By Kate Ariano and Olivia Hickey
John Mulaney virtually returned to the University of Connecticut on Nov. 12 for a Q&A session hosted by the Student Union Board of Governors and Undergraduate Student Government leaving viewers with permission to restart a popular rumor that he’s an orphan.
“You could get a Reddit thing going about how I’m an orphan and that I admitted it to you before we went live, however you want to do it,” Mulaney said.
But SUBOG Comedy Chair Catherine Casey said his parents deserve a better ending than that of the previous rumor which stated they died in a fire. So naturally, Mulaney had some new ideas.
“Well I always liked in Roald Dahl books when the parents were eaten by a rhinoceros,” he said. “When my parents went out for the night I always thought they’d be killed by some zoo animal, but they’d always come home.”
The comedian and voice of Andrew Glouberman from “Big Mouth” as well as Spider-Ham in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” talked about how some people find it odd that he never shows his feet in paparazzi photos. Now, he’s determined to keep it that way.
Viewers had the opportunity to submit questions ahead of time, leaving it up to SUBOG to pick just a handful to ask Mulaney on the night of the event. Mulaney shared his comedic inspirations and discussed his time as an english major.
Like the rest of us, Mulaney tried to find ways to pass the time during the pandemic. So, he painted a picture, but he doesn’t plan on doing it again.
“If you have hobby suggestions, throw them at me and real ones would be appreciated,” he said. “Humorous ones that I won’t actually do, those are all well and good, we’ll all have a good laugh but if anyone could think of something that I might be decent at doing.”
One topic almost everyone inquired about was Petunia, his dog. Mulaney reported that she is doing well, and her snores calm him like a white noise machine while napping. They recently fought over wet paper towels on a walk before he hopped on the video chat.
Ashley Brown, a fifth-semester marketing major and the SUBOG Special Events Marketing Chair, asked about his travels. She had no idea her question would be one of the few Mulaney answered
“I just tried to come up with one that would maybe be unique but not too hard for him to think about,” she said.
Overwrought with excitement, Brown said it was an honor because Mulaney holds a special place in her heart. She bonded with her first friends at UConn over one of her favorite comedy films of his.
“To this day, the name of our group chat is still ‘Street Smarts’ because of John Mulaney,” she said. “So I would definitely say that Netflix special, the Kid Gorgeous one, because of how funny it is and because that was kind of how I started bonding with my best friends to this day.”
Mulaney’s show “Big Mouth” and some of his stand-ups are available on Netflix.