John Mulaney
Nasim Pedrad
Seaton Smith
Zack Pearlman
Elliott Gould
Martin Short

Created by:
John Mulaney

2014
Comedy
Fox
TV-14

“Mulaney” has a first episode that poorly introduces its central characters. None of these people are distinctive; they’re shadows of characters that we’ve seen before. They seem to be here solely in the service of setting up jokes, rather than being the inspiration for those jokes. They don’t seem like individuals; they’re generic.

This is a lame attempt at the “Seinfeld” formula. Mulaney, the character, is the Irish Catholic stand-in for Seinfeld. Of course, this means that he’s a stand-up comedian. It also means that he has friends who spend a lot of time in his New York City apartment. His friends aren’t exact stand-ins for Seinfeld’s, but they’re close enough: There’s a character named Andre who seems to be an updated version of Newman, with Kramer’s screen time. Contrastingly, Elliot Gould’s older, gay neighbor character, Oscar, seems to be some version of Kramer, with Newman’s screen time. After the first episode, all of this may change; but they launched with this. So this is their setup.

And what’s with the laugh track? Why do contemporary shows still use them? This laugh track is overused and obtrusive. Stop it. They tape in front of a live audience anyway. Let the audience provide the laughter all on its own. That means that you’ll actually have to make the audience laugh, though. (Scary thought.)

Another note: If “Mulaney” were to fit its lead more, then it would be on a better path. He’s a quirky, uncomfortable guy. The humor and energy should match him at all times. While the situations do, the writing and execution of the humor don’t. (Mulaney may be a worse actor than Seinfeld, but that doesn’t have to matter much. I actually like his stand-up scenes better than the rest of the scenes in the show, and his stand-up isn’t even that great.) So, it all depends on the execution of the writing. Plus, they have to come up with better jokes than this. These jokes are pathetic.

As it is, this is a “Nick at Nite” version of “Seinfeld.” I doubt that’s what they want.

Verdict: Whatever to Pretty Bad

About: (Source: mulaney)

Set in NY, the new comedy follows aspiring comedian (Mulaney) coming of age under the influence of his boss, his roommates & his neighbors.