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Nina McMullen - “Comedian John Mulaney Battles Public Scrutiny After Rehab”
Comedian John Mulaney Battles Public Scrutiny After Rehab
By J1 Reporter Nina McMullen
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A cold breeze sweeps through the 8th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, or 30 Rock for short. A young John Mulaney, freshly hired and sporting a bright orange tee shirt, pops his head into an office. Not just an office, but Lorne Michaels’ office. Lorne Michaels as in the modern day father of comedy who created Saturday Night Live? Yeah, that Lorne Michaels.
“You’re from Chicago?” Lorne asks, already knowing the answer.
John, slightly stunned, responds “yeah.”
“Well, now you’re here,” Lorne responds matter of factly with a tilted head and pouted face. “And your family is in Chicago?” He continues, once again, knowing the response.
John, ever-confused, responds, “yeah, I’m the 3rd of 4, I have 2 older siblings and…”
Lorne cuts him off. “I know everything about you.”
John is left not knowing what to think but he can assume the analogy-prone Michaels meant ‘I’ve met your kind many times.’
From the outside, John Mulaney is dubbed “America’s Sweetheart” and “Comedy’s Golden Boy.” But the view from outside is not even half of the story.
Sure, this 39-year-old is a stereotypical Midwesterner, raised Irish Catholic, who is known to be about as square as a comedian can get. But those who follow his comedy know Mulaney to be open about his drug-fueled past. “Fourteen years ago I smoked cocaine the night before my college graduation,” he shares in “Kid Gorgeous,” his Netflix comedy special, “Now I’m afraid to get a flu shot. People change.”
Mulaney started drinking at the age of 13, and by 23 was in recovery for drug and alcohol abuse. He relied on substances for social confidence. “I drank for attention,” Mulaney explains in a 2019 interview with Esquire, “I was really outgoing, and then at 12, I wasn’t. I didn’t know how to act. And then I was drinking, and I was hilarious again.”
This stain on the comedian’s squeaky-clean past launched him into a year-long bender over 2020 and 2021. After checking himself into rehab once in September 2020 and again in December 2020, it seemed like Mulaney would never take the comedy stage again. But the “Comeback Kid” did exactly that; he came back.
The line between saturnine dark humor and the Broadway-esque vivacity he typically brings to the stage is where his new comedy special falls, titled, “John Mulaney: From Scratch.” After attending the show at Arizona’s Federal Theater in Phoenix, it was clear that Mulaney is reinventing his brand and bringing a new tone of authenticity and reality to his comedy.
The feel of the room was electric. All phones and recording devices were locked away upon entering the theater, so it was a pure connection between Mulaney
and the ecstatic audience. A buzzing vibration made its way around the crowd as Mulaney’s appearance grew closer and closer. The moment he walked on stage was like a breath of fresh air.
Seeing him in person after the media frenzy that consumed his name over the last year was nothing short of spectacular. It felt like seeing the underdog finally rise to the top after a season-long losing streak. As if the benchwarmer got up to bat and crushed a home run.
“Here’s how weird my life is: I announced I’m having a baby and the reviews are mixed,” Mulaney said in an opening line. This comedy icon no longer had those perfectly rehearsed bits about “Street Smarts’’ or a “Horse in a Hospital.” It was a raw, shocking and brutally honest matter.
The struggle between sobriety and relapse all while the public eye is watching is nothing short of brave. 17-year-old Duchesne Academy student and fan of Mulaney, Izzi Horning, admires him “not just because he’s funny, but because he’s overcome and is still overcoming so much.”
Horning’s first memory of John Mulaney was watching clips of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) on YouTube. Of Mulaney’s works, being hired as a writer for SNL is one of the most notable. There, he co-wrote the eccentric city correspondent played by Bill Hader, Stefon. Stefon’s budding romance with Weekend Update host Seth Meyers captured audiences. In 2018, when Bill Hader hosted SNL, Mulaney appeared on the silver screen as Shy, Stefon’s lawyer and friend with a quirky job history.
“Me and my two best friends were watching TV and one of them was like ‘Hey watch this SNL skit I saw last night’ and it became a big bonding moment for us. We loved it.” After finding out Mulaney wrote the skit, “it changed everything,” Horning says. “Shy made us lose our minds laughing and then that launched my love of John.”
Few comedians can hold the attention of such a devoted fan base as Mulaney’s. Fans feel a personal connection to him and when the news broke of his stint in rehab, an outpour of support followed. Of course, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows in the following news. Headlines surfaced such as “You may not like the new John Mulaney” and “John Mulaney has fallen off his nice-guy pedestal.” Scrutiny is always quick to seek out celebrity gossip, and it takes a strong sense of spirit and resilience to keep a level-head in the midst of swirling rumors.
But how did Mulaney build up such a strong reputation and rapport with his fans and colleagues? Watching Mulaney’s comedy is a lot like looking in a mirror for most people. He’s that relatable boy-next-door who tells cheerful self-deprecating stories. Aug. 19, 2017, Mulaney told CBS news that his comedic subject (himself) has always stayed the same. “It’s still, you know, the adventures of a sweet idiot,” he said.
These adventures all started with his improv comedy group at Georgetown University and quickly evolved. His career launched in 2008 when he landed the highly coveted writing job at SNL. In the same CBS interview he said, “That changed the course of my career exponentially. I was writing comedy. To compare it to writing comedy at ‘Saturday Night Live,’ it’d be like if you were a farmer and you were picking up rocks and then suddenly, you’re an astronaut on the moon and you’re picking up rocks. Now, you’re still picking up rocks, but you’re on the moon. And I would often look around at ‘Saturday Night Live’ and go, ‘I’m on the moon.’”
His writing at SNL landed him the one-hour Comedy Central special “New in Town.” He was officially a respected standup comic. With this new-found stardom, he launched his own ‘Seinfeld’-esque sitcom aptly called, “Mulaney.” To put it lightly, the show was a flop. Cancelled-after-13shows type of a flop.
That ever-persistent Mulaney held his head high after this failure and hit the road. He started a tour— that later became a Netflix special—fittingly named, “The Comeback Kid.” He kept himself busy with more specials and projects. And then came the pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a scary time for everyone and all stability or day-to-day structure was just thrown out the window. Additionally, for people struggling with addiction, relapses became unfortunately common.
It seemed jarring that someone who had been sober for 15 years could relapse so suddenly but people with drug addictions don’t just fit in one box. There can actually be a lot to learn from Mulaney’s story.
…Oh! And to clear up a quick rumor: NO! Pete Davidson, current SNL cast member and close friend of
Mulaney, is not the reason Mulaney got back on drugs. Yes, Pete Davidson is open about his drug use, specifically the use of marijuana, but Mulaney was actually showing him how to live a substance-free life and he made this abundantly clear on his “From Scratch” tour. To make his long story short, he told how during detox (the most grueling part of rehab), Davidson called him nearly 10 times concerned for him and worried sick. He was horrified that people would think it’s his fault. So, no. Pete Davidson is not to blame for Mulaney’s relapse. Now back to the story…
Mulaney was in desperate need of help. From so many years as a mild-mannered and sober comedian, he built up a group of supportive friends. These friends knew if they let Mulaney continue down this path of addiction, it would cost his life. After his 2020 hiatus, he came back in September of 2021 for an honest chat with his longtime friend Seth Meyers, host of “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” Mulaney detailed his intervention, of which Myers was in attendance.
Mulaney was under the impression that he would be meeting with an old college friend for dinner. “When I opened the door, I knew right away it was an intervention,” Mulaney admits. “That’s how bad of a drug problem I had, that when I opened a door and saw people, I went, ‘This is probably an intervention
To pop the question on everyone’s mind: yes, it was a star studded affair. Despite how mad Mulaney was, he looked around and thought, ‘This is a good group.’ He referred to the numerous viral videos of celebrities singing “We Are the World,” when he compared the attendees to “a ‘We Are the World’ of alternative comedians over the age of 40.”
In Phoenix, Ariz., he revealed the list of people in attendance. Most recognizable were his co-workers from SNL: Fred Arminsen and his wife Natasha Lyonne, Seth Meyers, Bill Hader, and fellow writer Marika Sawyer. And of course, his intervention couldn’t be complete without his best friend since college, Nick Kroll.
Although Mulaney claims he doesn’t remember much from spending the last year in the throes of cocaine, klonopin, and various other drugs, he does remember “insisting [he] was sober at the intervention.” He asks Meyers, “Remember when I looked at everyone and I went, ‘I’m sober now. I’m sober right now.’ I wasn’t. Remember when I kept going to the bathroom? That was for drugs.”
Although it may seem callous for someone to make light of their situation fresh out of rehab, he did share a genuine and touching moment with Meyers, saying, “Let me say this about it. I walk into the intervention and I’m so mad. I didn’t want an intervention… At that moment in time, I wanted to continue using drugs. Sitting here tonight, I’m so grateful to you and everyone there for saving my life, OK? That night, I was not grateful.”
It’s not common for comedians to be seen in completely serious environments. It’s simply not in the nature of their job. Mulaney noticed this lapse in humor saying, “So many funny people. And then no one did bits the entire time.” Meyers agreed, adding, “Yes. I think you know the gravity
Their conversation wrapped up as Mulaney thanked Meyers for “saving” him as the two shared how much they love each other over a friendly handshake. “I don’t have a joke for that,” Mulaney concluded.
Back in Phoenix, Ariz., Mulaney finished out his show with a heartfelt thank-you to the audience. “I don’t like to get sappy but I feel like I need to say ‘thank you.’ I really mean it. Over the last year it wasn’t like I was just a little sad, I truly could not imagine ever being happy again. I don’t take being here for granted. I really don’t. I don’t take you guys for granted. So, thank you.” He buttoned his suit, raised a hand to the crowd, and with a small bow and smile, he walked off stage. As the lights went up and the people roared with applause, John Mulaney, the comeback kid, proved just how much of a mark he’s made on the lives of his fans.
Mulaney will be bringing his “John Mulaney: From Scratch” comedy tour to Omaha, Neb. on April 22. Tickets go on sale Dec 10. Visit johnmulaney.com for more details.
John Mulaney poses for Vulture photo shoot on Nov. 8, 2015. Photograph Courtesy of Nathan Perkle
