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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy
Promotional art for Kid Gorgeous at Radio City
Cover image credit: via TMDB

Kid Gorgeous at Radio City

John Mulaney

Netflix · 2018 · 64 min

A polished, theatrical stand-up set in a massive historic theater.

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John Mulaney paces across an impossibly large stage in a tailored suit, looking tiny against the massive curtains yet completely commanding the room. His physical comedy is as precise as his writing, whether he is contorting his body to mimic a bizarre grade-school assembly speaker or imitating Mick Jagger’s physical posture in a television writer’s room. He leans into his trademark persona, performing as an anxious, formal adult who still feels like a helpless child, delivering highly structured, theatrical stories that treat minor domestic anxieties and massive institutional failures with the same dramatic gravity.\n\nFilmed over a multi-night run in February 2018 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, the performance marked the culmination of a massive 150-date tour. Mulaney was backed by composer Jon Brion playing the venue’s historic Mighty Wurlitzer organ, setting a theatrical tone that matched the comic’s finely tailored aesthetic. The set is packed with highly quoted routines, including a breakdown of his $120,000 college tuition bill, an evaluation of his father’s cold parenting style, and a prolonged, absurd analogy about a horse loose in a hospital. The special went on to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special.

The set list

6 bits

  1. A prolonged analogy comparing Donald Trump's presidency to a horse let loose inside a hospital.

    Avoids naming politicians directly, choosing instead an absurdist extended metaphor to capture the universal panic, chaos, and unpredictability of the situation.

  2. Remembering elementary school stranger-danger assemblies led by Chicago detective J.J. Bittenbinder.

    Acted out with an ornate, Dickensian description of Bittenbinder's bizarre demeanor and ineffective advice like throwing a money clip to escape muggers.

  3. An awkward sex talk from his father involving composer Leonard Bernstein.

    Examines his father's bizarre phrasing regarding Bernstein's sexuality to highlight parental cluelessness and psychological detachment.

  4. Georgetown University reaching out to alumni for financial donations.

    Compares his expensive college tuition to a transactional relationship with a $120,000 hooker who keeps asking for more money.

  5. Navigating online CAPTCHA tests designed to confirm human identity.

    Adopts an old-timey, witch-like nursery rhyme persona to lampoon the indignity of having to prove to a computer that you are not a robot.

  6. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    Recollections of Catholic religious education, homilies, and psalms. closer

    Examines Catholic rituals and compares priest homilies to book reports that double as stand-up comedy.

How it plays

Tone
Observational, literate, self-deprecating, and absurdly exasperated.
On stage
Anxious, sharply dressed, and prematurely elderly; blends youthful energy with the exasperated, weathered posture and vocal cadences of a cantankerous old man.
Pace
Meticulously paced and physically kinetic, alternating between precise verbal efficiency, racing across the expansive proscenium stage, and calibrated comedic pauses.
About
aging and physical decline, childhood memories and stranger danger, parental relationships, the expense and absurdity of college education, Donald Trump presidency, marriage and religious upbringing

What the critics said

Received widespread critical acclaim, with reviewers highlighting Mulaney's novelistic literary precision, immaculate writing, and observational wit drawing favorable comparisons to Jerry Seinfeld and George Carlin.

In the room: Enthusiastic and engaged within a massive, vibrating historic music hall, occasionally reacting with shocked murmurs to darker punchlines.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, tv.apple.com, allmusic.com, vulture.com, decider.com, indiewire.com, deadline.com, variety.com.

Backstory

Filmed at the culmination of a 150-show national tour while recovering from a labral tear, set against the backdrop of the Donald Trump presidency.

Details

Released
Taped
Radio City Music Hall, New York City
Runtime
64 min
Where
Netflix
Director
Alex Timbers
Honors
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special (2018)
Topics
Before
The Comeback Kid (2015)
After
Baby J (2023)

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