The Sack Lunch Bunch is John Mulaney’s most unconventional project yet

The Sack Lunch Bunch is John Mulaney’s most unconventional project to date, and it’s a must-watch on Netflix right now!

John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch opens with a black screen, shortly followed by a quote from Erika Jayne, a reality television star on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: “Do you know who tells the truth? Drunks and children.”

The latter is the idea behind one of Mulaney’s newest projects. In it, he explores sincere and serious things children say to him, and he riffs off it with his usual cleverness and charm.

When I first heard about The Sack Lunch Bunch, I was hopeful yet wary. Mulaney is one of my favorite comedians, but I am a 24-year-old without kids. Is this show, where Mulaney is bombarded with questions by children, really for me? The way Mulaney can veer into adult topics, and the fact that kids are so heavily featured, a case could be made that this show might not be for anyone.

But that is not what I found. Mulaney’s brand of humor stays the same, and the kids are a nice complement to the show. The skits can be bizarre, but they usually provide a sense of sarcasm that simultaneously has its life lessons.

Mulaney shared this with the New Yorker:

"“What was nice about this kids’ special was that I had not done anything from the ground up since I did that half-hour sitcom.”"

And it is definitely different from a format standpoint.

The Sack Lunch Bunch typically alternates between skits, with multiple members of the ensemble, and interviews, where Mulaney asks the kids questions. There are plenty of songs mixed in as well.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some skits that fell short for me. The skit with the one-eyed tutor (played by André De Shields), singing about Algebra, felt like it would never end, and the scene where Mulaney and a kid are playing chess didn’t land a good number of jokes. However, most of the skits had their moments, and Mulaney never had to sacrifice his brand of humor in the process of making a kids’ special.

At one point, Mulaney stands before a focus group of the child actors for a movie called Bamboo 2: Bamboozled. It was simple but was one of the stronger parts of the special. Another skit features Talking Heads lead singer David Byrne. The skit with Byrne seemed like a perfect mix of Mulaney and Byrne, stylistically.

Mulaney’s profile has risen to the point where he’s arguably the biggest comedian in the United States. In The Sack Lunch Bunch, he takes a different approach to what he does with his standup, but he still uses what got him to this point: a kind of humor that elicits sincerity rather than edge or shock, but doesn’t come off as grandstanding, and is just as funny as any comedic style out there.

Watch John Mulaney and The Sack Lunch Bunch on Netflix now!