John Mulaney Biography

John Edmund Mulaney (born August 26, 1982) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for his work as a writer on Saturday Night Live (SNL) and as a standup comedian with standup specials The Top Part, New in Town, and The Comeback Kid. He was the creator and star of the Fox sitcom Mulaney, a semi-autobiographical series which aired from October 2014 until its cancellation in February 2015.

Early life

Mulaney was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Ellen (ne Stanton), a law professor at Northwestern University, and Charles W. "Chip" Mulaney, Jr., an attorney and partner at Skadden Arps. Both of his parents are of Irish Catholic descent. Mulaney's maternal great-grandfather was George J. Bates, a Republican mayor of Salem, Massachusetts, who also served as a congressman from that state. His maternal great-uncle is William H. Bates, who also served as a U.S. congressman. His parents both attended Georgetown University and Yale Law School with the future president Bill Clinton, whom Mulaney met in 1992. Mulaney was the third of four children, and was an altar boy.

At the age of seven, Mulaney had an opportunity to audition for the role of Kevin in the film Home Alone, but his parents declined. For junior high, he attended St. Clement School where, in lieu of doing reports, he and his best friend, John O'Brien, would offer to perform what they had learned in the format of a skit. Mulaney would also frequent the Museum of Broadcast Communications, where he would watch archived episodes of shows such as I Love Lucy or The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He then attended St. Ignatius College Prep, and finally Georgetown University, where he studied English Literature.

Career

Upon graduating from college, he moved to New York with ambitions of a career in comedy, and was hired as an office assistant at Comedy Central. After a year, he pitched the idea for a parody of the I Love the '80s called I Love the '30s, which he developed along with fellow comedian Nick Kroll.

Saturday Night Live

Mulaney (along with Kroll and comedian T. J. Miller) auditioned for Saturday Night Live in August 2008. Mulaney won a spot on the writing team, where he remained for six seasons. He also occasionally appeared on the show's Weekend Update segment. He and SNL actor Bill Hader co-created the recurring SNL character Stefon. Mulaney was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series with the SNL writing staff from 2009-2012. Mulaney won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards with Justin Timberlake, Seth Meyers and Katreese Barnes.

Stand-up comedy

In addition to his work on SNL, Mulaney has worked for a number of years as a stand-up comedian. He has performed on Live at Gotham, Conan, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Late Night With Conan O'Brien, and Comedy Central Presents. Mulaney also released a stand-up comedy album titled The Top Part in 2009, and a stand-up comedy special called New In Town in 2012. Both were produced with Comedy Central. He frequently tours his comedy shows, sometimes with his Mulaney co-star Seaton Smith. He performed at the 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival.

Mulaney's third stand-up comedy special titled The Comeback Kid was released on November 13, 2015, on Netflix. His second stand-up show, New In Town, which premiered on Comedy Central in 2012, is also on Netflix. Mulaney received a 2016 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for his work on The Comeback Kid, losing to Patton Oswalt's Talking for Clapping.

Mulaney

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In May 2013, NBC passed on picking up Mulaney's semi-autobiographical sitcom pilot, titled Mulaney. However, in June 2013, Fox Broadcasting Company ordered a new script upon deciding whether or not to order the production of several episodes.

In October 2013, Fox announced that they picked up the show for a six-episode season order. Mulaney was the creator, producer, and writer of his eponymous series until its cancellation in May 2015.

George St. Geegland

Mulaney regularly performs as George St. Geegland, an elderly Dutch man from the Upper West Side of New York. St. Geegland and fellow New Yorker Gil Faizon (portrayed by Georgetown classmate and comedian Nick Kroll), host a prank show called "Too Much Tuna" in which contestants are given sandwiches with too much tuna fish. Mulaney has toured the United States alongside Kroll in a show called Oh, Hello, with both in character as George St. Geegland and Gil Faizon, respectively. The show premiered on Broadway on September 23, 2016.

Reception

Mulaney has received positive feedback for his stand-up work and writing on Saturday Night Live, although his sitcom received poor reviews. His most recent stand-up special, The Comeback Kid, received critical acclaim in 2015, with David Sims of The Atlantic calling it "a reminder of everything that makes Mulaney so singular: storytelling rich with well-observed details, delivered with the confidence of someone decades older than 33." In 2016, he was nominated by the Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special" for his standup special John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid.

Personal life

On July 5, 2014, Mulaney married makeup artist Annamarie Tendler. Mulaney and Tendler had their wedding ceremony performed by friend Dan Levy.

Admitting to having a drinking problem in the past, he no longer drinks alcohol. Mulaney has referenced his drinking, often to "blacking out", in his stand-up routines.

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Live at Gotham	Himself	Episode: "1.3"
2007	Late Night with Conan O'Brien	Himself	Episodes: "7 June 2007" & "15 February 2007"
2007	Human Giant	Various	Episode: "24 Hour Marathon"
2008	Best Week Ever	Himself	4 episodes
2008	Important Things with Demetri Martin	John Mulaney/Green Beret	Also writer; 2 episodes
2009	Saturday Night Live	Various roles	Also writer; 6 episodes
2009	Comedy Central Presents	Himself	Stand-up half hour
2010	Mayne Street	Dylan	6 episodes
2010	Ugly Americans	Tony / The In-Between World Guide (voice)	2 episodes
2011	The Chris Gethard Show	Himself	Episode: "The Kickboxer Episode"
2012	Funny As Hell	Himself	Episode #2.2
2013-2015	Kroll Show	George St. Geegland	11 episodes
2013	The Jeselnik Offensive	Himself	2 episodes
2013	The Pete Holmes Show	Himself	Episode: "John Mulaney"
2014-2015	Mulaney	John Mulaney	Creator, producer, writer, actor
2015-present	Documentary Now!	"?	Writer/co-writer of 5 episodes, consulting producer (season 1, episode 4), co-executive producer (season 2)
2015-2016	The Jim Gaffigan Show	Himself	4 episodes
2016	Lady Dynamite	James Earl James	Episode: "Pilot"
2016	Comedy Bang! Bang!	George St. Geegland	Episode: "The Lonely Island Wear Dark Pants and Eyeglasses"
2016	Maya & Marty	"?	Writer
2016	Difficult People	Cecil Jellford	Episode: "Unplugged"
2017	Big Mouth	Andrew (voice)

Discography

• The Top Part (Comedy Central Records, 2009)
• New in Town (Comedy Central Records, 2012)
• The Comeback Kid (Netflix, 2015)