Give John Mulaney A Permanent Show, Thanks
John Mulaney is the perfect next-gen talk-show host, even if he doesn't set out to be.
John Mulaney’s ‘Everybody’s In LA’ short-run series debuted on Netflix last week, and after watching the first episode, I’m looking forward to the run of 5 remaining episodes.
I’ve long thought his charming qualities, ease of discussion as a guest and comedic chops could lend themselves to a talk show host, and after watching this, his ability to do it with a new take on the format was refreshing. I’ll come clean now as an “old school” late-night talk show fan. I love Letterman (80’s version, and even his crankier later years) and Conan, but not so much the last 10 years of heavy political comedy in late-night.
Colbert killed it on ‘The Colbert Report’, but I struggle with his version of ‘The Late Show’, these shows, for me anyway, require more than just the headlines of the day (there’s a reason I was never a Leno fan).
I’ve always been more of a fan of the shows that occupied the 12:30 am (or 12:37 am to be precise) slot. Conan and Letterman’s ‘Late Night’ shows were comedy kryptonite to me and informed mine and many others of my generation’s comedic tastes.
This is why I love Mulaney, he isn’t making Trump jokes or remarks about the basic headline-grabbing stories of the day, he is delving into the personality of the city he’s in, he is talking to interesting guests and actually having an interesting conversation, and his comedic style gets a chance to shine through. Not to mention he seems so at ease the entire time, it makes it so comforting to watch.
The basic premise of this limited series is Mulaney is discovering what makes LA tick in the same way as Letterman highlighting the absurdities and oddballs of New York in the 1980s, it’s a similar concept here. Mulaney’s first guests are publicity-shy TV-movie director Jerry Seinfeld and director of Citizen’s for Los Angeles Wildlife Tony Tucci, both bring something distinctly different to the show. Seinfeld is there to bring the laughs and familiarity, while Tucci is there to discuss the LA topic of the evening, Coyotes. Tucci discusses ways to ‘humanely’ scare away Coyotes, while Seinfeld, asking most of the questions at this point, probes why we even need to protect these animals. This is when Mulaney pivots to a live caller, an interesting element, one that only a live-to-air show can do.
After temporarily ditching Seinfeld and Tucci, we are shown a pre-tape of Mulaney and a group of comics looking around a property for sale ‘House Hunters’ style, this wasn’t particularly amusing or original and acted more as a commercial break if anything for the studio, the audience was muted during this, which makes it feel completely separate to what’s happening on the main show.
Following this, it was a fairly stock-standard late-night bit featuring “Saymo” a delivery robot, then into another interview, this time with Ray J, a sometime musician, and more infamously, co-star of a Kim Kardashian video project.
This is where I thought Mulaney might take on a similar role to Letterman in his later years of ‘Late Show’, an interview with a controversial guest, done still humorously, but with slightly more bite than a regular chat. However, sadly this was more of a fawning and awkward chat, and didn’t go anywhere, thank god for a respite in the form of a reappearance of “Saymo”, or is it “Raymo”?
Luckily it didn’t last long and we were off to another pre-tape, a segment featuring an LA fisherman, it wasn’t funny or interesting enough and felt like filler, again to allow for a break in the studio.
Back in the studio, we pivoted to a segment looking at what stars were seating “courtside” and this allowed for an appearance by talk-show veteran Will Ferrell as Grammy-Award-winning record producer “Lou Adler”. This was a nice return to some laughs, and as expected from Ferrell he delivered.
We then returned to the pre-tape house hunting sketch, and then Seinfeld and Tucci returned, alongside comic Stavros Halkias (and his microphone issues - it REALLY was live). Ferrell as Adler also popped back up, and these freewheeling parts of the show were the highlights, allowing some breathing room with Mulaney and his guests made it feel like we were just hanging out with these famous friends. Longer guest-chat segments with fewer interruptions should be looked at going forward. After the extended chat, a musical performance from LA resident St. Vincent, and a fairly rushed ending.
Not everything is a hit, none of these shows ever are, but all the elements are here for a great show. A few longer chat segments, a few less pre-recorded filler sketches and it’d be looking much stronger. Being live is a brave choice with a new show, and adds to its ability to cut through which is necessary on Netflix. The streamer has had an unfortunate history with talk shows, and a live one, with audience interaction, big-name guests and a likeable host could finally be the way to make one a success. We know this is only a six-episode order, but I’m not naive to think Mulaney is telling the truth when he says it’ll be done after the initial order, if it’s a success, we will see more of it.
If John Mulaney does want a steady gig, perhaps a weekly show with the same vibe, a great variety of guests and the same sense of humour, I’d be watching, even if that means re-upping my inactive Netflix subscription.
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