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Mulaney has had an incredibly difficult year.
On Monday night, Mulaney opened up in ways no one had been expecting.
At which point, we all clapped.
Stand-up is weird, as artforms go, because you have to write in front of people.
Ive interviewed around 150 comedians, and all of them write in some capacity onstage, including Mulaney.
Stand-ups need the audience to know whats funny, whats interesting, what they think.
In exchange for their vulnerability, they get connection.
Mulaneys show wasnt a show.
How social anxiety has contributed to his drug use is not something one can easily be flippant about.
Pettiness, which has always been in his act in small doses, came to the forefront.
Why, in a room of the 12 funniest people he knows, was no one being funny?
All of this was delivered with his usual, self-aware humor.
But Mulaney has never had an issue being funny.
It is impossible to reconcile this material with Mulaneys aw shucks Jimmy Stewart persona.
I used to drink, then I drank too much, and I had to stop.
That surprises a lot of audiences, because I dont look like someone who used to do anything.
Last night was like that goo.
He would reveal something shitty he did to his friends and quickly remind the audience, Its adisease.
When comedians get really famous, their shortcomings become the subject of public scrutiny.
But its also an opportunity.
The comedian then has a chance to contrast public perception.
Mulaney is clearly working in this tradition.
Some audience members didnt know exactly what to make of a lot of this.
(He went into an extended riff about the D.C.
This was not the worst thing someone shouted out.
Some felt the need to woo!
when Mulaney listed prescription drugs he abused.
He cringed and asked them to stop he hadnt meant it was a good thing.
Then there are those who cannot put them on.
They are the ones who live their lives not just as people but as examples of people.
He is working toward something great, but, for right now, hes just working.
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