Fun things that happened when I saw john mulaney live:
-immeadiately addressed the left side of the audience and told them he wouldn’t he able to turn and look at them during the show because he had slept on his neck wrong and would instead turn to us and bow-which he did multiple times
-told us that the theatre we were at (the orpheum in LA) was most definitely haunted and to please let him know if there was a ghost on stage with him
-a lady in the audience had a sign that said “marry me” and when john saw it he got very flustered and told the woman he didn’t want to and that he was sure she is “a very nice lady but…uh…I just really don’t want to”
-RAN off stage during a bit about street smarts to emphasize the joke. I mean the man SPRINTED
-when he mentioned Petunia everyone started clapping and cheering. John looked visibly annoyed, looked around in disbelief, and when the applause finally died down he shook his head and then very dejectedly whispered “every time” into the mic
That he responded to a 10-minute bit mocking him with “it means ‘barrel-maker,’ an honorable profession” makes me believe that Mullaney was 98 to 100% accurate.
i think. ok. like. john mulaney and the mcelroys aren’t actually that funny in terms of their improv/the quality of their jokes. there are people with much better written comedy sets and funnier improv, but the way that they deliver what they say it what makes it good. they could read the back of a shampoo bottle and you’d feel like you just heard a joke
this is part of the reason john mulaney gifs aren’t nearly as funny as videos of him. you cant explain why his horse in a hospital bit is funny unless you’ve actually heard him say “IT’S A ĤĤORSE. IN A H́OSPITAL”
This is a good example of people who ARE funny versus a joke being funny. a totally unfunny person can tell an actually funny joke and get a chuckle but a funny person could tell a bad joke and bust someone’s gut. It’s all about confidence and delivery and John and the McElroy’s have that shit down pat.
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