What I Saw Behind the Scenes at Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney

Doesn’t matter how often you’ve done it, there’s always something special about being in a room where they’re making live television. Prior to the seventh episode of Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney, a Netflix rep invited members of the press to experience that magic, by sitting in the audience for Wednesday night’s episode and watch host John Mulaney pal around with guests Ayo Edebiri, Conan O’Brien, and (surprise!) Tina Fey for an hour.

If you watched “Are Dinosaurs Put Together Correctly?,” now streaming on Netflix, you got to see much of what the live audience did, as Mulaney mashed together a Christmas episode — for the reason “Why not?” — and this week’s titular topic of discussion. The chaos that ensued included a Saymo malfunction, some wild callers, and a special performance from the currently-on-hiatus band METZ, reunited for one night only because Mulaney likes them.

Below, find my biggest takeaways from the opportunity to watch the production in action. The stuff you might not have noticed while watching on Netflix.

Christmas Was In the Air

Sitting in the audience, it was easy to appreciate just how much work went into giving the set its holiday makeover, including the baby grand piano, a full Christmas tree, a massive menorah, and the snowy backdrop, complete with lightly falling snow. There was also snow falling on the audience in front of the music stage during the live performance, leaving behind piles of white styrofoam at the end of the night.

Mulaney’s a Cue Card Man

I don’t know if this is common amongst Saturday Night Live alumni (a famously cue card-driven show) but rather than rely on a teleprompter to keep him on script, Mulaney has a cue card staff hovering right by the cameras for Everybody’s Live. It’s actually pretty staggering to see an hour’s worth of hand-written cards stacked together — it’s much bulkier than you’d expect. The cue card team filed into the studio at around 6:55 p.m. PT.

Richard Kind’s the First Man on Stage (and the Best Laugher)

Announcer Richard Kind took his position at his podium with approximately 45 seconds to go before air, taking a moment to get settled while warm-up comic Mandal finished up his crowd work. (Shout out to the group of college students from Bloomington, Indiana, whose existence Mandal found baffling.)

And as hard as the warmed-up crowd laughed through the night, Kind laughed even harder, the best kind of cheerleader throughout the night. Also a social creature: At one point he left his podium to talk to the guests on the couch while a filmed segment played, and had to be brought back to his position before the show returned to the studio.

The “Applause” Signs Work Hard All Night

Sometimes, of course, an audience applauds because they want to. But when filming live TV, you might need to nudge them a bit — with, say, a light-up sign that flashes when the production team wants claps. The light-up signs weren’t too obvious or obnoxious, being of a reasonable size and tucked up into the rafters. What struck me most was that there were moments in the action where the “applause” sign flashed in what felt like a very planned way, and other times when whoever was operating it simply seemed moved to do so.

It Really Did Take Three Dudes to Move Saymo

I confess I wasn’t paying a ton of attention to the incredibly talented Ayo Edebiri while she read out loud her very funny and well-written Letterboxd review of Everybody’s Live. (Edebiri’s even brilliant at Letterboxd reviews, it’s really not fair.) That’s because, as Conan O’Brien noted later, while she was talking, there were three dudes on the stage, just outside of the frame, trying to free the Saymo food delivery robot from its stuck position. (No big deal: If you live in West Hollywood, the sight of a stuck Saymo on the street is a daily occurrance.)

The fact the stagehands were able to return Saymo to his corner of the stage in near silence, for the record, is a real credit to their craft. Also, Mulaney seemed quite taken with the little dinosaur Edebiri gave him — he was holding it for a good portion of the night.

Two Legit Fame-Os Were Amongst the Callers

So this isn’t so much a “behind the scenes detail only audience members could see” kind of thing as it is just a nerd thing, but if the first caller was actually Dr. Jack Horner of Orange, CA, then the reason he brought up Jurassic Park during the dinosaur discussion was that he was the technical advisor on the first five Jurassic Park movies.

Also, it’s a little sad that Mulaney didn’t realize that the “Chuck” on the line later in the episode was none other than Chuck Tingle, a truly Internet-beloved author who specializes in grandiose titles and unexpected erotic pairings. (I have not read much of his work, but when he mentioned he wrote dinosaur erotica, it was quickly obvious that it was him.) Both guys knew what they were talking about in their respective fields, but weren’t able to showcase their expertise in the limited time available. Alas.

METZ Was So Loud, They Gave Us Earplugs

I’ve been to many studio tapings before, but being handed earplugs before the show started was a new one for me. And, even sitting in the back row, I was grateful for them when the Canadian punk band began playing.

If you’re curious, the audience members standing in front of the musical performance portion of the stage weren’t standing there for the whole show — they were quietly brought in starting around 7:40 p.m., and seemed very game about the amount of fake snow being dumped on their heads.

Fun fact: The episode’s fentanyl-loving Santa (played by John Ennis) watched METZ from the sidelines, dancing along — the rest of the guests enjoyed the musical performance from their couch. Also, after the show wrapped, the audience got a bonus second song from the band, because — once again — why not?

Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney is live on Netflix every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. PT/10:00 p.m. ET.