Mulaney: The New Seinfeld?

In the late 80's and early 90's, it seemed every comedian had their own sitcom. Most were simply "based on the comedy" of the main character, putting the star in situations that provided the best situation in each episode. Whether it was Roseanne, or Home Improvement, The Cosby Show, or Everybody Loves Raymond, the comedian was never a comedian on the series. Except, of course, on Seinfeld, probably the most successful and influential of them all.

Since the "show about nothing," several stand-ups have followed in their footsteps with series that followed a version of their lives in comedy. Curb and Louie come to mind, but the format has strayed from the milti-camera, laugh track days of Seinfeld. Until now. Twenty-five years after Seinfeld debuted, Fox is trying to make history repeat itself with an obvious homage to the ground-breaking NBC sitcom. So, what's the deal with Mulaney? Sadly, the great material at the heart of the throwback comedy can't save it from feeling out of time. Believe me, we all know how important timing is for comedy.

Part of Fox's new Sunday Funday lineup, Mulaney follows an up-and-coming New York stand up comedian named John Mulaney. His roommates include an uptight personal trainer named Jane, played by formerr SNL cast member Nasim Pedrad, and Seaton Smith as Motif, another struggling but working comic. Another veteran of Saturday Night Live, Martin Short stars as Mulaney's new boss, a self-absorbed comic legend turned game show host named Lou Cannon. Also in the cast are Zach Pearlman, who plays trust-fund baby/drug dealer/punching bag Andre, and Academy Award nominee Elliott Gould, who is the elderly Jewish stoner neighbor named Oscar.

The main problem for any throwback is to avoid feeling dated, and Mulaney suffers by not adding a new spin on the old formula. It is Seinfeld all the way down to the stand-up sequences and noise between transitions. I promised myself I wouldn't mention Seinfeld in this entry, but that's nearly impossible. Even the sitcom itself calls Mulaney (the character) a 'Seinfeld ripoff' in the much improved fourth episode, titled "Sweet Jane," that dramatizes his bit about the impossibility of forcing girls to be friends.

The good news is that the Fox series does get better with each installment. the bad news is that the pilot is terrible, so getting worse was practically an impossibility. None of this is good for me because I'm a fan of Mulaney's work, the stuff he wrote for SNL (including Stefon and his two Weekend Update appearances), his stand-up bits with Nick Kroll on Kroll Show. He's funny, but his show is not good and I don't know why. The pilot got no laughs out of me and that's not good for a comedy.

Perhaps having seen some of the material before cause some would-be laughs to become smiles? I'm willing to admit that maybe Mulaney doesn't feel fresh to me because I've already heard the jokes and not because of the well-worn format. However, I don't think that's the case. I like the cast, and the show does improve with every episode (I've seen five), just not enough to recommend when there's so much more to watch on Sunday nights.