his tertiary education in similar detail, despairing over student loans and the "audacity" displayed by his former college, Georgetown University,[17] in approaching alumni for donations.

Domestic life and the process of donating to Goodwill are skewered in the midst of the performance, before Mulaney details a lawsuit in which his college friends were sued for purported property damage. His failure to address the situation effectively transitions into a self-deprecating segment about the physical and psychological trauma associated with ageing. The relationship between ageing and alleged "grumpiness" segues into a comparison between the most memorable guests that appeared during his tenure on Saturday Night Live, including Patrick Stewart and Mick Jagger.[18]

Mulaney's perception of the "olden times" prefaces his frustrations with the online CAPTCHA test routinely mistaking him for a robot. His fascination with "old-timey things" is illustrated by a description of a Connecticut gazebo built during the American Civil War, an act he compares to "performing stand-up comedy now" in the uncertain political climate of the 2010s. This analogy introduces an extended metaphor comparing "this guy we call President" (Donald Trump) to a "horse loose in a hospital", and reveals Mulaney's rationalisation for his previous disinterest in politics.[5] The joke was first performed in public during Mulaney's 2017 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.[19]

3a8082e126