John Mulaney has taken a unique path to becoming Saturday Night Live royalty. He was a writer on the show, but never played a significant role in terms of screen presence. He's blown up as a comic in the years since ending his SNL tenure, however, and become a fan favorite host.
Mulaney is hosting again on November 2, making him the first SNL alum to host during the landmark 50th season. He knows what he's doing, and he has the cachet with the audience to take risks with his sketch ideas. This wasn't always the case, though.
Mulaney claimed Josh Brolin rejected a sketch
John Mulaney went on the interview series Hot Ones in 2023, and revealed that some of his sketch ideas generated strong reactions from hosts. Strongly negative. While there's a tendency to keep the identities of certain hosts who pushback against cast members and writers a secret, Mulaney came right out and named them.
Josh Brolin and Mick Jagger were the two SNL hosts who were most puzzled by Mulaney's ideas. The former was especially blunt, as the comedian recalled:
"Brolin went, 'Well, this isn’t funny,' as I was writing something and I started to walk him through it. And he went, 'Yeah, no, but that’s not funny.'"
Mick Jagger claimed a particular joke wasn't funny
Mulaney noted that Brolin wasn't rude, he was merely direct. He actually admitted that he came to appreciate the Oscar nominee's approach in time. The same goes for Mick Jagger. The iconic Rolling Stones frontman balked at a joke about his age, and the age of the people he attracts. "He listened and he went, 'No, I don’t like that,'" Mulaney recalled.
The Mick Jagger experience was so notable, in fact, that Mulaney made it a chunk of his 2018 stand up special Kid Gorgeous. His impression of Jagger, in particular his delivery of the phrase "not funny," proved to be one of his first semi-viral bits.
Fortunately, Mulaney gets to call the shots as host.