Former show writer and stand-up comedian John Mulaney returned to Saturday Night Live on Saturday night. And while the announcer couldn’t pronounce his name right, he still pulled off a hysterical opening monologue.
“Prove you’re not a robot!” –@mulaney #MulaneyOnSNL pic.twitter.com/DUCikGYbax
โ Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) April 15, 2018
Mulaney used his monologue as brief stand-up routine, bringing up issues like how all security systems think users are robots.
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“The world is run by computers. The world is run by robots. And sometimes they ask us if we’re a robot just because we’re trying to log on and look at our own stuff,” Mulaney joked. “Multiple times a day, ‘May I see my own stuff?’ ‘Eh, I smell a robot! Prove, prove, prove you’re not a robot.”
Elsewhere on the episode, Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro appeared as Robert Mueller and Michael Cohen in the opening sketch, imitating their famous lie detector scene from the comedy Meet the Parents.
Mulaney auditioned for SNL back in August 2008 alongside Nick Kroll and T.J. Miller. He earned a spot on the show’s writing staff, where he stayed for five years while making occasional appearances in sketches, mostly on Weekend Update. His most famous character was the Bill Hader club promoter Stefon, who would go on Weekend Update and promote “New York’s Hottest Club” to Seth Meyers. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series four times (2009-2012) and won in 2011 for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics alongside Justin Timberlake, Katreese Barnes and Meyes.
Along with his comedic writing, Mulaney has made a name for himself in the stand-up world by making appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Conan and Live at Gotham. He had two specials made by Comedy Central, The Top Part and John Mulaney: New in Town and another distributed by Netflix, John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid. A fourth special, John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City, hits Netflix on May 1.
Mulaney tried his hand at television in October 2014 by starring in a semi-autobiographical sitcom Mulaney, which ran for only one season from October 2014 to February 2015.
Together, Mulaney and Kroll starred in a two-man comedy paly called Oh, Hello, which ran for 138 shows at the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway from September 2016 to January 2017.
Along with Mulaney hosting, SNL’s latest episode features 12-time Grammy Award winner Jack White as the musical guest.