‘SNL’: John Mulaney Addresses Sobriety in Opening Monologue

Following an emotional performance from the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York, host John Mulaney, who joined the five-timers club this week, used his opening monologue to address his journey to sobriety.

“It is amazing to be here hosting Saturday Night Live for the fifth time. For many, many reasons, I’m grateful to be here tonight, after a very complicated year it is wonderful to be in a place that’s always emphasized sobriety and mental health,” he quipped.

Mulaney then reflected on the intervention his loved ones hosted in December 2020 with six friends in New York and the rest on Zoom.

“I knew right away that it was an intervention,” he said. “Do you know how bad of a drug problem you have to have that when you open a door and see people gathered, your first thought is, ‘This is an intervention about my drug problem. There’s no other reason people would be behind the door.’”

Later he recalled the complicated process of breaking up with his drug dealers before revealing the first time he bonded with his 12-week-old son Malcolm, which he shares with girlfriend Olivia Munn.

“They put him on the warmer under this big bright light, and the light is just shining in his eyes,” Mulaney recalled. “He’s not he’s not crying or anything. He just looks up at the light and [puts his hands up] because he was annoyed. But he didn’t say anything, and I was like, ‘That’s my son: A polite man in an uncomfortable situation, but he’s not going to make a fuss.’”

The comedian was previously a writer on the show from 2008 to 2013. The last time he hosted the series was in 2020.