'SNL': John Mulaney Joins the Five-Timers Club With Paul Rudd and Other Special Guests

John Mulaney has officially joined the five-timers club on Saturday Night Live. In honor of the occasion, Mulaney was inaugurated into the group by several of its famous members including Paul Rudd, Steve Martin and Candice Bergen. Mulaney joined the exclusive group during the most recent episode of the sketch comedy series, which featured LCD Soundsystem as the musical guest. 

The sketch started off with Rudd, the most recent inductee into the club. Rudd joined the group in late 2021. Although, the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of the omicron variant threw a wrench in his induction. He joked during the sketch, "Well, not to be a total b—. but my five-timer show in December was going to be a lot better. That is, until the whole cast decided to call out sick."

Rudd then welcomed Mulaney into the group while still making a point to mention that he's a recent member, as well. He continued, "Congrats, man! Tonight it's all about you. And me to a degree as well. You know, my party was canceled, due to laziness." As the sketch went on, several other members of the five-timers club joined the stage including Bergen, Martin, Tina Fey and Elliott Gould. However, at that point, Martin and Bergen joked that there seemed to be too many individuals in this club. They even suggested that the group should be limited to celebrities instead of comedy writers like Mulaney. 

Conan O'Brien made a surprise entrance into the scene in order to defend Mulaney. He told the comedian, "John, don't listen to them, this is very, very special. I was in the very first five-timers special." The former late-night host continued to joke, "John and I were never supposed to be on TV, we're hideous." Amidst all of the action, it was decided that someone would have to retire from the group in order to make way for Mulaney. Unfortunately, it was Rudd, the most recent inductee, who got the boot. The Ant-Man star then gave Mulaney the much-coveted five-timers jacket off of his back. 

Mulaney's first SNL hosting stint came in 2018. He subsequently hosted one episode per season since Season 43. The comedian has gone through a series of major life changes since he last hosted the program in October 2020. Since then, he completed a stint in rehab, split from his wife Anna Marie Tendler, and welcomed a son named Malcolm with girlfriend Olivia Munn.