John Mulaney 31/05

So last night, my best friend & I went to see John Mulaney perform alongside three other comedians John Colleary, Jimeoin & Rhod Gilbert. I'm not being biased or anything, but Mulaney was hands down the best and the other three were pretty darned good themselves.

The setting was a medieval bar with mounted deer heads and an assortment of medieval weaponry decorating the walls. During his set, Mulaney commented that only for it was his last night performing at the comedy festival, he would have thought that all bars in Ireland were still like this.
My friend & I were the first to arrive, and opted to sit in the middle of the room for fear of being picked on should we sit up front. (We were right not to.) A few handlers and festival organisers were in the room, but aside from that it was pretty empty. Then, Mulaney himself arrives as my friend & I are commenting on the ridiculous decorations on the wall. ("Is that a skull?!") Surrounded by handlers, we decided it was best not to approach him. He soon sat down at the back of the room, writing. Again, we thought it was best not to disturb him during the creative process. Soon the room filled up to its tiny capacity - probably less than 100 there. Kings of Leon & MGMT played as we waited for the gig to start.

Then, John Mulaney gets up & welcomes the first comedian John Colleary. For a brief second, I thought that Mulaney was only emceeing for the night, and I was about to go crazy. However relief came when Colleary did a stand-up routine for about five minutes and then welcomed the first act, crazy Welshman Rhod Gilbert, who really reminded me of Billy Connolly. His set lasted about fifteen minutes, and thought it was funny and crazy, I found myself zoning out when ranting about buying bedding.

Colleary arrived back up onstage to warm up the crowd for the second act - John Mulaney. Firstly, I would just like to say that I have Mulaney's CD "The Top Part" and I have listened to it so many times that I can say some of the material along. I worried that his set might not be as entertaining to me for the sheer amount of times I'd heard it, but you know what? It was effing amazing. He performed familiar bits, like the genius Law & Order routine, drag queen & goth routine, and a routine about his time as a basketball benchwarmer, all of which I think are hilarious on CD, but are made all the more hysterical when seen live. He kept the set fresh for the one hardcore fan in the audience (me) by commenting on his time in Kilkenny & the fact that he's Irish-American ("I'm Irish American, which means that I am American.") The audience loved him, and his storytelling style was so engaging, that he held the entire crowd's attention. His set was probably less than twenty minutes and I was disappointed when the light started flashing, telling him his time was up, but it was alright because he absolutely killed it and he actually surpassed my expectations. In short, if John Mulaney comes to perform anywhere near you, you simply must go see him. I can assure you, he will not disappoint.