John Mulaney tells Letterman which comedians are "funnier" than him

John Mulaney has had a busy couple years. The comedian hit rock bottom with regards to his drug addiction, divorced his wife, and welcomed a son with actress Olivia Munn. He's been candid about these major changes in his standup, but his transparency was on full display during the new episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman.

Mulaney discusses the early days of his addiction, and the discovery that he could make people laugh at an early age, but one of the more interesting moments came when Letterman asked who the comedian considers to be funnier than himself. Mulaney is known for having one of the sharpest wits in comedy today, but he was unremittingly deferential.

Mulaney praised 3 SNL comedians

Mulaney cited three names when tasked with coming up with comedians who he felt outshined him. All three, appropriately, were members of Saturday Night Live when Mulaney was a sketch writer. The names in question? Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, and Kristin Wiig. "When I was a writer," he explained. "I was writing for Hader and Armisen. And Kristin Wiig."

Letterman laughed, and gave a wry "no more questions" before Mulaney expanded upon his answer. In his estimation, he felt the delivery and the comedic timing of those three comedians surpassed his own, which made it easier to write material for them on a weekly basis:

"There was no point where I ever looked at something I wrote for them and thought, 'I could do this better.'"

Hader and Armisen were at Mulaney's intervention

Mulaney is close with Hader and Armisen, in particular. During his recent Netflix special, Baby J, the comedian revealed that Hader and Armisen were among the comedians who were at his intervention and coerced him into getting help. Mulaney has also appeared in the Hader and Armisen produced Documentary Now! series.

Mulaney is content not being the "funniest" person in the room, and this ability to contextualize and determine what's right for him versus someone else is what's going to make it easier for him to know when it's time to put the microphone done.

Letterman asked the comedian if he will reach a point where he wants to stop performing stand-up, and Mulaney said there were lots of "other things" he wants to do. Frankly, we can't wait to see them.