The comedian joins David Letterman on his latest episode of 'My Next Guest Needs No Introduction,' out on Netflix today.
John Mulaney is opening up about fatherhood in a new interview with David Letterman.
The comedian returns to his high school alma mater, St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, to sit down with Letterman for a new episode of the former late-night host's Netflix show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.
In the special, Letterman asks Mulaney about his battle with addiction, his journey into comedy, and, of course, family life with partner Olivia Munn and their 2-year-old son, Malcolm.
The relationship and subsequent child came as bit of a surprise to Mulaney fans when the couple went public with their happy news in September 2021, less than a year after the comedian did a stint in rehab for alcohol, cocaine and prescription drug addiction.
Mulaney was married to artist Anna Marie Tendler from 2014-2021 and during that time, was candid in both his standup routines and interviews about the couple's plans to not have children.
"It wasn't so much that I thought I wouldn't, as I did it was, it was never a good day to have one," Mulaney tells Letterman in the new sit-down, joking, "I was like, 'Oh, today's pretty packed.'"
"I just wasn't thinking about it," he adds. "I was just like, you know, kind of living one minute to the next."
Despite his past apathy about parenthood, Mulaney says he was "starstruck" when his son was born.
"I went, 'Oh, there you are,'" he recalls. "Like, you're that thing I couldn't find. I was looking in not good places, and then, oh, there you are."
Mulaney's own father, Chip, joins for part of the special. A corporate attorney, he often makes appearances in his son's comedy routines as a serious and often stern paternal figure -- and Mulaney admits in the interview that it was hard to explain his show business aspirations to his parents.
"He went, 'So best case scenario, what, you're like, Steve Martin?'" he recalls. "To him, Steve Martin was an unserious idiot on TV."
However, while he aims to be a slightly warmer presence in his own son's life, Mulaney admits that there are lessons about parenting that he took from his childhood.
"I knew my parents loved each other very much and that added a lot of safety," he explains. "I felt they were like a unit. They really like each other."
"So, Olivia and I try to show Malcolm how much we love each other," he adds.
Mulaney's father also opens up to Letterman about how scared he and his wife were upon learning the depths of his son's addiction, saying they were "very much surprised" at the severity.
"Most helpfully, many of the doctors at the facility he went to, they would talk to you as parents," he recalls. "They also read us a letter in which the letter's written by your addiction and it's telling you, 'Hi, I'm your addiction. I'm here to kill you.' And it's a bit bloodcurdling."
"I'm sorry you were so scared," Mulaney shares, in an emotional reaction.
My Next Guest Needs No Introduction is streaming now on Netflix.
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