John Mulaney has issued a challenge to the teen boys of America. The Everybody’s Live host announced last night that he would fight three 14-year-old boys for the forthcoming finale of the Netflix series.
At the end of the most recent episode Mulaney said he was inspired by the online discourse about whether 100 men could successfully fight one gorilla.
“It has prompted a debate in our writers room about whether three 14-year-old boys could beat up me, John Mulaney,” he explained to the audience. “So on our final episode of the season, May 28, the theme will be Teen Night. We will be talking about many teen issues and I, John Mulaney, will square off in a very real fight against three 14-year-old boys.”
He continued, “Is this legal? So far, we think so. It’s not assault, we know that. And we’re vetting every step of it. I’ve been led to believe that if it’s for TV it’s a lawful practice.”
Mulaney clarified that it won’t be a “fun, funny fight.” “It’s going to be me fighting these children and them fighting me as hard as we can,” he confirmed.
He then put a call out to participants. “If you or anyone you know has access to a 14-year-old boy who is willing to fight me, John Mulaney, and might need to get something out of his system, please have their parent or guardian, not the minor, contact us.” Anyone who wants to be part of the fight can send an email to iwanttofightjohnmulaney@gmail.com.
Per Netflix’s legal team, anyone signing up to fight Mulaney should be a U.S. citizen (although the host claimed he is “opening this up to the entire world”). “Good luck boys, good luck me, good luck Netflix legal,” he concluded.
Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney airs live on Netflix on Wednesday nights. The show’s 12-week first season has been appropriately eclectic and has featured several notable musical performances, including the reunion of Metz and a collaborative appearance by Kim Gordon and Kim Deal.
Mulaney told Rolling Stone of the evolution of his talk show, which followed Everybody’s in L.A, a six-episode live series that ran last spring, “I’m very committed to diving into irrelevance, never being relevant. This ties into a few things: recklessness, overplanning, and taking calls. A lot of stuff we did in the first six, we’ll continue.”
He added of his desire to try new things (like fight teen boys), “A bored John Mulaney is a dangerous thing. It’s more the curiosity of it and a very childish, ‘But I already did that.’ Not always the most prudent motivation. My son says that, actually — ‘We already did that.’ ‘I thought maybe you’d want to go back.’ ‘No, we already went there. Find another indoor gymnasium.’”
