It is a comedy series that captures the story of John, a rising comedian. Over time, John tries to take his career to the next level alongside friends and associates. John lives among a group of people who raise him, block him and sometimes push him. In a short while, John's life seems to change when he gets a job writing comedy.
Mulaney's standup work and his Saturday Night Live resume reveal that he's a very funny guy, but this contrived, airless comedy is not a good vehicle for him.
The series soars when it takes a broader view by pitting the self-promoting narcissism of the roommates against the smug windbaggery of the older generation. And it is, slowly but surely, finding its legs.
In practice, Mulaney is fairly dire. It's an unfortunate reminder that the multi-cam format is an unforgiving beast that can swallow you whole if you aren't constantly feeding it jokes.
John Mulaney is a great standup comic and former writer for Saturday Night Live. But he's created a humorless sitcom that feels like a bad Seinfeld ripoff.
Mulaney... finds Mulaney surrounded by quirk, some of it good - Martin Short as his boss, Nasim Pedrad as one of his roommates - and some of it just annoying.
Mulaney is a comic, but he is not an actor. He could in theory grow into one, but he seems very, very ill-suited to it in the early episodes, awkward and stiff reading lines instead of talking to an audience. This is not his wheelhouse.
