Having released five specials on Netflix, produced and written over 100 episodes of Saturday Night Live, and been a comedy show headliner since 2008, John Mulaney is a well-known comedian. In one of his latest Netflix specials, Baby J (2023), Mulaney opens up about his battle with drug addiction and his time in rehab.
During an interview in 2014, John Mulaney said that he had been sober since 2005. In 2020, Mulaney checked into a rehabilitation facility, and quickly left. About a month later he hosted an episode of SNL, but relapsed after the show. After an intervention with some of his friends, including big names like Nick Kroll, Bill Hader, and Seth Meyers, John once again checked into a rehabilitation center, where he spent a year before moving into outpatient care. Not long after, Mulaney went public about his relationship with actress Olivia Munn, who he began dating right after his recovery. He sings her praises, saying that “she’s kind of held [his] hand through that hell. It is a very, very lucky thing to have met [her].”
Similarly, Nick Cave recounts his experiences with addiction and rehab in his book Faith, Hope and Carnage. He recounts going through multiple stints in rehab before meeting his now wife, Susie, who he attributes to him getting and staying sober.
In the time since both men have gotten sober, their art styles have changed. Naturally, their battles with addiction have bled into the way these men express themselves, but it is important that they do not control it. Mulaney and Cave’s life experiences, the good, the bad, and everything in between, have pushed their careers in new directions and inspired new material.
I really like how you connected the two artists with their rehabilitation. I think its great how they, Mulaney and Cave, can recognize how rehab changes their art but also how open they are about their experiences. It isn't easy to be so vulnerable to the public and to fans.
ReplyDeleteI love the way that you put these two artists together and examined them in reference to their experiences with addiction. I got to see Mulaney at a show right after he got out of rehab a few years ago, and I loved the way that he skillfully spoke on such a hard topic with so much humor. It wasn't insensitive, but it also wasn't hard to face, because he accustomed the audience to the discussion and made sure that everyone understood that hard topics are important to discuss, even in comedy settings. He talked a lot about how addiction in the world of famous people is very different from the average person, and it has its serious downsides. I know very few other people who are able to approach a situation like that in the same manner.
ReplyDeleteAll so true. I work as a therapy technician at an in-patient mental health treatment center, we specialize in eating disorder treatment but this often co-occurs with addiction, so we have a lot of treatment programs for addiction as well. A year is a very long stay for in-patient. This definitely speaks to how much work he put into himself. But it also exemplifies how privileged he is to be able to take a year to work on his recovery. Not many people have the funding for treatment, have good enough insurance to help cover it, or can leave their responsibilities to pursue treatment. Not many people even have a support group like Mulaney's, so stage an intervention for him. Mental healthcare in America is unjust, more needs to be done to reach and serve people in positions like Mulaney's.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I am living under a rock, but I had no idea Mulaney struggled with addiction. I loved this post because you almost never know what an artist is going through unless they choose to make it public. I think a common fear, especially when it comes to comedians, is that their struggles are what "make them funny", and going to rehab those struggles can hurt their career in the long run. It seems like Mulaney had an incredible attitude about it, and actually adapted his comedy to better fit his lifestyle post-rehab.
ReplyDeleteThe connection between Cave and Mulaney's struggles with addictions was very impactful. It is amazing to see the difference in how people can internalize/externalize such an experience, and through what mediums they express it -- even disparate forms of art such as music and comedy hold equal footing in the processing of traumatic events and memories.
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