Joan Baez Delightfully Derails First Night of ‘Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney’
John Mulaney returned to Netflix last night with his Everybody’s in L.A., er, Everybody’s Live comedy talk show. (The reason for the name change, according to Mulaney: Research told Netflix that viewers hate Los Angeles.) The show continues to be a chaotic, occasionally inspired mess — more on that below — but its live nature might be the best reason to stream in real time. Mulaney appears intent on booking eclectic wild cards as guests, and the strategy paid off last night with legendary folk singer and political activist Joan Baez.
Last night’s hour was built around a hodgepodge of celebrities giving live callers advice about lending and borrowing money. After a segment featuring Michael Keaton and a personal finance expert, the panel expanded to bring in Fred Armisen and Baez.
“Joan Baez, it is an honor to have you on this show,” Mulaney began.
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“You say that in 10 minutes,” she cautioned, well aware of what she wanted to bring to the table.
Mulaney kicked things off by asking Baez about Martin Luther King. She’d previously described King as a funny person — what was MLK’s sense of humor like, he wondered.
Not so fast, comedy boy. Before she’d get goofy, Baez made it clear that she had an agenda for the night. “You said I could say anything I want out here,” she reminded Mulaney. “We’re all here to be silly and have fun, and as long as we recognize the fact that our democracy is going up in flames. … We’re being run by a bunch of really incompetent billionaires.”
Well, that’s a diatribe you won’t hear from Mindy Kaling on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show. Baez’s grenades were met by applause and whoops from both the panel and the studio audience. “Thank you for saying that,” Mulaney told Baez while encouraging the rest of the panel to sound off on whatever they wanted.
With those furious thoughts off her chest, as well as a rant about how much she hated a Tesla she once owned, Baez was happy to deal the inside dope on Martin Luther King comedy. “Dr. King was sort of like me,” Baez explained. “He had the image of always being serious, never having a sense of humor.” But she recalled a time when she picked him up at the airport for a conference in South Carolina. A big march was planned, and Baez was excited to learn how such powerful protests were organized.
But when Baez gathered King, Jesse Jackson and the rest of his team for a one-hour drive, “they all started telling dirty jokes. I’m not supposed to say that but they did.” After dinner, more of the same — a deluge of dirty jokes.
Baez later told Andrew Young, one of King’s lieutenants, “I thought I was going to hear the inside story of how you guys plan a march.”
“You just did,” Young replied.
Baez was Mulaney’s most impactful guest on the premiere of his new show, mainly due to his insistence on being weird. Rather than traditional interviews, the comic has set up a format where several guests share a couch and try to get a word in edgewise. When a caller asks for advice about a loan from a resentful mom, we hear from Keaton, the financial advisor, Armisen, Baez, Mulaney and sidekick announcer Richard Kind. It’s an exercise in celebrities either talking over one another or politely ceding the floor.
“You first!”
“No, you go ahead!”
It’s sorta fun because it’s a welcome break from celebrities relaying canned anecdotes before plugging their movie/series/special. But “different” is only going to get Mulaney so far. He’ll need to figure out how to have more Joan Baez moments to make Everbody’s Live a weekly must-watch.
