Comedian Skit About Kid Wanting Blue Cup Not Green Cup
Q&A: Comedian John Mulaney talks Martin Short, 'SNL', and what it means to be an adult
Mulaney will bring his clever, self-deprecating brand of stand-up comedy to Canada next week when he performs at Toronto's version of the Just For Laughs festival, a.k.a. JFL42.
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If you haven't heard of John Mulaney, you will soon.
The New York-based comic in currently in talks with Fox over a pilot he shot earlier this year with Martin Short called The John Mulaney Show.
Mulaney has been a sought-after writer for years now, culminating in an ongoing gig as a writer for Saturday Night Live. It was at SNL where he and Bill Hader created the character of Stefon, a hilarious Manhattanite who became a staple on the Weekend Update segment.
Mulaney will bring his clever, self-deprecating brand of stand-up comedy to Canada next week when he performs at Toronto's version of the Just For Laughs festival, a.k.a. JFL42.
We spoke to John Mulaney about his new pilot, his work at SNL, and what it's like to be in your 30's.
What was it like working with Martin Short on The John Mulaney Show?
It was amazing. I miss it a lot. I can't wait to get back to work with him. There was him, and Elliott Gould, and a lot of other fantastic people in the cast. It was a really fun experience. Certainly nerve-wracking at times, but really fun.
What makes you laugh?
A lot of things. I've always had really wide tastes, so I like a lot of different comedians and a lot of different types of comedy. Way back when I was a kid I watched a lot of '80s stand-up. At the same time, I would listen to old radio shows like Jack Benny and Burns and Allen. So I've always had a really wide array of tastes. Whenever people say 'Who's you favourite comic?' now, I end up naming 13 or 14 people. There were so many nights at SNL where me and the other writers were just doubled over laughing, for hours. That was the hardest I had laughed in recent years, working with those people. When I was kid it was all the time, too. I had a lot of funny friends as a kid. We would just make up little songs all day long. We just sat around amusing each other, really.
What is the difference between writing for SNL and performing stand-up?
Writing at Saturday Night Live, I could come up with things that I don't really have the skill set to do. There's stuff that Bill Hader and Fred Armisen can do that I could never do. So it's always really fun to think of wilder, different ideas than I would do or perform as a stand-up comedian. And … you can get the opportunity to set it in the world of Beauty and the Beast, or on a ship, or in a Frankenstein lair, or the Whitehouse, or whatever. They are two different types of ideas: The stories and opinions I have in my world of stand-up, and the more fun, crazy, world you can explore doing sketch comedy.
How did Stefon, the "City Correspondent" on Weekend Update come to be?
That's a character I wrote with Bill Hader. We based it on two real people we knew. There was a guy Bill would buy coffee from, who had Stefon's mannerisms. He would always put his hands over his face, and he once said to Bill that he lived on the Lower Lower Eastside. And I knew this guy that was always trying to start these club nights, and he would list details of what was going to be in them. "This place is gonna have everything: It's gonna have grown men in wedding dresses, and then like, a goat with Ray-Bans." It was all little details that he understood, and he assumed other people understood. And you would get long lists every time. We were doing that as a character, and then Bill wanted to base it on this guy that he knew.
Was it surprising when the sketch took off like it did?
Yeah, very much so. It's a really strange, kind of fringe character. Perfectly lovable, I realize, but I think it's hilarious. When we started doing it on Update, the night before we did the first one, I remember saying to the head writer, "Hey, when this gets cut,"–because I assumed it would be cut–"we'd like to try it again. We don't know if we've worked it perfectly so the audience will understand it. But we would like to do it again, so … please let us do it again when it gets cut." So to see a lot of people like it, including the elderly and the young, I find that very, very funny.
When did you start performing comedy?
In college. I started ten years ago. Summer of 2003. I'd done comedy sketches in college, I'd done comedy improv in college. But I started doing stand-up when I lived in New York for a summer. When I eventually moved to New York, I was an intern at Comedy Central, and I did open mics at night.
You've just spent your first year in your 30's. Is there any difference from being in your 20's?
Yes, I wanted there to be. I was done with my twenties. I was done with them, and I was rally excited to be 30. I have sciatica. My hip hurts. And that's kinda fun. I'm getting married, and I worked on a TV pilot, so there was a lot of fun stuff where I could be 30 and say, "Yeah, my hip hurts." It was nice. It's been a fun adult year.
What do you do for fun?
I don't do anything. I need a hobby. As a kid, my hobby was comedy. I would read about old comedians, listen to comedy albums. After I would finish my homework — actually that's a lie I didn't do my homework — I would get into bed and listen to Woody Allen's first album, or Chris Rock. Or whatever. It was so funny. So funny. I remember listening to [Chris Rock's] Bring the Pain in bed, and kicking my comforter off laughing so hard as a kid. That was always my hobby. And it's still both my job and my hobby. But I do need something else.
JFL42 kicks off September 19 and runs until September 28. For information, visit JFL42.com
Source: https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/theatre/qa-comedian-john-mulaney-talks-martin-short-snl-and-what-it-means-to-be-an-adult
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