It is a weird thing when a guy who was never actually a cast member becomes the face of the show. Seriously. Think about it. When you picture the 2010s or the early 2020s eras of Saturday Night Live, you aren't just thinking about Kate McKinnon or Kenan Thompson. You are thinking about the tall, lanky guy in the narrow tie who looks like he’s constantly being interrogated by the 1950s police. John Mulaney has basically become the unofficial mascot of Studio 8H. It’s a strange trajectory for a guy who spent years behind the scenes, tucked away in the writers' room, trying to convince Lorne Michaels that a sketch about a singing lobster in a diner was a good use of NBC’s budget.
He’s in the Five-Timers Club now. That’s a big deal. But it’s not just about the milestone; it’s about how he changed the vibe of the show. Most hosts come on to plug a movie. They read the cue cards with that glazed-over look that says, "I'm just here so I don't get fined." Mulaney is different. He’s a writer at heart. He knows the rhythms. He knows how to save a flubbed line. Basically, he speaks the language of the building.
The Secret History of John Mulaney at SNL
People forget he started there in 2008. He wasn't on screen. He was part of a legendary writing class that included Simon Rich and Marika Sawyer. If you loved the "Weekend Update" era of Bill Hader and Seth Meyers, you were actually loving Mulaney’s brain. He was the primary architect of Stefon. Yeah, the city correspondent with the hand-over-the-face move? That was John feeding Hader lines at the last second to make him break. It was a game of chicken played on live television.
He auditioned to be a performer, though. Most people don’t know that. He failed. Lorne Michaels told him he wasn't right for the cast. It’s honestly the best thing that ever happened to him. By staying in the writers' room, he learned the architecture of a joke. He learned how to build "The Diner Lobster" or "Bodega Bathroom." These aren't just sketches; they are Broadway-level productions built on the logic of a fever dream.
Why the "Mulaney Style" Works
There is a specific cadence to a John Mulaney episode. It’s fast. It’s wordy. It assumes the audience is smart. Most SNL sketches today rely on a "game"—a single funny idea repeated three times until the music plays. Mulaney sketches are different. They are dense. They have subplots.
Take "The Sack Lunch Bunch" or his various musical medleys. They are massive, expensive, and incredibly niche. Who else is going to convince a network to let them do a ten-minute parody of Les Misérables set in a LaGuardia Airport lounge? Nobody. He has earned that trust. It's a level of creative freedom that very few people in the history of the show have ever touched. Not even Eddie Murphy or Adam Sandler had that specific "writer-king" energy.
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The Five-Timers Club and the Weight of Tradition
When Mulaney joined the Five-Timers Club in February 2022, it felt like a coronation. The club used to be reserved for the Tom Hanks and Steve Martin types—the titans of industry. Seeing a former writer get the velvet jacket was a shift in the show's internal culture. It signaled that the "behind the scenes" talent was finally the star.
During that episode, he addressed his personal life with a level of bluntness we rarely see on a variety show. He’d been through rehab. He’d been through a very public divorce. He’d had a kid. Most hosts would use the monologue to do a hacky song and dance. Mulaney did twelve minutes of tight stand-up about his intervention. It was uncomfortable. It was hilarious. It was real. That is the "John" factor. He doesn't hide behind a character; he uses the SNL stage as a confessional booth with better lighting.
The Musical Sketches: A Love Letter to Weirdness
We have to talk about the musicals. If you search for "Saturday Night Live John" on YouTube, the top results are almost always the "Musical Items" sketches.
- Diner Lobster: The one that started it all.
- Bodega Bathroom: A tribute to the horrors of New York City retail.
- Airport Sushi: A surrealist masterpiece about LaGuardia.
- Subway Churro: The most recent addition to the "New York Food" canon.
These sketches work because they are incredibly specific to New York City. SNL is a New York show, but it often tries to be "for everyone." Mulaney leans into the local. He knows that if you make a joke about the G train, people in Ohio might not get it, but the people who do get it will love it forever. It’s the "Long Island Medium" principle. Specificity creates universality. It’s a weird paradox, but he’s mastered it.
The Relationship with Lorne Michaels
Lorne is notoriously hard to please. He’s the guy who let go of Norm Macdonald and Chris Farley. But with Mulaney, there’s a clear father-son dynamic. Lorne respects the craft. He respects people who stay late and obsess over a comma in a script.
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There’s a famous story about Mulaney trying to get "Diner Lobster" on the air for years while he was a writer. It kept getting cut. Lorne eventually let him do it when he came back to host because, at that point, Mulaney was the boss of the week. It’s a lesson in persistence. It’s also a sign that the power dynamic at SNL has shifted. The show needs Mulaney more than Mulaney needs the show. He brings a younger, internet-savvy audience back to a broadcast medium that is struggling to stay relevant in the age of TikTok.
The Critics' Take: Is it "Too Much" Mulaney?
Not everyone is a fan. Some critics argue that his episodes are too self-indulgent. They say the musical numbers go on too long and that he plays the same "anxious white guy" in every sketch. Honestly? They might have a point. If you don't like musical theater, a Mulaney episode is probably your version of hell.
But you can't deny the energy. When he’s in the building, the cast looks sharper. They are trying harder. You see it in the eyes of the younger players like Bowen Yang or Sarah Sherman. They grew up watching Mulaney’s writing. For them, performing with him is like a guitarist getting to jam with Jimmy Page. It raises the floor of the entire episode.
What We Can Learn from the Mulaney Era
The success of John Mulaney on Saturday Night Live isn't a fluke. It’s the result of a very specific set of skills that most people ignore in the age of "viral" content.
- Master the fundamentals. He spent four years just learning how to write a sketch before he ever tried to lead one.
- Lean into your niche. He loves old movies, Broadway, and New York history. He didn't change his interests to fit the show; he changed the show to fit his interests.
- Be honest about the mess. His post-rehab hosting stints are some of the most "human" moments in the history of the show.
He proved that you don't have to be a master impressionist to be a legendary host. You just have to have a point of view. You have to be the person in the room who cares the most about the joke.
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What's Next for the Partnership?
Expect more. He’s basically a permanent fixture now. Every time the show's ratings dip or they need a "sure thing" for a big anniversary, the red phone in Mulaney’s house probably rings. He’s the safety net. He’s the guy who can turn a mediocre week into a "did you see that?" week.
If you're looking to really understand why his episodes hit different, go back and watch the "Weekend Update" segments from 2010 to 2012. Look for the jokes that feel a little too smart, a little too rhythmic, or a little too obsessed with 1930s crime bosses. That’s the DNA of the modern SNL. He might not be in the opening credits every week, but his fingerprints are all over the walls of Studio 8H.
How to get the most out of the "Mulaney Era" of SNL:
- Watch the "Best of John Mulaney" compilations on YouTube, but specifically look for the sketches he wrote for other people, like Bill Hader’s "Herb Welch."
- Compare his first hosting gig to his fifth. You can see the confidence grow from "I hope I don't mess up" to "I own this stage."
- Pay attention to the background actors in the musical numbers. The scale of these sketches is insane for a show that is put together in six days.
- Study his monologue structure. He is one of the few hosts who treats the monologue like a legitimate stand-up special, which has influenced how other comedians (like Nate Bargatze or Bill Burr) approach the slot.
The reality is that SNL is a cyclical beast. People always say "the show isn't as good as it used to be." But when John Mulaney hosts, that argument usually takes a week off. He reminds everyone that at its core, the show is just a bunch of writers in a room trying to make each other laugh until they cry. He just happens to be the best at it.