JOHN MULANEY: BABY J
(director: Alex Timbers; screenwriter: John Mulaney; cinematographer: Cameron Barnett; music: David Byrne; cast: John Mulaney; Runtime: 80; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Alex Timbers/John Mulaney; Netflix; 2023)
“I didn’t find him particularly funny or that his anti-drug message was completely genuine, but I dug the comedian’s well-tailored red suit he wore on stage.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Alex Timbers (“John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City”/John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid) directs the third TV special he does with stand-up comedian John Mulaney, known for being a craftsman, his quick wit and his keen observations on life. But he’s never been someone who is fully open about his life or is his humor of the self-deprecating kind. Now he can also be known for the humor of his calculated confessions.
The Mulaney show takes place at Boston Symphony Hall. The other two specials he did were also on Netflix-The Comeback Kid (2015) and Kid Gorgeous (2018).
Mulaney goes on a darker trip this time in Baby J, as he explores his rehab after his drug problem with cocaine (telling us he took 2020 off to take care of his substance abuse issues with drugs and alcohol in order to get back his normal life). Trouble is he tells us too little about his life-threatening situation (maybe even disappointing his fans who wanted to hear more than his pity story of pawning his Rolex to score coke). His act, with large gaps of omissions in his storytelling, leads me to believe he’s not yet fully recovered.
The comedian finds humor in the every day things in life, and shares with us a few things that drove him bonkers when he was hooked on cocaine.
In this special, he refers to himself when as a child he craved attention, to his dark period when he tried to hide from the public his drug problem through deception, and includes telling many other events such as the one he chides himself over the interview where he doesn’t remember he gave to GQ.
The most pertinent thing he says is he doesn’t give a damn about cancel culture because what he did to himself was more harmful than what anyone else can do to him.
I didn’t find him particularly funny or that his anti-drug message was completely genuine, but I dug the comedian’s well-tailored red suit he wore on stage.
REVIEWED ON 4/30/2023 GRADE: C+