‘JOHN MULANEY PRESENTS: EVERYBODY’S IN L.A.’ REVIEW: NETFLIX NIGHT LIVE
The main attraction of live television is that it’s live. Immediate. Dangerous. Comedy is dangerous. But is it more dangerous than, say, Nascar? Only if the draw is watching humans rather than automobiles spinning out of control.
Neither abject humiliation nor flaming wreckage was produced by John Mulaney during last Friday’s debut of “Everybody’s in L.A.,” which is scheduled to continue live each night this week through May 10. “We’re only doing six episodes,” Mr. Mulaney said in his opening monologue, “so the show will never hit its groove.” Successful or not, the show—a mix of talk, sketch and standup—will be over and done this Friday, “which is awesome, because there’s nothing I like being more than done.” Having expressed his enthusiasm, Mr. Mulaney moved on to gently savaging L.A., its abundance of coyotes and its lack of evident public authority. (“Fun fact: L.A. has a mayor.”)
The comedian, whose original persona was Very Funny Clean-Cut Candidate for Student Council President and is now more like Graduate of Rehab Who’s Just Gotten Divorced, can make an audience laugh, and does, simply by saying “My name is John Mulaney.” He pleaded ignorance on Friday about why he is doing this series of live comedy specials, or why Netflix ever wanted to air them, but “Everybody’s in L.A.” is an offshoot of the “Netflix Is a Joke” festival being held May 2 to 12 in Los Angeles. A lot of funny people, many from New York, would be in town. Why not take advantage?
Predictably, episode 1 of “Everybody’s in L.A.” was a collection of hits and misses, and who would have wanted it otherwise? The attraction of the now-seemingly defunct effort by NBC to broadcast live musicals a few years ago was all about watching a figurative car crash (with the exception of “The Wiz,” which was pretty great). It felt like a cheat on Friday, but Mr. Mulaney’s show was not entirely live—like the oxymoronic “Saturday Night Live,” which is always made up of pre-recorded elements; “Everybody in L.A.” included a rather aimless recurring skit involving teams of comedians visiting open houses around town, viewing some rather hideous examples of local real estate for sale and coming up with a ridiculous bid ($2,500, which in this case seemed high). An interview with the multi-hyphenate entertainer Ray J had Mr. Mulaney doing a more solicitous version of David Letterman and the performance by the singer St. Vincent was a fine way to end the show, if not the ecstatic sendoff that might have been anticipated.
In between, the best moments in the program said a lot about the comedy process, the wisdom of experience, the gift of being extemporaneously funny. Jerry Seinfeld—who appeared on “SNL” this past Saturday looking like a guy who’d spent the weekend on flights to and from Los Angeles (while playing a character called Man Who Did Too Much Press, in his case for his Netflix film “Unfrosted”)—appeared alongside Mr. Mulaney and, despite declaring it “the weirdest show I’ve ever been on,” more or less saved the day. Many around him were spinning their wheels. The other highlight was Will Ferrell, introduced from the audience as famed record producer Lou Adler, who seemed to think he was courtside at a Lakers game while bellowing at Mr. Mulaney to “come back to the dark side” (“You’re a pill guy, right?”) and to party with him, Herb Alpert and “Jack” (as in Nicholson) at the Roxy. It was an element of the show that provided the unhinged spontaneity it needed, and one that this fan hopes to see going forward, and westward.
Mr. Anderson is the Journal’s TV critic.
2024-05-07T00:55:05Z dg43tfdfdgfd