"I don't know what to think about it," comedian John Mulaney says when asked about the political climate in America with Donald Trump as President. "I've been saying on stage that it's like there's a horse loose in a hospital. I think everything will end okay, but I don't know what's going to happen next."
Mulaney is one of the most gifted comedic voices of his generation. A brilliant standup, he wrote for Saturday Night Live between 2008 and 2014, co-creating memorable characters like Bill Hader's Stefon. Recently he and Nick Kroll played a pair of elder, opinionated New Yorkers in a stage show called Oh, Hello, which they took to Broadway and filmed for a new Netflix special; he also has upcoming standup dates in Calgary, Winnipeg and Montreal.
His own 2015 standup special for Netflix, The Comeback Kid, is coming to vinyl this month courtesy of Drag City, which is based in Mulaney's Chicago hometown. The show is named after Bill Clinton, who dubbed himself as such after a 1992 primary election win.
In a bit from the special, Mulaney recalls being a little boy when he met Clinton that same year; Mulaney's mother went to college with the future president. Within The Comeback Kid's rambunctious hour of anecdotal humour, it's about the most political Mulaney gets.
"I just like comedy that might age well," he explains. "I like it as a listener; it's not strategic. I've always enjoyed being able to listen to a comedy album from 1961 and really laugh at it. And then I have respect for dated stuff about Khrushchev or Nixon or whatever. But I myself tend towards trying to have stuff that, if one wanted to listen to it in a few years, it wouldn't have dated that much.
"So, maybe in saying I'm not political," Mulaney adds, "I'm just trying not to be too current."
Mulaney is one of the most gifted comedic voices of his generation. A brilliant standup, he wrote for Saturday Night Live between 2008 and 2014, co-creating memorable characters like Bill Hader's Stefon. Recently he and Nick Kroll played a pair of elder, opinionated New Yorkers in a stage show called Oh, Hello, which they took to Broadway and filmed for a new Netflix special; he also has upcoming standup dates in Calgary, Winnipeg and Montreal.
His own 2015 standup special for Netflix, The Comeback Kid, is coming to vinyl this month courtesy of Drag City, which is based in Mulaney's Chicago hometown. The show is named after Bill Clinton, who dubbed himself as such after a 1992 primary election win.
In a bit from the special, Mulaney recalls being a little boy when he met Clinton that same year; Mulaney's mother went to college with the future president. Within The Comeback Kid's rambunctious hour of anecdotal humour, it's about the most political Mulaney gets.
"I just like comedy that might age well," he explains. "I like it as a listener; it's not strategic. I've always enjoyed being able to listen to a comedy album from 1961 and really laugh at it. And then I have respect for dated stuff about Khrushchev or Nixon or whatever. But I myself tend towards trying to have stuff that, if one wanted to listen to it in a few years, it wouldn't have dated that much.
"So, maybe in saying I'm not political," Mulaney adds, "I'm just trying not to be too current."
