If you haven’t heard the name John Mulaney chances are you’ve still seen or heard some of his work. As a writer at Saturday Night Live for several seasons Mulaney has been nominated for multiple Primetime Emmy Awards including a win alongside Seth Meyers and Justin Timberlake (for a song in Timberlake’s 2011 opening monologue). Perhaps most well-known from his SNL tenure: Mulaney is the co-creator of Bill Hader’s wildly popular Stefon character (“This place has everything…”). Personally I’ve been a fan of his stand-up for several years now, since his 2009 album The Top Part made him one of the most exciting young voices in comedy. A bit from that album, in fact, makes it into the opening of Mulaney’s new self-titled series on FOX. The stand-up segment that the bit appears in is, very likely, part of the reason you may have heard John Mulaney’s name recently. See, his series has stirred up comparisons to a certain other stand-up comedian's semi-autobiographical, New York based sitcom…
As far as association goes, Seinfeld certainly isn’t the worst place to start. It is, however, rather daunting as a comparison. There’s simply no way a viewer could go in expecting ‘Seinfeld 2.0’ and come out happy – no matter how great the series being compared to it is. And I’m happy to say I really did enjoy the first episode of Mulaney. Is it perfect? Far from it. It does, however, show a lot of promise. And if Seinfeld fans care to go back and watch that series’ pilot they’d be hard-pressed to find anything truly spectacular there. In fact, Seinfeld never truly got great until around season 3 or 4, before becoming the television comedy gold-standard it’s seen as today.
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It’s always hard to base a review on early episodes of a series, because aside from a few phenomenal exceptions to the rule a great show usually takes some time to find its footing. The best new comedy to come out of last season, Brooklyn Nine-Nine - also on FOX - had a bit of a rocky start but wound as up one of the most hysterical and endearing ensemble shows on any network. Perhaps not coincidentally Mulaney is set to air just an hour after Nine-Nine on FOX’s Sunday night schedule, with Family Guy holding place in-between. Easily my favorite of the comedy pilots I’ve screened this season, Mulaney has not only a truly funny and worthy star in its namesake but also an exciting cast of charismatic regulars. Nasim Pedrad, in particular, will catch your attention in the pilot. While I’m certainly sad to see her gone from SNL (we’ll all miss “Waking up With Kimye”) I’m glad that she’s found another worthy vehicle for her talent.
If Mulaney can take a cue from Brooklyn Nine-Nine (or Seinfeld) it should be to spread the wealth among its strong supporting cast while continuing to develop John as the narrative and comedic lead. In addition to Pedrad as Mulaney’s roommate Jane the series also stars Seaton Smith as their third roommate – and fellow stand-up comedian – Motif, Zack Pearlman as the weed-dealing, odd-ball pop-in Andre and, of course, Martin Short as Mulaney’s new boss, Lou.
Seaton Smith is instantly likeable here. The actor has a fantastic screen presence and while Motif may not have a ton to do in the pilot I can certainly see his character becoming a fan-favorite. Ditto for Pearlman whose Andre will no-doubt grow more interesting the weirder he gets. Even Martin Short – whose casting I originally questioned a bit - seems to gel well with the relatively younger cast, as his odd-ball absurdism is a winning contrast to Mulaney’s every-man observationalist humor. Perhaps the only total question mark for me is the inclusion of Elliot Gould – an undoubtable talent – as Oscar, John’s across-the-hall gay neighbor who he turns to for advice. Something about Oscar in the first two episodes didn’t quite work for me: the character comes off as a bit of a gimmicky add-on, and Gould’s performance is at times a bit over-the-top.
Bottom Line: In the grand scheme of things, the good definitely out-weights the not-so-good here (and there really isn’t any bad). I’m excited to watch this series grow over the course of its first season because, if his stand-up is any indication, Mulaney has plenty of hilarious story to tell. As a writer he’s top-notch, so I’ll give him a bit of time to flex his on-screen muscles, though his deadpan delivery is already pretty on-point. To dismiss the series early on because the first batch of episodes aren’t “Puffy Shirt” or “The Sponge” level good would be an absolute mistake – there’s too much talent here to be counted out due to comparison. With any luck by midseason Mulaney will have gone from “the comedian that’s on the internet” to “the comedian with a hit sitcom”.
Mulaney premieres this Sunday at 9:30 EST on FOX. For more on this series and all my SpoilerTV work, feel free to follow me on Twitter.
