‘Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney’ Needs Some Work

Live from Los Angeles, it’s…John Mulaney holding a clipboard?

On Wednesday night, Netflix premiered the semi-new talk show Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney, hosted by the beloved comedian and Big Mouth star. I say semi-new because this isn’t Mulaney’s first foray into the late-night comedy space. Last year he hosted six episodes of Everybody’s in LA—a pop-up talk show that was taped during the week-plus-long Netflix Is a Joke Fest and aired live on the streamer in May. This time Mulaney is doubling up by hosting 12 shows in 12 weeks.

Despite his droughty run last year, the first episode of Everybody’s Live definitely felt like a work in progress. “10 months is the perfect amount of time to forget how to do this show,” Mulaney quipped in his opening monologue.

He wasn’t wrong. The first show was a bit of an awkward mess—not that he seemed too concerned about it. Wearing a maroon blazer and shirt, Mulaney came out to deliver the monologue inexplicably holding a clipboard. As the show went on, it became clear that he was crossing things off along the way—suggesting that the clipboard provided some type of roadmap for the show.

Here, and elsewhere, Mulaney was unafraid to let the audience see the seams that go into making live television—though he also seemed proud of how slipshod the production appeared at times. “We worked on this show all day,” he said. “Some crew members were here as early as 9 AM.” After his announcer Richard Kind stumbled through a segment listing celebrity birthdays, Mulaney deadpanned, “That went great.”

Though his attitude was decidedly laissez faire, Mulaney really did seem to be opening up, letting us into his life and his (pretend) home. The show’s balmy and comfortable set—modeled after a Los Angeles living room with a grand piano, a telescope, and a view of the city—contained framed photos of Mulaney and his wife, actress Olivia Munn. Rather than going for topical humor in the monologue (though he made one solid Luigi Mangione joke), he veered toward the personal. Mulaney joked about his sobriety: “I can’t do coke or Adderall anymore, so I’m making it your problem,” he said. He earnestly talked about Munn and her five year-long battle with breast cancer, telling the audience it’s “been a real thing” for his family.

Thankfully, opening up about his personal life also didn’t stop Mulaney from doing what he does best: telling jokes, and edgy ones at that. Mulaney joked that sometimes Munn’s “cancer brain” (not to be confused with “brain cancer”) has led to silly accidents, like using the word “cum” instead of “sperm” in front of her doctor.