When it came to John Mulaney’s experimental live comedy show, Everybody’s In L.A., the comedian didn’t really prepare much. The special aired in May and despite its chaotic nature, people really liked it, which surprised Mulaney, who apparently just recovered from the marathon hosting duties.
Mulaney opened up about the special, which aired over five nights, by admitting that it was a bit harder that he had thought. “We never found a groove. And I think that’s a good thing,” he told Vanity Fair. “We had no time to learn anything as it was happening. Something would work really well, and we wouldn’t have it the next night because we didn’t plan for it,” he said. Even though the didn’t plan much, they did announce a hefty crop of guests and friends, though not everybody was eager to appear on the show, despite the name.
The comedian previously said that both David Lynch and Werner Herzog passed on the show (Herzog said “I have to be very careful about being around comedians”) but he was mostly upset that his pal Bo Burnham declined.
He explained, “Bo Burnham is a good friend of mine, and I said, ‘do you want to come on? I never see you on these.’ He goes, ‘yeah, I know—there’s a reason for that.’”
Even though Burnham seems to impose a strict “no variety show” rule, Mulaney almost convinced him to appear for one night. It didn’t work. “I said, ‘I’ll have you on, and we’ll call it Recluse Night. And it’ll only be recluses who don’t normally do TV.’ And he found that pretty funny. I think I almost had him with that, but no—he’s gotta be Bo, which I support.”
Bo will be Bo, which means he’ll probably stick to fake reality instead of real reality.
Meanwhile, something Mulaney doesn’t support is talking about Jerry Seinfeld’s takes on political correctness in comedy. “That topic is… such a topic. I have no opinions on it. I find it very boring,” he said. You can stream both Everybody’s In L.A., and Unfrosted now on Netflix!