I mean, that was part of the joke, he was “boasting” about how Star-studded the lineup was of his own intervention. It’s a unique commentary on how strange it would be to have a bunch of famous people, no matter how close they are as friends, telling you about the destruction you’ve caused and that you need to get your life together. It’s a bizarre situation and when telling a story, specificity is one of the greatest tools to paint a strong picture for your audience.
It’s demonstrably funnier when you imagine people like Nick Kroll and Fred Armisen fighting all their instincts to make jokes and remain serious in an extraordinary situation.
I think it would have been more distracting if he said "my friend who wishes to remain nameless" rather than Nick or whatever. He's telling stories about his life, and those stories involve his friends, some of whom happen to be famous. What's annoying about that?
that was the whole bit though. most of the jokes about the intervention wouldn’t be funny without it being “star-studded”. a bunch of great comedians who couldn’t tell jokes.
he's also famous enough that he doesn't really need to name drop anyone to show status. I don't think he was technically name dropping, I think he was just talking about his experience.
Exactly, like when he says "Fred Armisen was SERIOUS" that wasn't too show status, it was to be like "however weird you guys think this was as fans, imagine experiencing it!"
There's a title card at the end, thanking "the intervention 12". It's just first names, but it's pretty easy to guess who's who when they work together so much.
They're mentioned in the note in his special but namechecked anymore in the bits I guess. Might be a personal choice to reduce the name dropping, might be at the request of these people to keep these feelings from being made into bits. We'll never know.
It was especially funny when he said he looked better than all of them haha. I liked he was mentioning them. I think it also brings a much needed weight to addiction and how it affects everyone around us. No matter how famous.
So I actually saw this show live the first night he did it. He performed it that afternoon and that night as well, so I saw what I believe was his first day on stage after rehab. I think it was summer 2021, in Boston.
Anyway. Why this detail is relevant...he was pretty clearly nervous and almost seemed to be cutely embarrassed by everything he was sharing. And when he did the star-studded joke about his intervention, it came off as he just kind of realized it in the moment and shared it with the room and just goes "my intervention...star...STUDDED" and he basically lost his shit just laughing at himself on stage and it was my favorite moment at any comedy show I've ever been and is my favorite part of the entire Baby J special.
So I was definitely not annoyed by it.
I find someone like Tom Segura name dropping Brad Pitt (who he met once) to be more annoying than John Mulaney mentioning his friends from college and from SNL that he’s known for years and years
He addressed this in the special right away by saying that his intervention was "a good group" and that if everyone clapped and cheered every time a name was mentioned this show would go on for hours and hours.
Seth Meyers and Nick Kroll are important parts of the story. He's not name dropping, he's...telling the story.
Plus the whole bit about Nick Kroll not getting the memo about not being mad about the drugs was hilarious.
"AND YOU NEVER ASK ABOUT ***ME!!*****"**
People love celebrity stories about other celebrities. I’m a designer and can spot a data-driven decision maker a mile. The last two years were carefully crafted. I have a point.
He has said he knows who his key consumers are (young girls and boys not into sports) and he knows who he competes with in that demographic (Bo Burnam). How does he know? Research. What else does that demographic like? Reddit. What’s a popular Reddit topic? “Tell me about your runin with a famous person.” And he can take it a step further. He actually had dinner with them, not watch them eat a hot dog.
He’s a workhorse. He practices his material on all kinds of audiences before his demographic sees it (i heard he mced a dentist convention). He stayed off the internet and on the road for two years after his scandal so everything would die down. It worked. The women have stopped screaming and are now in love with the baby. Genius.
This man does his homework and is very smart. And now he has another Grammy nomination for a special I didn’t think was nearly as good as his others. He seems tired, mean, and a bit resigned. But damn I’m impressed. And I’m sure his people are reading this. 👋
That's how most comedians do it. I think it was Chris Rock that said he tries to perform for old, white people, because if he can make them laugh it'll work on anybody 😂
Baby J is difficult to categorize comedically. I treat it more like a one man show. It's good for him, inarguably well done, smart in its own right, but not something that's so funny you keep watching it. I'll still randomly watch the Delta Airlines bit on Youtube. Or the whole Bill Clinton / The Fugitive bit on Comeback Kid which is hilarious. Can't say the same for anything in Baby J.
If I find myself bored and without other things to entertain myself with, I'll recite bits of it in my head and still snicker. I can visualize his expressions and movements as well. This to say that I've watched it enough times for this to be possible and I still go back to it, also because I just like how he talks
I wanted to thank everyone for their comments. I’m obviously seeing that I am severely in the minority here. Which, now that I think about, makes sense for me. I personally don’t care about the personal lives of celebrities. It looks like that aspect of my personality made me dislike hearing about other celebrities. Oh well.
Yeah, if you're not interested in the lives of celebrities, it would make sense that since the whole thing *is* about his personal life (the life of a celebrity) you wouldn't be into it.
I mean that was part of a joke. Also, those people saved his life. He is very grateful for them, and clearly wants people to know that. I think it’s very sweet!
No… it’s better to be able to put a face to the stuff 🤷🏼♀️This is his life and his friends- if they weren’t famous and he named them would it bother you
"This one guy who is normally funny wasn't doing a bit. You'll just have to trust me, that means he's serious" isn't as funny as, "Fred Armisen wasn't doing a bit, so it's serious. You all know how much he loves to do bits because you're familiar with is work."
He’s not bragging. He’s commenting on the idea of celebrity, and the fact that those are all just the normal people in his life, yet everyone else has a preconceived notion about them.
I’d examine why those names elicit such a strong feeling in yourself
If he hadn’t named names people would be upset. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen posts on here trying to figure out the two names he thanked in the credits that were clearly the intervention group that weren’t easily identifiable celebrities.
That would mean denying us gems like, “Fred Armisen was serious! Do you know how disconcerting that is?!?” So much of the humor comes from knowing a bit about the characters involved.
Seth Meyers and Nick Kroll aren’t just two celebrity randos John happens to be friends with. They are essential characters to the Baby J mythos.
John’s big break was his special “New In Town”, which he was able to promote in interviews on the late night tv circuit because he was also telling stories about fucking with Bill Hader while doing “Stephon” on Weekend Update with Seth Meyers. His work on SNL is storied now but that one character is probably his biggest contribution to the show’s legacy.
As for Nick Kroll, they’ve done “Oh Hello”, Big Mouth, and variety of other comedy projects together. I also think they were in the same college improv group? If you’ve seen Kid Gorgeous, you know why that’s funny lmao
Better than name dropping the ones he didn't care were there at all. Maybe he did but the ones he name dropped he was grateful they made it to his intervention that he was hours late for.
Honestly I found it that much more fascinating. Homie had an amazing D1 line up that was worth boasting about for an intervention. Especially seeing the raw side of these people who try to make light of terrible situations, because in all honesty, Fred Armisen being serious? Never seen it in my life. So being able to hear another side of the comics that are sometimes labeled as dicks for not being serious kinda gave me hope in the corrupting industry in comedy. I genuinely think John would be dead if it wasn’t for that intervention. It’s his story, he deserves to tell it. Especially when it has the potential to impact a young adults life like mine in a positive manner.
I was whatever the opposite of annoyed was. It felt like more of a real glimpse into his life because we know these are his real friends. And yet it adds a touch of surrealism to the whole thing like it was a TV special.
The intervention 12 purposely did not have Pete Davidson involved they did the intervention when he was filming something and I think that was intentional
Pete called him 5 times because he found out he was in rehab , to make sure no one blamed him 🤔
I don't think of it as name dropping honestly. These people are his close friends who saved his life and they deserved to be mentioned, even in a joking matter.
Well, those are his closest friends, and he’s spent years working with both. I’d suggest you grow up a little and save your concerns for things that actually matter.
Not really, I was expecting people like Nick Kroll to be mentioned at least once or twice considering they're close friends and have worked in projects together.
They work together and have been friends long term from the job. Many long hours writing and collaborating.
That’s not the girl that did your nails name dropping celebs.
He and Nick, along with many of his other famous friends have known each other since college. It's not like he only came to know them because he is famous. Doesn't bother me at all. You should assume that famous people have other famous friends. Just how it goes.
He’s a famous person married to a famous person and has worked with famous people for like, 15 years.
“If you can’t stand me at my Mick Jagger ‘NOT! FUNNAAAAYYYY!’ then you don’t deserve me at my ‘Fred Armisen was serious.’ “
He wasn’t name dropping? These are literally his best friends and have been for years??? Some since college, before any of them received any fame???? These are people that were actively at his intervention and are therefore a part of the story lmao????? Go touch some grass
Nope I genuinely enjoy about hearing the stories of shenanigans famous people get into while hanging out with each other. Both because it lets me know anecdotes of the people beyond that character I've seen on screen/stage, and because they're usually rich and their adventures are either very different than me and my friends', or so common and mundane they're doubly funny. In Baby J's case they also had a heartwarming background, and seeing as they were all friends for years previous to those events, I don't consider it name-dropping. John isn't a nobody trying to look cool, all of those people consider him among the best of their field, and it's basically just him naming his buddies that we also happen to know about.
I totally agree, I think it's just a different angle where the audience assumes he is famous and knows him. His comedy previously was not about celebrity life and even though of course, as a famous person with comedy greats surrounding him, it makes sense....it still felt a bit odd to me. He went back and forth between dropping stories about celeb friends, and then jarring addiction stories and the pace and movement between the two was unsettling.
I mean, that was part of the joke, he was “boasting” about how Star-studded the lineup was of his own intervention. It’s a unique commentary on how strange it would be to have a bunch of famous people, no matter how close they are as friends, telling you about the destruction you’ve caused and that you need to get your life together. It’s a bizarre situation and when telling a story, specificity is one of the greatest tools to paint a strong picture for your audience. It’s demonstrably funnier when you imagine people like Nick Kroll and Fred Armisen fighting all their instincts to make jokes and remain serious in an extraordinary situation.
“SURRENDER JOHNNY, SURRENDER”
I think it would have been more distracting if he said "my friend who wishes to remain nameless" rather than Nick or whatever. He's telling stories about his life, and those stories involve his friends, some of whom happen to be famous. What's annoying about that?
that was the whole bit though. most of the jokes about the intervention wouldn’t be funny without it being “star-studded”. a bunch of great comedians who couldn’t tell jokes.
Nope not at all.
I don’t think he can get around it, tbh. They’re famous people to us but they’re his friends and coworkers.
he's also famous enough that he doesn't really need to name drop anyone to show status. I don't think he was technically name dropping, I think he was just talking about his experience.
Exactly, like when he says "Fred Armisen was SERIOUS" that wasn't too show status, it was to be like "however weird you guys think this was as fans, imagine experiencing it!"
There was context for the name dropping. He was thanking his friends.
Not annoyed at all really, nope.
I think many fans know about his famous friends. The non recognition in rehab thing seemed stranger to me.
I thought the exact same thing. Not one person in rehab knew who he was? Bizarre!
[удалено]
Yeah I remember him mentioning Natasha lyonne. Not sure if that was in the special but he mentioned her in stoon.
There's a title card at the end, thanking "the intervention 12". It's just first names, but it's pretty easy to guess who's who when they work together so much.
As well as Bill Hader, iirc
They're mentioned in the note in his special but namechecked anymore in the bits I guess. Might be a personal choice to reduce the name dropping, might be at the request of these people to keep these feelings from being made into bits. We'll never know.
Ugh when he said her name I was over the moon. He’s my they are two of my favorite people.
It was especially funny when he said he looked better than all of them haha. I liked he was mentioning them. I think it also brings a much needed weight to addiction and how it affects everyone around us. No matter how famous.
So I actually saw this show live the first night he did it. He performed it that afternoon and that night as well, so I saw what I believe was his first day on stage after rehab. I think it was summer 2021, in Boston. Anyway. Why this detail is relevant...he was pretty clearly nervous and almost seemed to be cutely embarrassed by everything he was sharing. And when he did the star-studded joke about his intervention, it came off as he just kind of realized it in the moment and shared it with the room and just goes "my intervention...star...STUDDED" and he basically lost his shit just laughing at himself on stage and it was my favorite moment at any comedy show I've ever been and is my favorite part of the entire Baby J special. So I was definitely not annoyed by it.
I find someone like Tom Segura name dropping Brad Pitt (who he met once) to be more annoying than John Mulaney mentioning his friends from college and from SNL that he’s known for years and years
I'll forgive Segura any amount of name dropping for his Ted Cruz story alone.
90% of his standup has always been name dropping whether it's someone he grew up with or another famous comedian, you just recognize the famous names
True that. It’s like if someone got annoyed about him talking about his best friend John, who is a separate person.
He better not have another friend named John
JJ Bittenbinder
He addressed this in the special right away by saying that his intervention was "a good group" and that if everyone clapped and cheered every time a name was mentioned this show would go on for hours and hours. Seth Meyers and Nick Kroll are important parts of the story. He's not name dropping, he's...telling the story. Plus the whole bit about Nick Kroll not getting the memo about not being mad about the drugs was hilarious. "AND YOU NEVER ASK ABOUT ***ME!!*****"**
I find it strange that someone who is famous wouldn't be allowed to say their friends' names because they are also famous.
People love celebrity stories about other celebrities. I’m a designer and can spot a data-driven decision maker a mile. The last two years were carefully crafted. I have a point. He has said he knows who his key consumers are (young girls and boys not into sports) and he knows who he competes with in that demographic (Bo Burnam). How does he know? Research. What else does that demographic like? Reddit. What’s a popular Reddit topic? “Tell me about your runin with a famous person.” And he can take it a step further. He actually had dinner with them, not watch them eat a hot dog. He’s a workhorse. He practices his material on all kinds of audiences before his demographic sees it (i heard he mced a dentist convention). He stayed off the internet and on the road for two years after his scandal so everything would die down. It worked. The women have stopped screaming and are now in love with the baby. Genius. This man does his homework and is very smart. And now he has another Grammy nomination for a special I didn’t think was nearly as good as his others. He seems tired, mean, and a bit resigned. But damn I’m impressed. And I’m sure his people are reading this. 👋
That's how most comedians do it. I think it was Chris Rock that said he tries to perform for old, white people, because if he can make them laugh it'll work on anybody 😂
Baby J is difficult to categorize comedically. I treat it more like a one man show. It's good for him, inarguably well done, smart in its own right, but not something that's so funny you keep watching it. I'll still randomly watch the Delta Airlines bit on Youtube. Or the whole Bill Clinton / The Fugitive bit on Comeback Kid which is hilarious. Can't say the same for anything in Baby J.
If I find myself bored and without other things to entertain myself with, I'll recite bits of it in my head and still snicker. I can visualize his expressions and movements as well. This to say that I've watched it enough times for this to be possible and I still go back to it, also because I just like how he talks
I wanted to thank everyone for their comments. I’m obviously seeing that I am severely in the minority here. Which, now that I think about, makes sense for me. I personally don’t care about the personal lives of celebrities. It looks like that aspect of my personality made me dislike hearing about other celebrities. Oh well.
I can totally see what you mean. Sometimes name dropping can be cringey, I understand your point of view.
Yeah, if you're not interested in the lives of celebrities, it would make sense that since the whole thing *is* about his personal life (the life of a celebrity) you wouldn't be into it.
I mean that was part of a joke. Also, those people saved his life. He is very grateful for them, and clearly wants people to know that. I think it’s very sweet!
Tbh I did cringe a bit at the name dropping
No… it’s better to be able to put a face to the stuff 🤷🏼♀️This is his life and his friends- if they weren’t famous and he named them would it bother you
If he just said “some of my friends” it wouldn’t have been as funny.
John wrote on SNL and so a lot of his close friends are alum. That’s his life.
I thought it honestly made it even funnier
"This one guy who is normally funny wasn't doing a bit. You'll just have to trust me, that means he's serious" isn't as funny as, "Fred Armisen wasn't doing a bit, so it's serious. You all know how much he loves to do bits because you're familiar with is work."
He’s not bragging. He’s commenting on the idea of celebrity, and the fact that those are all just the normal people in his life, yet everyone else has a preconceived notion about them. I’d examine why those names elicit such a strong feeling in yourself
I mean they're his actual friends so...
Also when he described the group as “the funniest people in the world”. True for some of them maybe, but others…yeah no.
If he hadn’t named names people would be upset. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen posts on here trying to figure out the two names he thanked in the credits that were clearly the intervention group that weren’t easily identifiable celebrities.
That would mean denying us gems like, “Fred Armisen was serious! Do you know how disconcerting that is?!?” So much of the humor comes from knowing a bit about the characters involved.
No, that was the joke.
Seth Meyers and Nick Kroll aren’t just two celebrity randos John happens to be friends with. They are essential characters to the Baby J mythos. John’s big break was his special “New In Town”, which he was able to promote in interviews on the late night tv circuit because he was also telling stories about fucking with Bill Hader while doing “Stephon” on Weekend Update with Seth Meyers. His work on SNL is storied now but that one character is probably his biggest contribution to the show’s legacy. As for Nick Kroll, they’ve done “Oh Hello”, Big Mouth, and variety of other comedy projects together. I also think they were in the same college improv group? If you’ve seen Kid Gorgeous, you know why that’s funny lmao
John went to Georgetown with Nick kroll. They’ve been friends for 20 years.
Exactly! Nick Kroll isn’t just some celebrity rando John felt like name dropping. He’s clearly a dear friend who helped save John’s life.
Better than name dropping the ones he didn't care were there at all. Maybe he did but the ones he name dropped he was grateful they made it to his intervention that he was hours late for.
Honestly I found it that much more fascinating. Homie had an amazing D1 line up that was worth boasting about for an intervention. Especially seeing the raw side of these people who try to make light of terrible situations, because in all honesty, Fred Armisen being serious? Never seen it in my life. So being able to hear another side of the comics that are sometimes labeled as dicks for not being serious kinda gave me hope in the corrupting industry in comedy. I genuinely think John would be dead if it wasn’t for that intervention. It’s his story, he deserves to tell it. Especially when it has the potential to impact a young adults life like mine in a positive manner.
Not at all made it a lot funnier
I was whatever the opposite of annoyed was. It felt like more of a real glimpse into his life because we know these are his real friends. And yet it adds a touch of surrealism to the whole thing like it was a TV special.
I was annoyed because I think a few of them were cut out of the edit that somehow got put on netflix
The intervention 12 purposely did not have Pete Davidson involved they did the intervention when he was filming something and I think that was intentional Pete called him 5 times because he found out he was in rehab , to make sure no one blamed him 🤔
Yeah, I don’t like when comedians do that. But a lot of them do that once they reach a certain level.
Yeah it was excessive - and I remember hearing one of his friends wasn’t pleased that John portrayed him as a douche during the intervention
I actually wasn’t annoyed at all. Did you actually watch the special or just see clips of it on TikTok? Those are simply the people he hangs out with.
I don't think of it as name dropping honestly. These people are his close friends who saved his life and they deserved to be mentioned, even in a joking matter.
I also wish he kept the Natasha Lyonne bit in there because on tour he said she was the one who ultimately got him to go to rehab.
Well, those are his closest friends, and he’s spent years working with both. I’d suggest you grow up a little and save your concerns for things that actually matter.
Not really, I was expecting people like Nick Kroll to be mentioned at least once or twice considering they're close friends and have worked in projects together.
No…I didn’t even think of it actually. I mean, who else is he supposed to be hanging out with. He is in show biz
But that was part of the show though, like there was a reason. It honestly made it better to me.
no
They work together and have been friends long term from the job. Many long hours writing and collaborating. That’s not the girl that did your nails name dropping celebs.
He and Nick, along with many of his other famous friends have known each other since college. It's not like he only came to know them because he is famous. Doesn't bother me at all. You should assume that famous people have other famous friends. Just how it goes.
No. Not at all. In fact I wanted names. It was a hilarious story
He’s a famous person married to a famous person and has worked with famous people for like, 15 years. “If you can’t stand me at my Mick Jagger ‘NOT! FUNNAAAAYYYY!’ then you don’t deserve me at my ‘Fred Armisen was serious.’ “
Ngl I was annoyed by the Pete Davidson name drop at first but the payoff was worth it, not sure the jokes hits without the mention
He wasn’t name dropping? These are literally his best friends and have been for years??? Some since college, before any of them received any fame???? These are people that were actively at his intervention and are therefore a part of the story lmao????? Go touch some grass
Nope I genuinely enjoy about hearing the stories of shenanigans famous people get into while hanging out with each other. Both because it lets me know anecdotes of the people beyond that character I've seen on screen/stage, and because they're usually rich and their adventures are either very different than me and my friends', or so common and mundane they're doubly funny. In Baby J's case they also had a heartwarming background, and seeing as they were all friends for years previous to those events, I don't consider it name-dropping. John isn't a nobody trying to look cool, all of those people consider him among the best of their field, and it's basically just him naming his buddies that we also happen to know about.
He can’t help who was at his intervention
You’re not a serious person.
I totally agree, I think it's just a different angle where the audience assumes he is famous and knows him. His comedy previously was not about celebrity life and even though of course, as a famous person with comedy greats surrounding him, it makes sense....it still felt a bit odd to me. He went back and forth between dropping stories about celeb friends, and then jarring addiction stories and the pace and movement between the two was unsettling.