Mulaney

Lorne Michaels is best known for being the creator and, as of 2024, the current producer of NBC's long running sketch comedy series, "Saturday Night Live." This is Mr. Michaels' first appearance on this list of the 400 Most Notable Shows Set in New York City, as he served as executive producer for the series in question... "Mulaney."

The year was 2014. "Seinfeld" had stopped creating new episodes some sixteen years before. That's enough time to recreate that series for a new generation of viewers, right?

Now, I don't mean to say that "Mulaney" was simply plagiarizing "Seinfeld" for their own fun and profit at all, except in one way: In every way possible!

Each episode of the show began with John Mulaney (played by John Mulaney) doing a stand up comedy routine for an audience (John Mulaney is a comic, just like the real John Mulaney), which sets up the plot for that week's episode. Does this sound at all familiar?

Wait till I tell you the rest. Mulaney is surrounded by wacky friends and neighbors that involve themselves in his life, whether he wants them to, or not. His housemates Jane (Nasim Pedrad) who was a college buddy and a perpetually heartbroken fitness trainer, and Motif (Seaton Smith) a fellow stand up, act as sounding boards, comic inspiration, continued support and/or conflict generators.

Additionally, his neighbor Oscar, played by Elliot Gould, offered wizened wisdom or wisecracks, whichever was needed at the moment. Andre, (Zack Pearlman) John's frenemy and frequent visitor, made a living by comically selling drugs, but let's keep that on the D. L.

And last but definitely not least is Martin Short in the role of Lou Cannon, a long time show biz trooper and a current game show host: think Regis Philbin meets Richard Dawson, only much more obnoxious. Cannon hires John to write material for him, so when he shoots off his mouth, something funny will come out.

The differences in the plots of "Mulaney" and "Seinfeld" can be chalked up to the differences in the jobs John and Jerry had before they did their respective sitcoms. Mulaney was a writer on "Saturday Night Live" but rarely appeared on camera during his tenure with the show. That explains the character of Mulaney being a writer of jokes for a different personality.

And there was some element about how Mulaney was trying to be a better person who struggled with that attempt because of the people in his sphere, but that thread often got lost in the attempts to make the show funnier.

The SNL connection was everywhere - Both Martin Short and Nasim Pedrad were regular players on that show before they joined this cast. Elliot Gould was one of the first "5 Time Hosts" of SNL. And of course, Lorne behind the scenes.

New York played a part because of the comedy club scene, the talk shows and game shows that are filmed here and the basic fact that you could run into someone odd or comical or really annoying as soon as you open your front door.

"Mulaney" may not have reached that rarified level of success, because, just like 383's "Platypus Man," they didn't have that extra element... they didn't have a Larry David to turn the Stone Soup of "Seinfeld" into a delicious and hilarious concoction. John Mulaney even described the show's premise as "a show without a premise." Oh, so, a SHOW ABOUT NOTHING, John??

It's also notable that this series was first developed at NBC. But then after tweaking it a couple of times, they passed on it, making The Peacock the ultimate arbiter in what's funny... and what is not.

I've watched John Mulaney's stand up and seen him on quite a few talks shows. I found his stand up quite funny, and he seems like a great guy, so I was interested in seeing what his show was like. During his stand up bit at the beginning of the first episode I was thinking to myself "This show is going to be great". Then the show began. I just can't their using a live audience. If you like shows with live audience you might be able to get into this.

I can't stand live audiences and can't believe that any comedy to come out since the early 2000s still uses them. I was really hoping this show was going to have a very real and down-to-earth feel to it like Louis. But instead I got a really cheesy cookie cutter sit-com that reminds me of 90% of the other sit-coms with laugh tracks.

The laugh track (or live audience) isn't the only problem I have though, the acting seems forced to me and the situations unrealistic. Anyone who's a fan of realistic comedy without Laugh tracks and cheesy little gimmicks, I recommend staying away from this show.

I don't want to give this a rating because it might just have to do with me not liking laugh tracks.

So our lead here, Mulaney, is a an award winning writer and comedian, neat. The show has a another strong supporting established comedian, Martin Short, sounds even better right? But unfortunately these two pillars are missing the third essential one to hold up the show, and that is any actual qualities of a show. It has virtually no real story, a show about nothing eh? Sound familiar? Not so bad, there are tons of shows about nothing. How about the jokes? We'll on paper I'm sure they're great, out of these folk's mouths, they sound forced and are just horrible. But even that isn't a show killer. Bad jokes and terrible actors are abound on successful TV shows. What puts the death nail into this steaming pile of a show is Mulaney himself. The guy just can't act, not even a little. It's not bad acting, it's non-existent acting, like watching a mannequin who sort of sounds like 'Raymond' awkwardly read lines like a 3rd grader public speaking in front of his class for the first time. It's awkward and painful to watch him speak, worse than a fork on a chalk board painful. He obviously has no idea what he's doing, and whoever green light this, well warm up that resume cause your days are numbered. So go ahead and skip Mulaney, you're not missing anything.

This is an exact Seinfeld copy. It really is. The plots are not so great and the acting is sub par. I didn't like John Mulaney's acting in the pilot, but I've gotten used to it and it's endearing. What keeps me coming back is this show makes me laugh. It's funny. When that goes then I go. Elliot Gould's character is unnecessary. Martin short wickedly weird and fun. This feels more like a show that would do well on TBS rather than on FOX. The only two good things about this show really are John Mulaney and the comedy, which is his comedy, so basically just one good thing, John Mulaney. The plots are thin, but they're not unbearable and this show is better than most sitcoms out there these days.

I'll start off by saying that I am huge John Mulaney fan. His stand up special New in Town is hilarious and one of my all time favorites. So when I heard he was getting his own show I was pretty excited. The thing that kills this show is the format. Multi camera shows with a studio audience/laugh track are old school. They are painful to watch in this day and age. The only way to get past this is for everything else to be so awesome that this sin can be forgiven. Unfortunately, it falls short here. Again though I blame the format. If you watch his stand up you can see that he is quick and has a certain flow to his humor. The multi camera strategy of say something funny, pause, cue laughter, and repeat feels very un-natural and does not mesh with his style.