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This motherfucker got too much confidence, he impersonates her with pitch-perfect teen-girl sass.
His skin is terrible.
He look like multigrain.
Im gon tell him.
Im gon tell him he look like bread.
He got feminine hips!
Given their shared comic sensibility, its unsurprising that the two stand-ups have established a collaborative kinship.
The reason to film it was because it was so good, says Mulaney.
As opposed to someone just saying, I need to or want to make another special.
And Langston, you dida sketch onEverybodys in L.A.where you played Terrence Howard.
John Mulaney:A fair amount.
And then John was like, Hey, man, no, we cant do that.
And we worked our way backwards to where it landed.
Youre a former professional teacher, so youd think that might have made it easier to pull off.L.K.
:That was my hope.
:Langston is like Tim Walz: Hes proudest of being a teacher.
And, like Tim Walz, he believes in the math of Terrence Howard.
:Its why Kamala got my vote.
She brought in that new guy, and I get it now.
:Most tickets are one plus one equals two, but that makes no sense.
:Langston, I dont know if we ever met beforeBust Down.
:I met you one time at Largo.
But we did not meet in any real capacity untilBust Downcame out.
And you were just very sweet and kind about all the stuff you liked about it.
:Bust Downwas and is a perfect ensemble comedy.
It was the funniest show Id seen sinceAlways Sunny.
The writing, the four of them so good.
If you ever need me for anything on the show, I would love to do it.
Then all four of them, in different ways, were like, Oh, cool, man.
Glad you like the show.
I think John mentioned in that email that he was starting a production company, right?
I was just going to fucking Brian Epstein theBust Downfour.
I remember, that summer, I was sitting there going,Thats what Im going to do next.
:You have no idea how excited we would have been to have you.
:I should have been more direct.
:This is a lesson for everybody: Say what you want.
Every bit of this special is a take-home bit.
I always think of specials like album tracks, and each of these is a hit to me.
Just wait if you dont have it!
This hour was so tight and ready to go.
When you were initially talking about visualizing the special, what did those conversations look like?J.M.
1 reason was legal.
:But, yeah, I was really inspired byLove Jones.
And then that space, the Green Mill
J.M.
:To casually throw it out still delights me.
So,Love Jones…
Remember that movieThe Cutting Edgeabout figure skating?
OrGleaming the Cubeto skateboarding?Love Jonesis that to mid-90s slam poetry.
:Yeah, it probably lives somewhere in that space.
Just a certain, specific group of older, horny Black women are really excited about it.
And he goes, Well, its not my own poem.
And I went, The whole poem is word-for-word fromLove Jones?
And he went, Yeah, I told youLove Joneswas the visual touchstone.
Did you ever watchLove Jones?And I said, No, but I looked at photos of it.
:Yeah, I looked at some dark images that you sent me.
I glanced at it on my phone and then I looked at other stuff on my phone.
:Then Langstons own wack-ass poetry background came into play when choosing the venue.
:Yeah, the Green Mill is this iconic space for poetry in Chicago.
Langston, does your poetry background inform your comedy writing at all?L.K.
Theyre both just taking a narrative and making it hyperbolic.
Ones fun, and the other ones sad and about my dad.
And I think that definitely is helpful in comedy.
The less rambly and obnoxious I can make it, the better it tends to be.
But none of my poems were funny, and I wont be sharing them.
Are there any tropes of specials that you wanted to avoid when putting the special together?
Anything you definitely didnt want it to look like?L.K.
So we talked a lot about stylistic choices, including not making it about the audience.
We didnt need cameras pointed at the audience to prove this thing was funny.
We wanted it to look cool and not like a silly thing that other people are doing.
Langston, theres a recurring bit in the special where you talk about managing your mother-in-laws dating profile.
I wanted to ask how that works.
Youre good to go?L.K.
:My wife and I would spend about a day just small-talking with these gentlemen: How are you?
What are you up to today?
And then she would call, and shed report back on whether or not she enjoyed that conversation.
And you bet your bottom dollar that she never did!
Are both stories about the same day?L.K.
:I think wed like to figure out how to do more.
It was a very interesting experiment in this confined amount of time.
Definitely open to it.
We had lots of bits we didnt get to.
But Im not in charge of that.
Langston, you wrote for the Oscars in 2016.
What do you want me to do?
You want me to nudge him?
Yeah, can you help me peer-pressure him into hosting the Oscars right now?L.K.
:Listen, I did not get a single joke on in 2016.
Chris [Rock] hated everything I offered him, and I respect that choice!
He was doing the right thing for him.
:I think Im not hosting!
People are telling me Im not.
Yeah, Im not doing that.
