Over the weekend I caught up on John Mulaney's appearance on WTF with Marc Maron. I did this not just because I'm a big fan of the podcast, but because, after weeks and weeks of watching Mulaney's ill-fated, self-titled sitcom, I needed to know the comedy genius behind it still existed in some way, shape or form.
Sure enough, he does and, much like he did on Jimmy Kimmel Live! a couple months ago, he hosts a good sense of humor about himself and where his show stands. He still says he's proud of it, but admits by now that Mulaney is a failure and he'll continue to do tours once the show gets its plug pulled, even if he didn't say that directly.
It's not easy to admit you failed. Particularly, when you failed on a project you threw your heart into for two years, in belief that it would finally be the big break your career needed. I applaud John for hosting a sense of humor about Mulaney, and I'll be more than happy to see him on tour should he ever be in a town I'm in or near. Above all, I'm just glad I can actually get some laughs from Mulaney, a show which is so hopeless lost that's its silly for me to even pretend it has a shot at good quality by now.
"Ruby," the penultimate episode of the season (and series, probably), is more of the same. There's a lot of name dropping, characters taking easy gabs at one another based on appearance and characteristics, predictable plotting and everyone walking away not learning anything. It's yet another tired episode of Mulaney. It infuriatingly keeps poking at its potential but decides to go only slight far enough to be kind of "edgy" but refuses to make the commitment to being either milquetoast or sharp-sworded. There's no real sense of getting fussy about it, of course. The best behavior one can exhibit is taking a breath and remembering there's just one of these buggers left.
There are some things to recommend about "Ruby," but most them are one-liners which just work in the moment. An unexpected (and kinda uncalled for) joke about Richard Kind earns some form of respect, if just for randomness and gull. Same can be said about a brief gag about Dick Clark's funeral from Lou Cannon (Martin Short) and also from a recollection Oscar (Elliott Gould) has about his teenage years, both of which are just so out there they get somewhere between pity points and trying something sorta dark on prime time television.
Other than that, there's not too much else of note for "Ruby." John's friendship with his girlfriend's daughter Ruby (guest star Bailee Madison) starts endearingly, but grows more creepy and dissatisfying as it goes along. Even a lovely tribute shot to Woody Allen's better works, and references to Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder's films, can't make these moments more likeable. And that's saying something, coming from a diehard Woody Allen fan like me.
With Mulaney finishing up next week and Fox ready to wipe its hands clean of this whole mess, all I can hope for at this point is for the comedian at hand to pick himself up from all this and keep moving forward. I want this to be the punchline to a joke he tells on his aforementioned tours, where he digs into the seediness of basic cable television and gets the opportunity to use his self-effacing and biting comedy to his full advantage. John Mulaney has a lot going for him, and I hope he goes out of this as unbruised as possible. Mulaney isn't a good show, but it's a good reminder that sometimes, even great comedians don't get all their laughs.
Image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com
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