Comedy News

New tour from Saturday Night Live standup John Mulaney hits Dallas

Mulaney has been in the headlines lately.

Courtesy photo

Standup comedian John Mulaney is going on tour in 2022, and that tour includes Texas. The former writer for Saturday Night Live is launching his "From Scratch Tour" in March with stops at 33 cities across the U.S. including three dates in Texas:

H-E-B Center in Austin on Thursday, March 24
American Airlines Center in Dallas on Friday, March 25
Toyota Center in Houston, on Saturday, March 26

Produced by Live Nation, the tour will begin March 11 in Pennsylvania, and will hit the Midwest, California, and the South before wrapping up in Chicago on July 14.

Tickets go on sale at 10 am Friday, December 10 on Ticketmaster.com.

Mulaney's last tour was his "Kid Gorgeous" tour in 2018, later released as a Netflix special which won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety Special.

He's earned lots of acclaim but has made headlines lately due to his personal life, including a stint in rehab, a sudden divorce from longtime wife Anna Marie Tendler, and a quick relationship with Olivia Munn, who is now pregnant.

AV Club notes that his first post-rehab shows delved into his substance abuse, a departure from his previous wholesome persona.

In December 2019, his musical variety special John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch debuted on Netflix. Previous specials include The Comeback Kid on Netflix in 2015, and a Comedy Central special New In Town in 2012.

He began writing for Saturday Night Live in 2008 and has served as guest host four times.

He’s also starred on Broadway in Oh, Hello On Broadway with Nick Kroll; the duo have since released a Netflix special of the same name, as well as a podcast.

Tour dates are as follows:

Friday March 11 — Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania/ Mohegan Sun Arena
Saturday March 12 — Louisville/ KFC Yum! Center
Sunday March 13 — Cincinnati/ Heritage Bank Center
Friday March 18 — Portland, Maine/ Cross Insurance Arena
Saturday March 19 — Ledyard, Connecticut/ Foxwoods Resort Casino
Thursday March 24 — Austin/ H-E-B Center
Friday March 25 — Dallas/ American Airlines Center
Saturday March 26 — Houston/ Toyota Center
Friday April 1 — Savannah, Georgia/ Enmarket Arena
Saturday April 2 — Charlotte, North Carolina/ Spectrum Center
Sunday April 3 — Birmingham, Alabama/ Legacy Arena at The BJCC
Thursday April 7 — Sacramento/ Golden 1 Center
Friday April 8 — San Jose/ SAP Center
Saturday April 9 — Salt Lake City/ Vivint Arena
Sunday April 17 — Denver/ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Friday April 22 — Omaha/ CHI Health Center
Saturday April 23 Saint Paul, Minnesota/ Xcel Energy Center
Friday April 29 — Berkeley/ Greek Theatre
Thursday May 12 — Orlando/ Addition Financial Arena
Friday May 13 / Saturday May 14 — Hollywood, Florida/ Hard Rock Live
Sunday May 15 - Tampa/ Midflorida Credit Union Amphitheatre
Friday May 20 — Columbus, Ohio/ Schottenstein Center
Saturday May 21 — Norfolk, Virginia/ Scope Arena
Sunday May 22 — Raleigh, North Carolina/ PNC Arena
Thursday June 9 — Springfield, Massachusetts/ MassMutual Center
Friday June 10 — Saratoga Springs/ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Saturday June 11 — Buffalo/ KeyBank Center
Sunday June 12 — Syracuse/ Upstate Medical University Arena
Friday June 17 — Atlantic City, New Jersey/ Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena
Thursday June 23 — New York/ Madison Square Garden
Thursday July 14 — Chicago/ United Center

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Movie Review

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes' doc leaves truth in question

Photo courtesy of A24

Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes in You Can See Everything.

Elizabeth Holmes faced one of the most public downfalls in recent history after she was accused of defrauding investors in her health technology company, Theranos. Her subsequent indictment and conviction drew the interest of many, including, it seems, comedian/actor/filmmaker Nathan Fielder. Fielder somehow convinced Holmes and her husband, Billy Evans, to make a documentary about her final days of freedom, called You Can See Everything.

It’s not immediately clear why Fielder — who only has one previous feature-length documentary to his credit — is interested in profiling Holmes, but the approach that he and co-director Lance Oppenheim (Primetime) take is one that puts Fielder in the spotlight as much as her or Evans. Fielder looms over the couple — sometimes literally, sometimes from afar — as they care for their children, make meals, try to re-establish business relationships, and prepare for Holmes’ prison sentence, which is due to start about a month after the film begins in 2023.

Fielder quizzes Holmes and Evans about predictable subjects — such as how Theranos worked, her relationship with COO Sunny Balwani, and her conviction — and ones that are slightly off-kilter, including the miniseries The Dropout, which dramatized Holmes’ rise and fall. He is met with seeming openness by both of them — the title of the movie is uttered by Holmes at one point — but there are times where their idea of transparency doesn’t jibe with Fielder’s expectations.

Through it all, the quirky reputation that Fielder has from TV shows like Nathan for You, The Curse, and The Rehearsal colors his participation, as well. He appears sincere, if surprisingly intense, in his questioning, but there are more than a few moments where it’s fair to wonder if the whole thing is an act of performance art. That suspicion grows in the second half of the nearly three-hour film as Fielder and Oppenheim go down roads that stretch the definition of what a documentary is or can be.

The film is utterly fascinating as the filmmakers go on what seems to be a full-on exploration of the meaning of truth. Holmes and Evans, either intentionally or unintentionally, carry on conversations with Fielder with wide-open, unblinking eyes, something that conveys honesty and creepiness in equal measures. Fielder meets them with squinting expressions, looking like he’s trying to determine how candid they’re actually being.

One of the biggest things the film reveals (or does it?) is that — if she’s not a sociopath — Holmes might be someone who’s either oblivious or naive. As cryptic or strange as she can be in words and actions, Evans is even more so, and as the film progresses it’s him whose motives and ideas are called into question. Control over the narrative of the film wobbles back-and-forth between Fielder, Holmes, and Evans, and even at the end it’s unclear whose perspective has truly won out.

There is no way to accurately get across what it’s like to watch You Can See Everything for the first time. The motives of everyone involved are up in the air, resulting in a roller coaster ride that’s full of astonishment, laughs, and a number of surprises. It’s an audacious film that can’t be categorized, one that will challenge the thinking of voters when it comes time for awards season.

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You Can See Everything opens in theaters on October 16.

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