There is nothing new or revolutionary about a comedian hosting a late night show.
There seems to be an endless amount of these Saturday Night Live or Comedy Central alums hosting sit-down late night shows where they interview various celebrities on their newly released media.
However, on Wednesday night a new type of late night show premiered.
It was still hosted by a previous SNL member, and they still interviewed various celebrities, but it was different from any late-night show on air at the moment.
The show in question is Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney.
This show technically started off last May as a limited six episode run on Netflix for their “Everything is a Joke” festival and it went by the title of Everybody’s in LA with John Mulaney. Netflix has reprised the show for 12 episodes to air every Wednesday for the next 12 weeks. The current version airing sticks with the plot, or lack thereof, of the original that aired last year.
The show is hosted by comedian John Mulaney and accompanied by actor Richard Kind as a sort of emcee and is filmed in Los Angeles on a 70’s living room inspired set and filmed with a live audience.
Without a doubt the show is chaotic and busy. It has a lack of transitions and certainly jumps around abruptly from topic to topic but I feel that’s what makes it so entertaining and exciting to watch.
For most people they no longer want to watch hosts such as Jimmy Fallon or Conan O’Brien ask actors or singers a few questions about whatever they just released and then move onto the next.
After a while the cycle gets boring and can’t be remedied much by playing games like you see in some of the newer late-night shows.
“I love watching these late night shows but I definitely agree that after a while it just feels so repetitive,” Jenna Olsen said.
Mulaney however is doing it in a much different way.
He isn’t interviewing whatever actor just had a movie out, instead he’s interviewing these relatively random celebrities, or people we haven’t heard from in quite a while. He’s bringing on his friends in all these fields.
He’s also bringing on seemingly mundane people to further explore his offshoot topics.
Again, where most late-night shows have the topic of whatever media their guest is in, Mulaney picks a seemingly simple topic either related to people’s lives or the city of LA.
With these topics he asks his guests questions as they all snuggle close together on a couch due to their being so many at once. He also takes live calls from around the world and allows callers to share anything related to the topic.
It’s exciting to watch the chaos of the show unfold. It of course has its scripted parts but at its core it’s just Mulaney checking things off his clipboard while some of his famous and eclectic friends sit on a couch beside him.
“Everybody’s Live is really funny and I like the sketches he does instead of breaks. It feels really different from the rest of the show but it still flows,” Copper Allen said.
Between sessions and calls with the guests, comedy sketches play that are very reminiscent of SNL or similar, as well as quick interviews with LA locals, ranging from average community members to small business owners. These intermediate bits usually don’t last longer than two minutes but they nicely break up the show.
Everybody’s Live also featured musical guests and performances like most late night shows. It feels quite different though in a way I can’t really explain. These musical performances manage to feel so casual while also remaining elevated and exciting.
Some of the contents of the show can really feel like a catch-all of Mulaney’s favorite things and he makes the audience aware.
I think that’s what makes it best, he’s creating a show he wants to watch. That’s a thing a lot of people don’t really take into consideration when they’re making media, whether that be a book or a tv show, people need to think outside the box and think about what exciting things other people want.
When you continue to follow a basic blueprint, your work comes out stale.
Not with Mulaney though.
He has captured the perfect mix and aspects of any late night show and mixed them together to create the exciting Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney.
