The best comedy is a mirror held up to uncomfortable reality, and in Baby J John Mulaney holds up a mirror to addiction—the messiness, the imperfection, the failure and embarrassment, but also the liberation of survival.

| Jun 3, 2023

While “Baby J’s” honesty is admirable, we can only hope it’s lasting. Even in this dark world, John Mulaney’s too good to lose.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 16, 2023

It’s memoir with a buoyant bite too as Mulaney tests the audience to see if they’re taking in the ramifications of his finely honed observations. Very funny, very telling.

| May 11, 2023

…self-destructive drug use is no laughing matter, but John Mulaney’s stand-up ably shows the funny side of addiction; just don’t try this at home unless you’re super-rich….

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 6, 2023

Baby J isn’t Mulaney at his zingy, a-million-jokes-per-minute, New in Town best, but it represents refreshing new ground for the comedian, who has always been more complex than his audience’s “clean-cut sweetie” read on him might have suggested.

| May 2, 2023

After finishing the special and marinating on all of this, I myself am still a little unsure of where I stand. But I must say, I’ve never seen him more relaxed and centered on stage.

| May 2, 2023

A special that emphasizes just how measured and scrupulous a joke writer he is.

| May 2, 2023

The special is vintage Mulaney: casually rehearsed, self-deprecating, sharp stuff that uses sobriety’s distance to laugh at the darkness of addiction.

| May 1, 2023

I didn't find him particularly funny or that his anti-drug message was completely genuine, but I dug the comedian's well-tailored red suit he wore on stage.

| Original Score: C+ | May 1, 2023

“Baby J” will charm new and old fans -- while never letting them lose sight of the flawed, fallible human being at its center.

| Apr 26, 2023

There’s undoubtedly a lot more weight on Mulaney’s shoulders, and more retrospection in his storytelling. But few comedians are currently working with his kind of natural talent.

| Apr 26, 2023

The show in its current iteration is extremely funny, but traces remain of a version that dug a little deeper.

| Apr 26, 2023

John Mulaney has built an empathetic yet hilarious stand-up special in which we witness greatness in front of our eyes.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Apr 26, 2023

Mulaney’s magic act remains using turns of phrase as his sleight of hand. He’s just now a much creepier magician.

| Apr 26, 2023

What works so well in Baby J is what works in a lot of good comedy: that combination of recognition and bafflement when you look at something that's true but seems impossible.

| Apr 25, 2023

Performances like “Baby J” are the only insight into his mindset we’re likely to get for the foreseeable future, even as they pointedly remind us they’re just that: a performance.

| Apr 25, 2023

After a while, it almost feels like a case of punching down. Even though the John Mulaney onstage is healthy and happy, that doesn’t mean the John Mulaney of the past deserves such contempt.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Apr 25, 2023

Baby J is as controlled as Mulaney says he wasn’t during the lowest points of his addiction. Its confession is confident, calculated, creating distance between performer and audience even as it invites us to listen. In some ways, that’s a blessing.

| Apr 25, 2023

It’s funny. Mulaney has very much still got it.

Full Review | Apr 25, 2023

A comedy special that cannot help but rebuild every single wall it wants to break down.

| Apr 25, 2023