Critic Reviews

When everyone gets a fair chance to play, Mulaney finds its right type of weird. The ingredients are here for a show that’s more than a showbiz satire or a four-friends-and-a-couch comedy.

Mulaney often feels inauthentic and forced. However, one gets a feeling that like his smart stand-up material, Mulaney is aware of the awkwardness of his chosen format and is using it to his advantage. [Sep/Oct 2014, p.83]

Strain to be the next 'Seinfeld' much? But this one has a strong cast, and punchy one-liners.

The premiere is weak.... But by its third episode, the show is confident enough to make you think it might, as Seinfeld did, survive its rocky start. [3 Oct 2014, p.67]

The bad news: The first episode is a mess. The good news: It gets (somewhat) better

So the show seems either a subversive deconstruction of the laugh-track sitcom blueprint or a stupefying misfire built around the blandest star ever.

[The premiere] finds Mulaney surrounded by quirk, some of it good--Martin Short as his boss, Nasim Pedrad as one of his roommates--and some of it just annoying.

The plots of the first episodes have none of the labyrinthine structure of classic Seinfeld episodes; they feel more like vehicles for prewritten bits. They’re funny, but they don’t sound like regular people talking. This artificial sensibility is exacerbated by various performances.

Although there are a few snarky laughs in the pilot, they can’t compete with the uncomfortable feeling that Mulaney, bless his heart, isn’t ready for prime time.

Though Mulaney the stand-up has a clear point of view, Mulaney the sitcom does not. It's a show about nothing, with nothing to say about that.