John Mulaney’s Son Learned About Death in an Incredibly Strange Place

Death! It’s comin’ for ya. It’s comin’ for all of us! At one point in your life, you learn that, and nothing is ever really the same afterward. As the father of twin five-year-olds, I haven’t really avoided this topic. I wasn’t, like, leaning into it, but I’ve certainly discussed the idea of death with my kids before to make sure they don’t put a plastic bag over their heads and breathe in. I just assumed that, later on, they’d watch some movie that dealt with death, I’d know ahead of time, and then we’d talk. Well, that was my intention, anyway.

Last week, I settled down with my boys to watch Pokémon: The First Movie. They’ve been watching the show, and I was excited to take this journey with them, as I have fond memories of seeing it as a child. All of those memories have been erased. The main reason why is that the movie is ass. Just two episodes stretched over 70 minutes of nonsense. If I were a parent in 1999, I would have been furious. Instead, I went to do dishes for about twenty minutes, then returned to catch the end.

If you’re unfamiliar, the film’s climax involves a host of Pokémon battling their clones. Then, at one point, Ash (the main human guy) gets caught in the fray and is turned to stone. Pikachu tries to wake him to no avail and begins to sob. Then, the rest of the Pokémon and their clones begin to cry. See where this is going? My kids absolutely lost it (which made me cry cause it was very sweet). I tried to assure them that Ash was okay, and, eventually, we had a little talk. And that is exactly why I know what John Mulaney’s going through (nailed it)!

The comedian and father recently visited Stephen Colbert and explained that he took his son to Graceland. They listen to Elvis, and his son was excited to see where the King kept his peanut butter, bacon, and banana sandwiches and carpeted walls. After being told that they could not visit the roof (the child’s reasonable request), Mulaney’s son then asked to meet Elvis. At this point, John realized that he hadn’t talked to his son about death, and he certainly had not planned to do so in the Jungle Room.

While we both were caught off guard by our children being exposed to the concept of death, I did not have the same realization Mulaney did. He ends up joking that he and Elvis shared… similar interests. Luckily, that is not something that I have to worry about, but I understand that being at the forefront of Mulaney’s mind. Some things catch up to you eventually. But, for now, he’s just spending time with his son while being haunted by the ever encroaching specter of death (as is tradition).