John Mulaney From Scratch Review

Jordan Sahley ‘23 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

It has become clear over the past year that John Mulaney is not the same family-friendly man we thought we knew. For those who have not been on Twitter recently, John Mulaney has been the center of much controversy lately: going to rehab, divorcing his wife, getting a superstar girlfriend, and getting her pregnant. These events are causing many to wonder, can Mulaney come back from this? It has become evident that he is no longer able to keep up the “nice guy” act. With all of this in mind, Mulaney’s fans were still fighting to get tickets to his next event, From Scratch. Spoilers ahead.

At his August 14 7:00pm show, Mulaney was seemingly more nervous than ever before on stage, messing up one of his very first jokes, and having to stop and catch his breath. In a moment of vulnerability, Mulaney revealed that it was his first show wearing a suit since he got out of rehab, which gave him the jitters. The crowd responded with cheers, reminding Mulaney that they loved him. After this point, he nailed every joke for the rest of the night. He seemed overjoyed when he realized that his fans still loved him despite his mistakes.

Although this new era of Mulaney is definitely darker, he is still the same man we know and love, overanalyzing the little things in life and using his off-putting, yet somehow comforting style. 

His show mainly addressed his brief stint in rehab, hardly mentioning his other controversies. Mulaney made many jokes about his addiction, poking fun at the crazy things he would do for drugs in the year prior. Even though the stories were crazy, he told his jokes with grace. Never truly bashing anyone other than himself.

Mulaney also acknowledges his new status of being “problematic,” commenting that “all of the kids like Bo Burnham more than me now.” He embraces his era of bad reputation by making a majority of his jokes self-deprecating, talking about his rude behavior at his own intervention, constantly roasting his friends, and playing the part of the cool guy throughout the whole story.

From Scratch was funny, vulnerable, and heartwarming. Some laughed so hard they cried, while others just plain cried at some of Mulaney’s more sentimental moments. The big tear jerker came at the end when he asked everyone to be quiet so he could say something serious. There were scattered giggles from the crowd in anticipation of another joke. 

Instead he thanked everyone for sticking with him despite the year he’s had. Everyone waited for the punch-line, but it never came. Mulaney was just grateful and he wanted his fans to know that. It was a beautiful and rare moment of vulnerability from Mulaney that no one expected. Surprising the audience seemed to be his specialty that night. 

Regardless of whether or not Mulaney is “cancelled,” he put on an amazing show, and if you get the opportunity to see From Scratch, take it.