| What To Stream On Netflix The Netflix Highlight: “John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch” What’s up: Netflix’s “John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch” is a comedy special that uses the format of a children’s television show. While children make up the bulk of the cast and have more screen time than the adult actors, the writing is for adults. The special consists of comedic songs loosely based on the myriad fears and absurd curiosity of children, as well as short segments in which Mulaney and guest stars interact with a precocious group of kids in sketches and scripted conversations. In between these segments, the show has retro-themed, colorful transitions and brief interviews with cast members about things they care about. The special begins with a quote: “Do you know who tells the truth? Drunks and children.” The quote is credited to Erika Jayne in Season 9, Episode 20 of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” The show then cuts to one of those interview segments. A cute, bespectacled kid with curly hair talks to the camera about his fears, such as an asteroid hitting the Earth, a possible reference to the 1977 beginning of “Annie Hall.” After this interview, the camera cuts to the main set of “The Sack Lunch Bunch,” where Mulaney sits with the cast of kids. “Hi, I’m John Mulaney and this is the Sack Lunch Bunch,” Mulaney says to the camera. A couple of jokes occur and then Mulaney explains the show: “What you’re about to see is children’s TV special, and I made it on purpose.” Mulaney stars, while guest stars include David Byrne, André De Shields, Jake Gyllenhaal, Richard Kind and Natasha Lyonne. “John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch” runs 1 hour, 10 minutes. Sum-up: I shouldn’t have doubted Mulaney. As with many critics, I have been a fan of him for quite some time ― I even helped bring him to my college campus for a standup set way back when. But when the announcement that he was doing a children’s special came out, I doubted he would make this work. The choice felt too on-the-nose contrarian and I didn’t believe parodying a children’s program would have much payoff. But instead of straightforward adherence to the form or a parody, this special succeeds in being a combination of absurdist comedy with a charm and cuteness offensive. Many comedians have experimented with grounding out-there, geeky humor in more traditional storytelling forms in recent years (e.g. shows like “Barry,” “Atlanta,” and “Maniac”). “The Sack Lunch Bunch” discovers that the writing can get hyper-absurdist as long as the show also includes some cute, smiling kids talking about their own inherently strange thoughts. The special feels like an invention and a success in “lateral thinking” ― combining Mulaney’s proven success in comedy with a tried-and-true entertainment format (the children’s TV special). While I don’t think comedians should go out and create their own children’s specials now, “The Sack Lunch Bunch” should inspire more people to think about how other rusting storytelling vehicles could be used in an innovative way. Heads up: As a whole, the show is for adults, with adult jokes and references. It successfully parodies the children’s show format while earnestly sending it up, but the latter goal does lead to stretches that simply aren’t funny enough. Particularly, a couple of segments toward the end of the show hew too closely to being children’s fare and seemingly have no reason to exist, since children won’t be watching this. Notably, a song with David Byrne (which focuses on a kid who just wants to be heard) would fit mostly well on an actual children’s program. The show clearly cut multiple planned segments for one reason or another (the promotional photos and trailer highlight segments that aren’t in the special). Perhaps a couple more cuts would have been warranted, but I also understand why you don’t cut a segment that involves Byrne singing, regardless of fit. Close-up: Jake Gyllenhaal appears near the very end of the special as a music man-type character. The segment involves Gyllenhaal running around the set and singing about how music is everywhere and then failing to make noise from different objects. The objects repeatedly make less noise than expected, a joke that somehow doesn’t get tired over the musical segment. The bit keeps heightening and heightening as Gyllenhaal, in character, gets increasingly frustrated that he can’t make noise and ultimately descends into a confused madness. Gyllenhaal, it turns out, is adept at portraying comedic derangement. His rainbow-colored, xylophone-esque outfit heightens the physical comedy of his repeated failure. This segment might best balance the typical zaniness of children’s shows with more adult-oriented jokes. Read the full "John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch" review. | 