The Year of the Dragon
YouTube · 2023 · 60 min
Cynical stand-up from the creator of Cum Town.
Nick Mullen brings his signature deadpan irony to the stage, tackling the internet’s most obsessive subcultures without the usual self-righteous panic. The hour is strongest when he leans into highly detailed, absurd hypotheticals. His routine about conspiracy theorists believing the masterminds behind September 11th were required to leave clues like Batman villains highlights his talent for exposing the sheer silliness of online obsession. Another standout sequence features an autistic antebellum plantation owner who treats slavery like organizing a collection of Funko Pops or Pokémon.\n\nFilmed at Comedy Works Downtown in Denver, Colorado, the special represents a major milestone for Mullen, who spent years building a cult following as the primary force behind the podcast Cum Town. His transition to a traditional stand-up hour was highly anticipated by a fanbase accustomed to his unscripted, chaotic audio riffs. Directed by Alexander Huggins and introduced by Mullen’s co-host Adam Friedland, the hour was released on YouTube in December 2023. While some fans missed the unpolished chaos of his podcasting, the special was widely praised for showing he could translate his quick-witted cynicism into a structured stand-up set. The special has since accumulated over four million views on YouTube.
The set list
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Paying attention to politics over the past decade made people dumber rather than smarter.
Recalls catching himself inspecting photos of Hunter Biden's penis on his phone in public under the guise of reading the news.
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Conservative boycotts against Target over tuck-friendly bathing suits.
Questions the logistics of tuck-friendly swimwear from a self-deprecating perspective about penis size, imagining parents complaining in Target about their sons' genitals.
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Cirque du Soleil boycotting North Carolina over anti-trans bathroom bill HB2.
Imagines a bigoted Southern lawmaker's exaggerated reaction to losing the circus, noting Cirque du Soleil acrobatics resemble what conservatives fear happens in bathrooms.
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Traveling to New York City for reproductive healthcare and the logistics of abortion access.
Humorously argues God must be a woman due to miscarriages, and comments on New York funding out-of-state abortion trips leading to Broadway tourism and potential impacts on sewers.
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Autistic Pokemon slave owner routine.
Satirical bit connecting neurodivergence, Pokemon mechanics, and historical slavery.
How it plays
- Tone
- Irreverent, dark, observational, and deadpan.
- On stage
- Ironic, observational, self-deprecating, adopting an self-professed idiot persona to dissect complex and sensitive cultural debates.
- Pace
- Starts off slow and deliberate before gaining momentum and energy in the second half.
- About
- political news obsessions, transphobia and anti-trans legislation, Target boycotts, abortion rights and restrictions, COVID, slavery
What the critics said
Audience and online reception praised the special as a solid debut that starts deliberately before catching fire in the second half, though some online commenters felt certain cultural topics like COVID and trans controversies felt dated.
In the room: Supportive comedy club crowd laughing and applauding throughout the set.
Backstory
Released independently on YouTube in late 2023 amidst widespread culture war discourse around transgender legislation, abortion restrictions, and political news fatigue.
Details
- Released
- Taped
- Comedy Works Downtown, Denver
- Runtime
- 60 min
- Where
- YouTube
- Director
- Alex Huggins
- Topics
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