John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch (2019)

John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch (2019)

PG

John Mulaney successfully creates an offbeat children's comedy special tackling death

7.5

Movie

d, United States of America
English
Comedy, Family
2019
RHYS THOMAS
Alexander Bello, Annaleigh Ashford, Ava Briglia
70 min

TLDR

John Mulaney putting the sketch in sketch comedy.

What it's about

This sketch comedy and variety show hosted by comedian John Mulaney sees children processing their fears, death, and other thoughts through odd skits and catchy musical numbers.

The take

John Mulaney’s comedy special has candid interview segments, gallows humor on a children’s show, oddly specific musical numbers, and other variety show tropes. It having a children’s cast is largely why its snarky, uneasy tone works, and the topics that make it so are why you might watch it again. The cute absurdity of it all, as well as brief moments of introspection that can catch you off guard, are why you might even watch this with (older) kids—just don’t expect them to sit through the whole thing. It’s a comedy special for kids, by adults, so by design it’ll always be a bit off.

What stands out

I think about the processing scene with the guy in the Googy costume a lot.

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