John Mulaney has one humble goal as he plans for the biggest crowd of his career: “I’m hoping all gangs form a truce for the night. I think it’d be a real statement that we’re gonna put down the switchblades and the guns tonight and for 90 minutes all of Chicago will laugh.”
Mulaney is currently touring the country as part of his Mister Whatever tour, which is primarily hitting theatres. On July 11 of next year, though, the Chicago native will level up to the 41,000-capacity Wrigley Field, becoming the first comedian to headline the storied ballpark.
Mulaney has performed multiple sold-out sets at Chicago’s United Center, the Hollywood Bowl, and New York’s Radio City but “this is asking everyone to be in one place in one night.” “I think I’ll be more excited than nervous,” he tells Rolling Stone, adding that the hardest part is adjusting to the slight delay between joke and laughter inherent in any massive venue. “I’ll probably get nervous as I adjust to the sound. The only time I tense up is when I have to get used to that rhythm.”
But he says he’s going to load the evening “with so much pageantry to the point that I almost hope it steps on the show. There’s a few ceremonial things I want to happen before my set.”
Comedians in sports venues is a relatively new phenomenon. Kevin Hart set the template in 2015 when he performed to more than 53,000 people at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. More recently, in 2022, Bill Burr became the first comedian to perform at Boston’s Fenway Park, while Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias sold out the 56,000-person Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles that same year.
But Wrigley holds a special place for Mulaney, who grew up watching Cubs games and announced details of his big gig in the broadcast booth of Tuesday’s Cubs-Mets game before singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” His greatest Wrigley Field memory comes quick: “Everyone is smoking. Mark Grace is smoking Winstons on the field and ashing into a cup. It’s the non-Hollywood version of cigarette smoking: a slow drag from the mouth and cupping it in your yellow hand. I’m thinking of starting a foundation because I don’t think kids should vape. So I’m gonna give an award to the team that smokes the most real cigarettes.”
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Earlier this year, Mulaney wrapped his variety show Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney. He spoke to Rolling Stone about helping to book the diverse musical acts on the show. “There’s no part of the show and there’s no part of the week that’s as exciting as when we first rehearse music,” he said. “Every artist [on the show] is a favorite of ours. But we were [also] super conscious of just what would be really kinetic on television. It’s as much about knowing that we’re collaborating with people who are going to have strong and great visual ideas and are going to just blow the roof off the studio.”