The title of John Mulaney’s current stand-up tour is “Kid Gorgeous,” which conjures up expectations of an easygoing golden boy. But onstage at the Chicago Theatre last Friday, Mulaney practically ran from one side of the stage to the other, shouting at the audience. He’s pissed, he explained, because his college alma mater (unnamed at the show, but it’s Georgetown University) had the gall to solicit a donation for the alumni fund. “I already gave them $120,000 dollars,” he snarled, throwing up his hands in frustration. “$120,000 dollars! I was an English major, and I gave them $120,000 dollars for a degree in a language I already know how to speak.”
Mulaney’s agitation and movement are drawn from the comic Earthquake. Earthquake walks calmly across the stage, but the microphone shakes in his hand, and he speaks as if delivering a church sermon, emphasizing points by raising his voice and wag his finger in the air. “Power and pacing. Like, literally pacing the stage,” he told me. “I kinda wanted to do Spalding Gray plus Earthquake.”
