HE HAD TO HAVE IT –
Jan. 26, 2023 – Given the fashion for public self-flagellation, and indeed for heart-on-sleeve solo comedy, one braces for a show in which Mulaney reckons, lip perhaps a-tremble, with his public fall from grace. But, different vibe notwithstanding, that’s not his style. Yes, he dedicates the whole show to lurid stories of addiction and dysfunctional behaviour. But – as with the one about buying a Rolex watch to trade for drug money, or the one about “equine therapy” for recovering junkies – he makes them fun. There’s no sackcloth and ashes: heart on sleeve isn’t Mulaney’s mode. In the 40-year-old’s telling, at least in retrospect, addiction and rehab is a bit of a hoot. Occasionally, that can feel shallow. Usually, you’re too thoroughly entertained to care, as our host recounts a life he can now barely credit, of dodgy doctors dishing out unwarranted prescriptions, drug dealers solicitous for his safety, and media interviews conducted in states of narcotic semi-coherency. After his friends mount their overcrowded intervention, Mulaney is droll too about the mixed blessing of owing your life to no fewer than 12 different people.
