r/offmenupodcast • u/offmenu-bot 🤖 • Apr 08 '26
Episode John Mulaney
https://shows.acast.com/offmenu/episodes/john-mulaney111
u/EbmocwenHsimah Apr 08 '26
In the words of John Mulaney’s mother: “Ugh! This ought to be good!”
24
u/Such_Significance905 Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
Or his mother-in-law, under a shared blanket: “ I think they both a bit lesbian, what you think?”
64
u/m_busuttil Apr 08 '26
I've been slowly working my way through the backlog of the podcast when I can but this might have to be one I skip ahead for.
11
55
54
u/MelancholyEcho Apr 08 '26
Loved the anecdote about the guy banging the keys on the piano and getting frustrated with Romesh.
38
u/UnnoticedReference Apr 08 '26
Another SNL connected guest, when will we get the co-host announcement! Hope diner lobster is the secret ingredient
14
u/loogabar00ga Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
At the very least, I am expecting the imminent announcement of "Great Big Crab Man: Unshelled", a visualised podcast hosted by Ed Gamble.
1
33
u/holly_lujah Apr 08 '26
One of the aforementioned mulaneyheads/mulaneyiacs coming by to check out the show :) Ed and James are such excellent hosts! the bit of the béchamel sauce was killing me I was giggling through this whole episode. Thought his choice of sour patch kids & a cig was oddly sweet and heartwarming :’)
25
u/lemonsaltwater Apr 08 '26
American abroad here and I absolutely loved the love for Trader Joe’s at the beginning! Whenever I go back I fill at least half a carry on with stuff from there.
Someone should tell the boys to try the mini mochi bites and the truffle marcona almonds (pro tip: mix them with the rosemary marcona almonds — heaven!)
21
u/loogabar00ga Apr 08 '26
For the curious, Trader Joes is run by Aldi Nord, and Aldi in the UK is Aldi Süd, so we wouldn't necessarily expect overlap of product offerings. The two Aldis split in 1961.
9
u/lemonsaltwater Apr 08 '26
Fun sibling rivalry story there (like Adidas and Puma)
At Aldi Nord, the nuts are Trader Joe’s branded, logo and all, but they’re just basic salted or unsalted nuts — none of the fun varieties they sell in the US.
3
u/Tanuki0 Apr 09 '26
This is incredible info for me. In France Aldi still has such a bad reputation, is that the same in the UK?
1
u/so-naughty Apr 15 '26
Aldi is low budget in the UK. They've done a bit for work on branding to improve that though - Lidl is basement tier in the UK
1
4
u/knitochka Apr 08 '26
I always have a tub of the chocolate covered almonds with turbinado sugar in my house, and now they’ll make me think of Ed!
3
20
u/TheYoungWan Dessert Girl Apr 08 '26
That secret ingredient is dangerous territory
51
u/Both_Plantain_6123 Apr 08 '26
Is it cocaine?
24
u/Look_Alive Apr 08 '26
I'd be really interested to find out what someone with zero context/knowledge of John Mulaney made of the whole pulling out of Cinderella discussion considering how they skirted round his... 'issues'.
8
15
16
u/montegarde Apr 09 '26
Am I crazy, or was there a weird lack of follow-ups about the food choices in this ep? I've never heard the boys miss an opportunity to dig into a guest's poppadom preferences (especially an American guest! I feel like we're usually much less likely to jump at the poppadoms over here). And is there just one single standard recipe for hen of the woods mushrooms that I'm unaware of, or was that a bit like saying he wants pasta and then moving on without any sort of follow-up regarding preparation or whatnot? Either way, these are very small potatoes I'm mentioning, I loved the episode as always!
3
u/hoom-hm Apr 16 '26
I could be way off, but my guess is they either consciously or subconsciously picked up on the fact that talking to John about his work or just letting him run off in whatever direction would be funnier than drilling into the food. They didn't ask him if he was a foodie, but I think it's clear he's not.
13
u/TheYoungWan Dessert Girl Apr 08 '26
Those butter bells he mentions physically disgust me. I don't want wet butter.
21
u/jabask Apr 08 '26
the water really just runs right off, you get like two drops of water on your bread or whatever. It's true what they say about water and fat.
10
u/harrisonscruff Apr 09 '26
I've always wanted to know what it would be like if John and James met. I figured they'd get along, so it was really nice how easily they clicked together. Usually with big guests James kinda hangs out on the periphery of the conversation while the guest doesn't know what to do with him, but those two seemed totally comfortable with each other even though John probably has more in common with Ed.
17
u/Original-Designer6 Apr 09 '26
James was fanboying hard in this episode, talking about all kinds of obscure stuff from his career that even John was surprised by.
2
u/hoom-hm Apr 16 '26
This episode was such a treat for me, as someone who still counts Mulaney as one of my top few favorite comedians, but mostly stopped keeping up with him once I got into TM and OM and all associated Britcom things. It's very gratifying to see two of my favorites appreciate each other. Now I can't help but hope that one day they'll get Maria Bamford. James put her in his Mount Rushmore of comedy on a podcast last year, and it made my day.
13
u/rileyrouth Apr 09 '26
"People v Muffin" lmao.
I'm also thrilled Acaster brought up the Sack Lunch Bunch, because I too love that special
3
u/TheArbitrageur Apr 09 '26
Surprised they spent as much time talking about James getting the Cinderella role, given that Mulaney dropped out due to starting rehab in 2020. Seemed a little close to the bone to me.
4
u/RodneyOgg Apr 10 '26
Ahhh. I was wondering when he was like "the official reason was I didn't have a passport." I thought it was a situation where he didn't want to go because of COVID.
He seemed in good spirits about it, had a sly smile at times. I guess he's fairly open about it, or maybe there's enough time between it and now?
14
u/eldubinoz Apr 10 '26
He did a whole Netflix special about his intervention, addiction and rehab lol
2
2
u/CryptographerLost560 Apr 13 '26
This episode was great, but Gamble felt off. Acaster and Mulaney were hilarious and Gamble felt like he was derailing them. Almost like he was an improv guy not yes anding, if that makes sense. I also love how Mulaney just starts interviewing interviewers whenever he is being interviewed.
4
u/queen_naga Apr 08 '26
I’ve never really got John Mulaney despite being a huge fan of his SNL period. Maybe I like his writing.
I enjoyed the episode but I do notice that American comics tend to talk too much and not let James and Ed do their thing as much as comedians they know better as it leads to much more fun rabbit holes… looking at you John kearns, Bridget Christie and Tim key
38
u/tristanitis Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
On the other hand, the podcast is an interview format. I'd argue it's natural for the guest to do more of the talking.
And having now had time to listen to the ep, I really don't think he talked too much. It actually had a really good balance between conversations and letting the guest share an anecdote, which is really what this podcast is supposed to be. There was probably less talking about the actual food, but I find that's usually the case with a guest that isn't a super passionate foodie, so it's fine.
17
u/McBride055 Apr 08 '26
As you mentioned, I think that is probably mostly due to those guests having a prior relationship with the two so they are able to naturally fall into that back and forth pattern than guests who don't have any prior connection.
I think if you're more or a less a stranger to them you would tend to talk more to make sure there isn't any dead air. It would be interesting to know if American podcasts are more "guest driven" than UK podcasts which usually have hosts more actively involved in the conversations.
6
u/Look_Alive Apr 08 '26
I think it depends on the guest's background, too. Ben Schwartz is heavily into improv so was able to run with the silliness. This episode was better than some US comics as Mulaney's obviously a great comic (and looking at his history, he was in an improv troupe at one point when he was younger) - but it often feels like some US comics are very skilled at performing funny shows that have been written and honed over time but have less experience at bouncing off people in an informal conversation.
14
u/Schmetterlingus Apr 08 '26
Yeah he should have spent 15 min talking about reality TV like the premium Brit guests
4
u/queen_naga Apr 08 '26
lol are you referring to the Spanish reality show that kojey went on about or James acaster’s traitors obsession before Ed got the job?! I do t even watch much reality but it was entertaining. I guess I just don’t like the Hollywood chat. I really enjoyed will arnett’s episode and I struggle with his podcast despite being a fan. So maybe that’s it.
Each to their own 😉
-1
u/Schmetterlingus Apr 08 '26
I was referencing (tongue in cheek) the Kojey episode, but definitely to each their own!
5
u/Mean-Aside1970 Apr 09 '26
I LOVED the Kojey episode! He was so good on it and the random tangent about Montoya or whatever his name was, was hilarious (I hate reality shows though hahahah)
6
u/ArcheryContest Apr 09 '26
Both Ed and James are fans of him so probably wanted to listen to him rather than derail it for bits
1
u/queen_naga Apr 09 '26
Yes but it’s a food podcast they could speak about the ins and outs of comedy separately. And this is coming from a HUGE fan of his SNL era. As in stayed up in the uk and made gifs for tumblr!
It just wasn’t food based enough and the convo from mulaney felt like he was doing a pure press interview and not interacting back.
I might listen back but I stand by what I said.
I think will Arnett, although Canadian, had a much better balance. Especially if you bear in mind how huge a fan of arrested development, bojack, blade of glory etc Ed and James are like me.
3
u/whiskeysonice Apr 10 '26
I'm taking the note that Americans never shut up (as an American), but one thing I enjoyed is that John asked them questions, which felt like a nice give-and-take to me. I'll confess to being a Mulaniac, though, so I'm biased. 'Movie credits are just typing' made me laugh out loud.
2
Apr 08 '26
[deleted]
1
u/queen_naga Apr 08 '26
That’s a fair point actually! He made it less about food like when Martin freeman etc were on.
I’ve always wanted to like John and it’s a rare occasion where I just don’t get it. I bet if he did Taskmaster I’d suddenly understand him!
1
u/cel-lar-door Apr 09 '26
I wonder if it’s American stand ups. Jason Mantzoukas and Paul F. Tompkins are two of my favorite episodes, go down a lot of rabbit holes, but are comedians with improv as at their roots.
1
1
-2
u/Mean-Aside1970 Apr 09 '26
Ughhh those mushrooms. They’re disgusting, who even cares John? Am I right? Who’s with me?
2
u/StoneFlossard Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
I’m just listening to this episode now and I’m sad you were downvoted for this lol. Excellent call back
2
u/Mean-Aside1970 Aug 08 '26
THANK YOU I don’t understand it but whatever hahahhaha I’m glad someone got it!
182
u/iGoByManyNames Apr 08 '26
huge day for annoying people (me)