John Mulaney is lifting the shades on one of Everybody’s in LA’s most memorable episodes, revealing the inspiration behind the show’s “Sunglasses Night.”
The idea to have all guests—plus audience members—wear sunglasses throughout the episode came from a somewhat unlikely place: The Dick Cavett Show.
“I’ve watched endless episodes of Dick Cavett. I had the DVDs in college,” Mulaney told Variety in a new episode of their Awards Circuit podcast.
Cavett’s 1971 sit-down with notoriously private actor Robert Mitchum, who rarely gave interviews, made a particularly big impact on Mulaney.
“Robert Mitchum is wearing basically sunglasses,” Mulaney recalled. “They’re so tinted, they’re blue… I filed that away because I thought more people should wear sunglasses on talk shows.”
“I also saw an interview with [filmmaker] Wong Kar-wai, in which he was wearing sunglasses, and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s a cool way to look on television,’” Mulaney continued.
Mulaney brought “Sunglasses Night” to the third installment of his six-episode Netflix late-night show. The host donned shades throughout the night, as did sidekick Richard Kind and the evening’s guests: actor/comedians Nate Bargatze, Earthquake, and Patton Oswalt; journalist/helicopter pilot Zoey Tur; and author/prosecutor Marcia Clark.
“Sunglasses Night” was just one standout moment of the live talk show hosted by Mulaney, who has been extremely busy this year. In January, his Netflix standup special Baby J won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. In April, he was interviewed by David Letterman for a special episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction…
Variety asked Mulaney about his current winning streak, noting it’s akin to actor Matthew McConaughey’s “McConaissance.”
“I’m not saying I am, but I would pitch ‘Mulaney-ium,’” the comedian quipped. “I’m not complimenting myself, but I just wanted to put it out as possible.”
More Mulanyium please.
LOL — it’s already catching on!