Stories are powerful for connection, teaching, and stepping into someone’s point of view. Throughout histories and cultures, storytelling has had different functions, forms, and medium. We’ll be exploring the intersection between comedy and storytelling through the comedian John Mulaney.

Voice

Comedy voice is a bit of an elusive term, but we can begin to describe it with reference to the Greek word “ethos,” meaning something like character or a particular set of values identifiable to a person. For John Mulaney, his ethos is a refined character with an almost century old, vaudevillian energy that doesn’t belong in this era. His suit and his transatlantic tone in his voice gives a sense of displacement for the audience: he doesn’t belong in this world, and he projects that persona into his comedy. This is the seed of instant connection with the audience: everybody feels confused, flustered, and displaced in the world at times. Yet John Mulaney does not carry himself as the disheveled, unattractive outcast. His speech has the rhythm of a professional and his manner of speaking is polished, almost like written theatre. He personifies two ends: ourselves in the world sees us – put together with a façade of manners and conduct – and the way we are in private – clumsy, awkward, and trying our best to navigate the world. This is John Mulaney’s point of entry and the way of connecting with the audience.

Technique

There are some notable techniques particular to John Mulaney. The structure of his story begins with a benign topic or some average occurrence in his life, then it starts to build up. Note that the source of comedy is in the absurd. The story turns into something weird about life or how his personal social faux pas. He points out how absurd things are in a couple of ways. For one, he provides commentary in the form of a relatable observation which breaks the fourth wall. Every step or pause, he wants to sprinkle in how absurd and weird the particular occurrence is. He points out to the audience to the tension within all of us between our professional and personal selves: he uses overblown, exaggerated impressions of people, he uses descriptive, flowery adjectives, and he uses his tone and gestures to paint a picture of an absurd scene. Notice also that he’s fundamentally self-deprecating to further relate to the audience. Any witty mocking of others is always couched in lowering himself first.

Effectiveness

The difference between the politician telling a story and the comedian telling the story is that the politician has to instill a sense of confidence and capability in the audience; the comedian, however, can show foolishness and weakness, and this arguably makes the comedian more genuine and authentic. The core vulnerability and humility in the comedian gets the audience on their side: once the audience is on their side, they can add “tags” or throwaway jokes or push for something more self-laudatory only because the audience acknowledges the comedian is, by their own title, a clown, a jester, a licensed fool. However, much like the politician, the comedian has insights, observations, and can serve as an advisor, as is the Shakespearean fool. John Mulaney is the modern court jester and a master storyteller.