John Mulaney, the Netflix Kid, is returning to the streaming service that helped make him who he is today. On May 1, Mulaney will release his third hour-long special, John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City. Directed by Alex Timber, whom Mulaney worked with on Oh, Hello on Broadway, with a fancy set by Tony Award–winner Scott Pask (The Book of Mormon), the special was filmed at, well, Radio City Music Hall, where the stand-up sold out seven straight shows.
Kid Gorgeous at Radio City is part of a multi-special deal between Mulaney and Netflix, which makes sense considering how much success they’ve had together over the years. “I got my last Comedy Central special [New in Town] on Netflix,†he told Vulture before his last special, The Comeback Kid, “and it had a whole second life.†The immense popularity of his specials on the service put Mulaney in the position to sell out theaters across the country and put Netflix on the industry’s radar. Comedians notice what other comedians are doing, so when they saw someone start playing bigger and bigger venues without necessarily appearing on a hit TV show, eyebrows were raised. Mulaney (along with Bill Burr, Tom Segura, and most drastically Ali Wong) made Netflix seem like a potential game changer. It helped that Mulaney’s jokes were so good and everyone found them so funny.