John Mulaney performs in Melbourne

Gone are the happy days of John Mulaney.

Once showered with short-sighted admiration – known as the preppy, smartly dressed poster child of mainstream American comedy – he has since been relegated to tabloid headlines.

His first full show since the impeccably produced pre-pandemic Netflix special, Kid Gorgeous at Radio Citychronicle of Saturday night live The alumnus’ recent self-destructive trajectory.

For the Melbourne leg of his tour on Friday night, Mulaney performed at Margaret Court Arena. The aptly titled Completely new is indeed just that – a vulnerable and sometimes awkward hour from a man describing his fall from the highest comedic peaks and then attempt to claw his way up the mountain with an ice ax dulled by media scrutiny and his own social missteps .

It often blurs the line between a comedy show and a cathartic mass group therapy session.

Mulaney revealed in 2014 that he had been sober for nearly a decade — and his career thrived after that. It didn’t survive the COVID lockdowns.

After a star-studded intervention organized by Seth Meyers in December 2020, he began a two-month stint at a Pennsylvania rehab center for alcoholism alongside cocaine and pharmaceutical drug addictions. It was followed by the later failure of his marriage to Anna Marie Tendler.

His every ill-calculated move was placed under the microscopic lens of the unforgiving public. He wasn’t “cancelled” pending excommunication like his peers like Louis CK, Chris D’Elia or James Veitch – but his rosy public image has taken a serious hit.

A far cry from the physicality and happy humor of the viral skits that launched him to global fame (Hillary Clinton’s favorite film). horse in the hospitalor The Salt and Pepper Dineret al), 80% of the material in Completely new focuses on Mulaney’s relationship with drugs. Be it points from shady dealers, fooling doctors with rude prescriptions and of course the anarchy that ensues under the influence.