John Mulaney Isn’t Trying to Solve Netflix’s Late-Night Talk Show Problem. Thank Goodness. – IndieWire

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.On Wednesday night, Stephen Colbert opened “The Late Show” with a joke about Donald Trump’s tariffs. During “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Jimmy Kimmel spoke to Denis Leary about his new Fox sitcom, “Going Dutch.” And over on Netflix, John Mulaney peeped at his neighbors through a telescope.One of these things is not like the other. Even if the gist of Mulaney’s bit sounds like it might be setting up some sort of game — similar to what “Tonight Show” viewers seem to enjoy — the execution doesn’t deliver Jimmy Fallon’s typical tomfoolery. (Every “neighbor” Mulaney saw was soon attacked by a man with a lamp.) Instead, the discomforting gag further separates “Everybody’s Live” from traditional late-night talk shows, even as it doubles down on what Mulaney already created with his 2024 cult hit, “Everybody’s in L.A.”

Related Stories What Does It Take to Make a CG Shark from Scratch? ‘Adolescence’ Review: Netflix’s Real-Time Crime Drama Impressively Subverts Expectations Thank goodness.It’s not that I expected “Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney” — which debuted March 12 on Netflix ahead of 11 more episodes every Wednesday — to be significantly different than the stand-up comedian’s previous talk show. The similar titles, returning sidekicks, and initial marketing all mirrored what we’d seen last year, when Mulaney was given a week-long run of live episodes designed to draw extra eyeballs to Netflix’s L.A.-based comedy festival, Netflix Is a Joke. But “Everybody’s in L.A.” was also very, very weird. It introduced Jerry Seinfeld alongside wildlife advocate Tony Tucci, a shared billing that flummoxed the TV titan so thoroughly he never recovered (on air, at least). There was a pre-taped segment about a Leonardo DiCaprio-themed reading room at the Los Feliz library. Kevin Gage, who played Waingro in the movie “Heat,” performed a stand-up routine as Waingro from the movie “Heat.” As disparate and discombobulating as each of these elements seem, they were tied together by the show’s enduring theme, the city of Los Angeles, which was then used to provide a subset of themes for each subsequent episode. Tucci appeared with Seinfeld because that episode’s central subject was “coyotes.” The library reading room was featured because Los Feliz is a popular L.A. neighborhood (and DiCaprio is one of its favorite sons). “Heat” is, per Mulaney himself, “the most iconic L.A. movie ever made” (a curious contention, if only because the series’ theme song stems from William Friedkin’s 1985 tour of the city, “To Live and Die in L.A.”).

Having a loose housing for Mulaney’s eccentric ideas served “Everybody’s in L.A.” quite well, and losing the city as a centerpiece for “Everybody’s Live” suggested the new series could be broadening out. After all, this isn’t a limited week-long run anymore. This is a 12-episode order. A full season. A new series. And with an extremely popular comedian at the helm, Netflix executives undoubtedly see an opportunity to attract a wide audience — one more shot at reinventing the late-night talk show for the streaming age, a la “Chelsea,” “The Break with Michele Wolf,” “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj,” and others. So if dialing back the weird a little means dialing up the viewership (and keeping Mulaney around, season after season), why not give it a go?“We did this show in May, did you know that?,” Mulaney said during his premiere episode’s opening monologue. “We were very excited about it, it was a good time. A couple months went by and Netflix did a focus group about the title, ‘Everybody’s in L.A.,’ and it turns out that people around the country don’t like L.A. After the fires, I said, ‘Maybe they like us more now,’ and it turns out, no, people still didn’t.”But changing the title seems to be the only concession Mulaney has made from his original vision. In its official debut, “Everybody’s Live” preserved many of its predecessor’s core facets. In addition to the return of Richard Kind as the announcer and sidekick, as well as Saymo, the rolling delivery robot, the first episode had its own theme: lending people money.

It brought out guests in pairs, starting with “Actor and Filmmaker” Michael Keaton and San Francisco Chronicle financial columnist, Jessica Roy (aka “Lady with Some Savings”). It had inexplicable bits (like Mulaney’s peeping tom shtick) and outrageous pre-taped segments. (Watch the “Willy Loman Focus Group” as soon as you can.) Mulaney even asked the night’s callers what kind of car they drove before hanging up.Of course, Mulaney is still tweaking things. He noted in his monologue that they’d totally forgot how to do this show in the 10 months it’s been off the air and, despite his handy clipboard listing the run of show, he seemed ready to lean into their “unmoored” new course throughout the evening. “If you’ve seen this beautiful set, some of you eagle-eyed viewers will notice that there are subtle differences in the set design,” he said. “And if you did notice that, please take a walk outside, ask a friend for coffee, try living your life for a goddamn change.” That sense of freedom is key to the show’s future and more important than the flubs and duds that littered Episode 1. Sure, Mulaney’s routine about his wife, Olivia Munn, and her struggles with “cancer brain” didn’t really land. His guests never gelled in the way one would hope, and the night’s callers didn’t offer the extreme stories of financial misfortune producers likely hoped for when they chose the night’s topic.

But “Everybody’s Live” is still putting all its chips in the right buckets. Mulaney is an excellent host: a steady hand with a sharp wit and enough self-awareness to know when to push a point further or move on to the next idea. His supporting team is affable (love you, Rich; love you, Saymo), and his format is sound. (Steering away from topical references actually makes the show more immediately compelling and sustainable in the long-run.) Netflix, for its part, is choosing the better of its two dominant programming strategies: build something based on whatever the algorithm suggests, or let a proven creator off the leash. Best of all, Mulaney understands the true benefits of a live show: He wants things to get weird. He wants his guests to get a little uncomfortable. He wants his callers to steer conversations down unexpected avenues. Even the pre-taped parts, like the ad breaks and sketches, are designed to surprise the audience in ways everyone on set, sitting around talking, cannot.Perhaps the most telling thing Mulaney said last night was when he joked about “Everybody’s Live” being his replacement for “coke and Adderall.” “Will this show get my heart rate up to the level where I feel alive? We shall see.” And isn’t that it? Isn’t that what we want? Not just that Mulaney can stay sober and healthy, of course, but that he’ll run toward the ideas that get his heart pumping. That he’ll embrace what makes live shows so electric to begin with: the unknown; the sense that anything can happen at any time; the friction of unrehearsed, raw interactions that audiences can enjoy unfiltered, as if they’re really there, sitting in their odd friend John’s living room, not knowing where the night will take them?

So far, “Everybody’s Live” is setting itself up to explore all the peculiar little nooks and crannies that get lost in an edited talk show. Its sense of humor may call to mind Conan O’Brien’s absurdist “Late Night” work, and the visual style may hearken back to Johnny Carson’s era, but John Mulaney isn’t trying to make another late-night talk show. He’s trying to make his. He’s trying to look forward. And that’s what we need.“Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney” premiered Wednesday, March 12 on Netflix. New episodes will air live weekly at 10 p.m. ET and be available afterward on demand.By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Source: https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/john-mulaney-live-netflix-show-review-1235103317/