John Mulaney on the Unpredictable Chemistry of ‘Everybody’s in Los Angeles’ — and Why He’s Not Ruling More Out

To break into an algorithmically generated streaming landscape, John Mulaney decided to do something different. And people noticed. It was a six-part talk show for Netflix, premiering on May 3 and concluding on May 10. John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in Los Angeles. The live format and offbeat, unrehearsed interactions produced something television hadn’t seen in a while – something alive and full of chaotic (and comedic) possibilities. It recalls the early days of Late Night with David Letterman, just with a food delivery droid named Saymo in place of Larry “Bud” Melman. Mulaney, 41, registered with The Hollywood Reporter to talk about the inspirations for the series, how it came together, and his plans for future concerts.

Hi John. Are you in Los Angeles today?

Actually, I’m in New York.

Is New York still your home?

That’s not the case, no. California is.

So are you just spending the summer in the Hamptons or something?

I was about to say, “I wish,” but I don’t think I actually wish that. Just (my partner) Olivia (Munn) is currently working on a show in this area for Apple.

And I heard you’re working on something top secret.

Ah, always.

Well, I’m glad you’re doing things. We love everything you do.

It’s very nice of you.

So let’s talk about what you did, which I really enjoyed. It was called John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in Los Angeles. I think that surprised everyone. It was definitely a bit messy but in a good way, whereas everything is over-produced and over-programmed these days. And it spoke straight to my heart because I live in Los Angeles.

How long did you live there?

I moved here on June 1, 2001, from New York. Basically, I got here and three months later I watched the Twin Towers collapse on a small TV in my roommates’ bedroom. It’s a weird time to move to LA, that’s for sure, and I’ve had my ups and downs with it, but eventually the roots took hold and now I really love being here.

Doing this show made me really appreciate Los Angeles and look at Los Angeles in a different way and care about it more. I didn’t do the show to feel more comfortable in the city, but it certainly worked that way.

During the pandemic, were you here in Los Angeles?

No.

Were you in New York?

A little bit. Barely. I was everywhere during the pandemic.

And you imply on the show that you struggled with addiction during the pandemic, which a lot of people did.

Of course. I’ve struggled with this issue many times in my life, and it definitely got worse during the pandemic. It was getting very bad. You were in Los Angeles for the pandemic, I assume?

Yeah. In fact, it wasn’t the worst place in the world, because it had nature and space. But it was bad everywhere. But did you find Los Angeles to be harder or easier for you in terms of addiction?

Do you mean in a recovery sense or just in a mental state?

Some people come to Los Angeles and it’s a tough place if you have addictive tendencies – it just makes it worse for them.

I haven’t experienced this. I made it worse everywhere I went. Even though it’s a cliché that drugs, stand-up comedy, and Hollywood go hand in hand, my drug use has always been so distinct. It was compartmentalized by so many things, but it was never about work or the glamorous social side of entertainment or anything like that.

So it wasn’t about partying after the show.

No, no one at the show knew I had been up for two days.

RIGHT. Well, I think we are all very grateful that you fought successfully.

I am extremely grateful and sometimes just amazed that after this dark tornado, I can have such a wonderful life.

Back to the show. I was curious about the hypnotist you hired. He was a really interesting guest.

Kerry Gaynor. Dude. He is the greatest and I hope I was able to even scratch the surface of how interesting he is, especially his work at the UCLA Parapsychology Lab. But I have to say that as a hypnotherapist, getting me to quit smoking through hypnosis was such a profound experience. I’m a big fan of his in many ways. I also thought he was a lot of fun on TV.

It was. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I wanted more.

He doesn’t really care. It was very captivating for me to talk to him.

Does he work with addiction?

I don’t want to speak for him. I haven’t gone to see him about that, but I think that’s the case.

And he managed to cure your tobacco addiction?

I haven’t used it or wanted it since my session with him. Yeah, that’s what I came away with. I used to smoke. I do not smoke.

How Everybody’s in Los Angeles it happens ?

The original concept was Netflix saying, “Would you like to do six nights of live performance?” It was so open. So the original concept was time and place, which is the best way to start anything. I love homework. I love nothing more than writing jokes for someone hosting the Tonys or the Emmys. I love homework! I think that’s why I did well in a show like Saturday Night Live. There’s this thing like, “Hey, we need a James Carville (sketch) in an hour.” And you say, “All right, I’ll figure that out.” “So I love the idea, I have six nights live from Los Angeles during the festival (Netflix is ​​a Joke), everyone is in town, and from there I’m like, well , what matters to me? What would I like to fill the hour with?

Were you afraid at all?

No, because it had to be done by May 10. And because you can always do that thing as a comedian like, “Oh my God, what is this crazy thing I did? So no.

When did you think, “Hey, this works?” »

I felt really good that all my guests were saying, “That was really fun.” » Then I started to see that the feedback in general was really good. I was really, really excited that people were picking up on a lot of the layers of the show. They buy it the way you sold it. It’s like I sold a figure that was used as directed in the instructions.

What were these layers?

Well I was really inspired by this movie Blue in the face by Wayne Wang. He directed these two films set in Brooklyn: Smoke (in 1995) then Blue in the face (in 1996). Blue in the face has all these straight-to-camera interviews with people from Brooklyn talking about Brooklyn, maybe a little bit about how they fit into Brooklyn, but talking about Brooklyn, even giving statistics about Brooklyn. And then it goes right back to this narrative film with Harvey Keitel, who runs a smoke shop in Brooklyn. It’s a fun and really interesting movie. But I loved the use of direct-to-camera interviews scattered with just narrative comedy. I was really happy that people responded to all of this.

Brook Linder, the director I had, interviewed people in Los Angeles to create these short passages between the live acts on the show. I wanted to show Los Angeles differently than how it is usually shown. I wanted to show Los Angeles in as many sprawling visuals as the city has, and I was really happy that people responded to that. I was really happy that my guests had a good time and I think that came through and the guests appreciated that. Maybe we were talking about something you don’t usually talk about on a late night talk show. I was thrilled with the music we had.

Oh yeah, you had some great local artists: Los Lobos, Weezer, Warren G.

Yes, great groups were filmed so well by Joe DeMaio, our director, and people really responded to our production design.

What was the concept behind this set?

Google “Johnny Carson’s house in Malibu.” I was just looking at things online and thought, “This should be like an older man’s west side house.” »And then we saw Johnny’s house in Malibu.

And who chose Living and dying in Los Angeles as a theme song?

I did it.

Good choice.

THANKS. I watched Living and dying in Los Angeles because I had watched a lot of William Friedkin’s films and read his autobiography while filming the series. And as soon as I heard the song, I was like, “Oh my God, we have to get this.” »

It is so good. Wang Chung.

Quite a superb soundtrack.

I know you announced the Emmy submission episode very boldly at the beginning of the episode. Are you satisfied with your choice?

Yeah, that’s a good thing. I really liked them all and thought it would be funny to end up with a bad movie and have to submit it and stick with it. It turned out great, but there is so much fun in each of them. I will say that there was a moment in this episode where I looked and (comedian) Luenell (Campbell) and (David) Letterman were under a blanket together and Pete Davidson was holding a bunch of M-80s (explosives), and I thought, “This is exactly what I was hoping for. I never imagined this, but it’s exactly the kind of moment I was hoping for.

There was also a moment in this episode where Bill Hader and Pete Davidson were laughing out loud, which went viral.

Oh, when Luenell told Dr. Lucy Jones, “And you fell in love with earthquakes.” » I think it was time.

A lot of people said you were such a natural at it that it was going to lead to a full-time talk show on Netflix. Is it true? Or will this perhaps lead to the Oscars?

I used to do big, multi-year projects when I was younger, and for years I really haven’t planned more than three months in advance. So I like to do a lot of things, but I don’t have any specific plans for what you just asked me.

But you wouldn’t necessarily say no.

No, I wouldn’t necessarily say no.

One of my favorite things you did was on Difficult people. You played an “old man” who rode a bike.

Oh thank you. I loved this show.

More recently, you also made a fun appearance on The bear. Are you going to take more action?

Yeah. I have things coming up and I love playing. I haven’t always had a lot of time to do this when I’m on tour or working on other things, but I’ve been very lucky to be a part of some great things with some great teams. I mean, (Bear creator) Chris Storer not only directs the best series, but also the best set and the best group of people to collaborate with.