In the latest episode of comedian Theo Von’s podcast, very popular and beloved comedian John Mulaney, who started using drugs in public during the pandemic, discussed his re-entry into the stand-up world with these words: John Mulaney: Baby J, It’s the third special episode exclusive to Netflix, which will air on the platform on April 25.
“This particular episode I came to is about everything from intervention to rehab and beyond,” Mulaney told Von. “So I haven’t wondered what I’m going to talk about on stage right now or in the last two years. But now I’ve shot this thing and, you know, I’m really happy about it and excited that it’s longer and longer than any of my other specials. It was time to make this pile of material.”
“However, I’m starting to wonder now,” Mulaney said. “Yes. Now I don’t remember how to do comedy.”
During their talk, Mulaney was generously honest with Von about some of the more upsetting events in the comedian’s overarching relationship with drugs; speed” (these are topics Mulaney has already discussed and will continue in the Netflix special).
“It was tiring,” Mulaney told Von, referring to the addiction. “But he held you in that moment, I’ll say that. I had reflexes like a stray cat. It was as if people were meditating to be in the moment. You know, when people do mindfulness meditation, it’s all about being in the moment. And while I was trying to get drugs, okay, bird, the siren rang in the distance, I was like a bike. Put you right there. There was an intimacy, dammit.”
“I remember walking into a meeting with a bottle of Pedialyte,” Mulaney said earlier on the podcast, “because I wasn’t eating anything. I was just drinking Pedialyte, doing cocaine. And I was with people I knew, and we were waiting for other people we didn’t know to attend the meeting. If I had a nosebleed or fainted I said because I have a sinus infection. Don’t worry. You know? And if I think I’m about to pass out, I’ll give a signal. And even to them, because I’m sick, so I was like.
Mulaney explained that she had tried to talk about drug use on stage before, but admitted that it didn’t fit her personality on stage. “Of course, the guy who seems to have it all has a problem,” he said. “Because that’s how life works.” He added that he thinks that “despite drugs, he can hold on to life with drugs” and that it took “a long time” to realize that it was the other way around.