At this time last year, John Mulaney was still deep into his addiction to alcohol, cocaine, and prescription pills. His friends, many big name comedians themselves who had been collaborators with John Mulaney over the years, were growing more and more concerned over his drug use, and, as in most intervention cases, they had likely tried to broach the subject with him gently many times, showing concern and offering support. But John's addiction was taking over and by the next month, his friends would be staging the intervention that he now credits with saving his life. In his new show From Scratch, John Mulaney speaks candidly about the dark time and paints an intimate picture of what the intervention was like.
Though he was angry at his friends at the time, today he is so grateful to them for convincing him to go to rehab, and he seems to be in a much better place now, excited to become a dad and open a new chapter for himself. Who are the friends that finally put their foot down and showed John the tough love he needed? You'll probably recognize their names. Here's the history of John Mulaney's friendship with each of the famous comedians at his intervention.
8 Seth Meyers
Perhaps the friendship with the deepest roots, Seth Meyers and John Mulaney go way back. In fact, John Mulaney's grandmother and Seth Meyers' mother performed together in a hospital benefit show in Massachusetts decades ago. Seth and John became colleagues at Saturday Night Live and they even won an Emmy together, along with Justin Timberlake for cowriting the song, "Justin Timberlake Monologue." John joined the writing staff of Late Night with Seth Meyers in November 2020, just a month or so before Seth would be involved in the intervention that sent John to rehab and on a positive path to sobriety.
7 Pete Davidson Was 'Really Proud' Of Him
Pete Davidson has performed in his BFF John Mulaney's sketches on Saturday Night Live and even toured with him. The pair are charming together. While Pete Davidson wasn't at the intervention in person, John Mulaney has shared that several people were on Zoom for the event. He also shared that it was a common misconception that he had done drugs with Pete Davidson; he never did, he said, and Pete Davidson told him he was "really proud" of him for getting sober.
6 Fred Armisen Wasn't There To Joke Around
Fred Armisen and John Mulaney met when Fred was performing on SNL and John Mulaney was writing for the show. They've also worked together on Big Mouth, Documentary Now!, and countless other projects. In John Mulaney's From Scratch show, he recounts how jarring it was to walk in and find himself in his own intervention. He mentioned Fred Armisen in particular as being a startling presence. Seth Meyers later says on his show, "I think you know the gravity of a situation when Fred Armisen is not doing a bit."
5 Marika Sawyer
Marika Sawyer isn't a name you'd recognize from headlines, but she's worked with John Mulaney behind the scenes and is responsible for some of our favorite projects, like John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch. They have written together since 2008 when they were colleagues at Saturday Night Live.
4 Natasha Lyonne Convinced Him To Go To Rehab
Natasha Lyonne's friendship with John Mulaney goes back to at least the beginning of Fred Armisen's relationship with the Russian Doll actress, but it goes deeper than just the surface level relationship one often has with a friend's partner. John Mulaney reports it was Natasha's pitch at his intervention that ultimately got him to go to rehab. A former heroin addict and survivor of a near-death experience with the drug, Natasha told John that when he was sober and ready she would go on long, wistful walks around New York with him and they could dream and reflect together without being high. John's impression of her is spot on: "Johnny, hunny, you gotta go to rehab," he says, mimicking her throaty voice and New York accent while miming smoking a cigarette.
3 Nick Kroll Saved John Mulaney's Life
The friendship between Nick Kroll and John Mulaney is one that often has the internet swooning. The pair most famously worked together in their Broadway show, Oh, Hello as two eccentric geriatrics, and they voice characters alongside each other in Netflix's Big Mouth. But the two have known each other since college; they both attended Georgetown University. They began working together professionally in 2005. Nick was one of the driving forces behind the intervention, and John Mulaney now credits him with saving his life.
2 Bill Hader
John Mulaney is responsible for most of the writing behind one of our favorite SNL characters, Stefon. He and Bill Hader created the character together. As a writer on the show, John got a kick out of putting entirely new lines on the cue cards that Bill Hader was reading so that the actor hadn't seen them until the moment he said them on the show. If you've laughed at Bill Hader faltering and breaking, overcome with laughter, you've witnessed this beautiful friendship. Bill Hader reportedly Zoomed in from Los Angeles for the intervention.
1 Simon Rich
John Mulaney has written with comedian and humorist Simon Rich since at least 2009, writing countless sketches for SNL together. They, along with Marika Sawyer, are responsible for the beloved "What's That Name?", a recurring sketch in which Kenan Thompson plays a game show host who challenges contestants to remember the names of "low-status" people in their lives, such as their doorman or cleaning lady. Simon Rich comes back to write for SNL every time John Mulaney hosts.