Lorne Michaels Used The Memory of John Belushi To Help John Mulaney Get Clean

By Andrew Sanford | Celebrity | May 1, 2024 |

By Andrew Sanford | Celebrity | May 1, 2024 |

Life is precious. It’s the only one we have. It also isn’t easy. People can turn to substances to counter that. They find ways to make it through the day that can cut those days shorter. Eventually, those same substances can end someone’s life forever. Then, all that’s left of them is a memory of a life shattered. Their family and friends have nothing left but the thought: if only things had gone differently. John Mulaney learned this lesson in rehab.

The comedian’s substance abuse problems made headlines. His drug use had gotten out of control, leading to an intervention from some of his closest friends. He listened to them and went to rehab to make sure he wasn’t just another statistic. It was not an easy process, as he detailed in his comedy special, Baby J. Something that helped him maintain was a phone call from Lorne Michaels.

Mulaney appeared on David Letterman’s show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. While speaking to the host, he talked about receiving a call from Michaels while in rehab which made a big difference. “I knew John Belushi for seven years. I’ve been talking about him for 48 years,” Michaels told Mulaney. “That’s the shrapnel that happens when someone goes down like that. John didn’t want to die. He didn’t plan to. Just because it’s a story, just because it’s set in stone like history, people don’t want to die from this.”

It’s a stark warning, but a necessary one. Belushi overdosed in 1982. That has, unfortunately, dominated his legacy. A life ended too short because he couldn’t control his demons. Letterman asked if Michaels’s speech had any effect. “Thinking about the shrapnel you leave behind that way, yeah,” Mulaney replied. “I wrote [Baby J] from a place that would have been helpful to me then [in rehab], which is, ‘This is infuriating,’” Mulaney explained to Letterman. “It’s not immediately great nights of sleep and serenity, not at all. I didn’t wanna hear anything about how…’Oh, I hit bottom and immediately my friends were there and I was so grateful.’ I had zero gratitude.”

It wasn’t only the famed SNL producer who helped scare Mulaney straight. Mulaney detailed an interaction with a doctor that left an impression on him. “Yeah, the actual detox from drugs was very physically uncomfortable, and I’d been on a lot of benzodiazepines like Xanax and Klonopin and stuff,” Mulaney told Letterman. “Getting off those can be very rough. So I was in the detox hospital room, and I was grinding my teeth so much that a molar cracked, and I went in to see the doctor. I had been there about four days, and I said to him, ‘I know, but I’m going. I’ve heard every argument you guys have, but I’m going back to New York City.’”

The doctor responded in a way that has stuck with Mulaney. He said, “John, we both know how this movie ends.”
“And that was it,” Mulaney continued. “I… just kind of nodded… and went back to my room and stayed.” Mulaney is clean now, embracing fatherhood and continuing his career. The alternative could have been so much worse. Gratefully, Mulaney’s friends won’t have to talk about him like a distant memory.