John Mulaney is known for his musical sketches, and didn’t disappoint when he joined the five-timers club on Feb. 26.
John Mulaney, 37, returned as SNL host for the fifth time! The former cast member slayed even more musical sketches this week, and was joined by a variety of cast members as he sang at an unfortunately lame dance, outside a churro stand, and wearing a baseball jersey. Castmembers from Cecily Strong to Keenan Thompson supported him in the hilarious sketches, making his Five-Timer Club episode truly one to remember.
Back in March 2020, John brought the laughs with a Sound of Music bit that included Cecily Strong as Liesl von Trapp alongside his Rolf Gruber. The music followed the sound of the original Julie Andrews film — which is one of the most iconic movies in cinema history — but put their own spin on a tune related to a whopping age difference between the on-screen sketch characters.
“I’m only 19, I know I’m that naive…the fellows that meet me tell me I’m sweet and willingly I believe,” Cecily sang, before realizing that John’s Rolf was much older than her. “You’re 33? But you ride a bicycle and you live with your mother?” Cecily’s Liesl questioned.
John’s late 2000s run as writer on the iconic comedy sketch show was a dream come true for him — but in an interview, he admitted it was a childhood dream. “I was at dinner with my mom and I saw [the call] was a 212 number, and so I said, ‘Mom, I’m sorry I’m going take this outside.’ And it was Seth Meyers and he said, ‘We want to hire you as a writer’,” John recalled, noting that Seth made it clear he would be writing only — and not in the cast.
“I accepted on the spot, and I went back inside the restaurant and told my mom and she’s like, ‘You were 11 and you read an article about Conan O’Brien and you said, ‘I want to be a writer at The Harvard Lampoon and then I want to be a writer on Saturday Night Live.’ And you know, at the time, I was so excited because I thought you were going to work harder to get into Harvard, but even though you didn’t, now you’re at Saturday Night Live!” he also said.