The Comedian Who Unofficially Inspired John Mulaney’s Netflix Show Has Some Notes

Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney almost feels as though it’s been scientifically calibrated to be as sloppy and chaotic as possible. While some viewers may find that to be insufferable, others might see it as a refreshing alternative to all of those other talk shows that don’t have a janky soda-carrying robot butler.

In a recent Vulture article, Mulaney name-checked some of his Netflix series’ biggest inspirations, including The Dick Cavett Show, Larry King Live and the 1970s punk rock public access show TV Party.

Conspicuously absent from that list, however, is The Chris Gethard Show. When the first iteration of Mulaney’s talk show, Everybody’s in L.A., aired last year, a number of people were quick to point out that it was basically a big-budget version of Gethard’s experimental talk show, which began on stage at the Upright Citizens Brigade, before migrating to public access channel MNN, then Fusion and eventually landing at TruTV, which sadly pulled the plug after 26 episodes.

As Late Nighter once pointed out, the shows really do share a lot in common — from the unhinged sidekicks, to the viewer phone calls framed around a certain topic, to the generally anarchic, slapdash vibe. Even more specifically, both shows include funny descriptors when guests’ names are shown on screen. 

Mulaney himself was a guest on The Chris Gethard Show on multiple occasions, and when it was canceled in 2018, he proclaimed that the show “felt like how I always wanted TV to feel.”

To Gethard’s credit, when fans began pointing out the similarities between Mulaney’s Netflix show and his canceled series, he offered nothing but praise and positivity, calling it “chaotic and funny and interactive and unpredictable and good.”

More recently, Gethard offered up his two cents in regards to what seems to be an ongoing issue for Mulaney: the phone calls. Miscommunications and technical errors have been making the call-in segments painfully dull, prompting some fans to urge the show to abandon them entirely.

One call was so prolonged and boring that Mulaney decided to hang up on the guy mid-anecdote. 

After once again singing the show’s praises, and remarking that he wants Everybody’s Live to “succeed on a massive scale,” Gethard suggested on social media that Mulaney should really be wearing an “in ear monitor for the phone calls,” adding, “just let me know if I can help in any other way.”

That totally makes sense. And it would be kind of surprising if the show didn’t take Gethard’s advice, seeing as how it took so much other stuff from him.