A stand-up comedian stars in a sitcom in which he plays a fictionalized version of himself. He has a male best friend, a female best friend, and a crazy neighbor who enters the apartment at inopportune times. Clips of the comedian’s stand-up routines are dropped into the episode at seemingly random times.

If one were to guess that the show I just described above was “Seinfeld,” they would be correct if it weren’t for the fact that this series just premiered Oct. 5 on Fox. No, the star is not Jerry Seinfeld, it’s John Mulaney. The series is aptly titled “Mulaney.” 

In addition to his standup career, Mulaney also used to be a writer on “Saturday Night Live,” and is partially responsible for creating one of the best recurring weekend update characters of all time, Stefon —brought to life by Bill Hader. But still, are a solid standup career and a writing history enough to create the second coming of “Seinfeld?”

No.

On paper, “Mulaney” looks like it would be a surefire hit. In addition to John Mulaney, the cast also features Martin Short as Mulaney’s boss and the only high point in the pilot, Elliott Gould as his older neighbor, and Nasim Pedrad, who left “Saturday Night Live” at the end of last season to join this new series.

But yet, the transition between script and show was rough. In one of the earlier scenes, Mulaney explains to his friend Motif, Seaton Smith, how his doctor’s appointment for his fictional frequent urination is actually a ploy to get Xanax. Mulaney overshoots the number of times he’s urinating a day, he claims 11, and ends up getting his prostate checked. Again, this may be funny on paper, but not so much on-screen.

The problem could lie with the fact that a lot of Mulaney’s dialogue stems from his standup routines, some of which I’ve already watched. As a matter of fact, his show “New in Town” is on Netflix now and is well worth your time. His set on Xanax/surprise prostate exams is much funnier when it’s delivered as a one-man comedy act than when it’s actually been shown on the screen.

As a fan of Mulaney’s standup, I really wanted to see this show succeed. Instead, I am pretty sure I have found the first casualty of the fall 2014 television season. Let’s hope Pedrad can get her job back on ‘Saturday Night Live.’

Bottom Line: Watch Mulaney the standup, not “Mulaney” the series.

1/5