Since Hannah Gadsby recounted her trauma in ‘Nanette’, Netflix’s humor and drama monologue, there have been many who have tried to copy her style (including herself). When a personal trauma was told, the jokes were left aside and the fierce emotion prevailed. Ignoring that masterpiece that was ‘Live’, by Tig Notaro, comedians took the easy path of superficial empathy, and not even Bo Burnham’s magnificent ‘Inside’ ended up getting rid of everything. And then John Mulaney came along.
From loved to hated
At the end of 2020 the news broke that John Mulaney had fallen back into drugs and was in a rehab center. When she got out, she divorced his wife, had a son with Olivia Munn, became one of the most hated people in America, and staged a monologue out of and about the mire her life had become for the past two years. . Luckily, instead of getting serious to warn the public about the dangers of cocaine, not a minute goes by without making people laugh. Mulaney had never been so introspective…or hit so much on target.
A man wanders the streets of New York on a high, with drugs enough to kill an elephant hidden in his jacket. He’s having dinner with an old friend and he just got a haircut at his old job even though he had no reason to be there. He’s two hours late. Upon entering, his friends try to convince him that it is time to stop using drugs before he kills him. Told by someone else it would be a continuous drama, but ‘Baby J’ manages not to stitch without a thread. Even his thanks to the friends who literally “saved his life” has a laugh-out-loud streak to it. It’s the perfect demonstration that a stand-up comedy always had to be, well, humorous.
It’s true that Mulaney’s monologue has its ups and downs and some bits don’t come off as well as others, but when it hits (Al Pacino, the GQ interview, the opening reflection on his grandparents) it is impossible not to laugh at the life of someone who, far from being a poor devil, is perfectly aware of the image that projects onto the public and plays with the impossibility of turning it around. In the (absolutely cheesy and hilarious) opening song he already explains: “Kids like Bo Burnham better because he’s less of a problem now. Wanting to like is a prison“.
comedy prevails
Following the storyline of the night his friends took him to a detox clinic and he insisted on going to the bathroom “to freshen up,” Mulaney recounts some of the most hilarious and poignant anecdotes possible, showing the pathetic side of being an addict but not trying to lecture the public: using changing trays as snorting tables, finding the worst doctor in New York to give you medication you don’t need, seeing your friends and knowing immediately that they are going to talk about your drug problem. The comedian shows that is in top form turning drama into comedy, suggesting without showing and having fun on stage.
But between the joke and the joke, it exudes something that, until now, it seemed that it could only be achieved by stopping the rhythm of the show and putting on a soft voice: true. And for this he makes it clear who he is, who he was and what has happened in between. We can laugh at that pathetic person because the person on stage is the same as him in appearance, but he is an improved version. The John Mulaney who took a gram of cocaine in the cab that was taking him to rehab? That doesn’t exist. Let’s laugh at him.
It does not sound false or self-exculpatory at any time: Mulaney needs to put distance between himself and the person he was so the audience can empathize again. He had three options: first, Louis CK style, to play it cool and keep doing comedy about small things knowing that his audience would always wonder why he didn’t talk about the trauma. The second, to completely change his attitude and have a dialogue with the audience between the serious and the comic, making it clear that the old Mulaney has died and a new one has been born. The third, mixing the two: separating from who he was, but not changing his style along the way. As much as he insists on emphasizing that his comedy has changed (“My vibe has changed. When I was younger I would go on stage like ‘Hello!’ And moving from one side to the other. I wonder what caused it“) decides not to betray himself: ‘Baby J’ is the best John Mulaney.
I’m eating Fruit Loops
Things as they are: this monologue is best enjoyed if you are part of the live audience and you let yourself be surprised over and over again by Mulaney’s river of impossible anecdotes with nothing around you to distract you. I know this because when he did the European tour I couldn’t resist going to Manchester and seeing him in person. It was worth it then and it’s worth it now with the addition of a wonderful direction (watch out for that initial shot) and some sections that weren’t in his January version of the monologue, where, for example, the song was completely removed.
Those who don’t know much about comedy may think that the monologues are written, tested a couple of times and recorded directly for Netflix (or whoever), but the truth is that there is a monumental job behind it, especially in one that is going to define the rest of your career and the attitude of the public towards you in the future. The chosen anecdotes are wild but not unpleasant, the occurrences are chosen to the point and he knows perfectly which strings to move to turn the page once and for all without giving more than enough. Never getting out of her character (that desperate attempt for someone in rehab to recognize her), Mulaney creates a house of cards that could have collapsed if the text were not methodically, crystalline and surgically grounded.
“These last two years I have worked a lot on myself. And I’ve realized that I’ll be fine as long as I have constant attention“. It’s not a new idea, but it’s always funny, especially as the opening joke of an overwhelming comedy festival, in which even the most serious moments end up as a joke. It is true that there is no lesson, no reflection: just humor and constant self-parody Once we’ve exhausted the Gadsby way of seeing drama from comedy, let’s give the Mulaney way a try: My life has been horrible, I haven’t hit the ball, everyone hates me. Let’s laugh about it together.
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