No. 46 - John Mulaney “From Scratch”
I traveled to Chicago to see John Mulaney perform live, and I read a book that transported me to a grotesque Medieval folk horror wasteland.
The Bad Sleep Well
A few weeks ago, I stopped by a Traverse City bookstore and found they were selling signed copies of Otessa Moshfegh’s latest book, Lapvona. I have only been familiar with Moshfegh by her reputation for “sad girl” books like Eileen and My Year of Rest and Relaxation, so I was surprised to find Lapvona takes place in a squalid hamlet in medieval Europe. While I hadn’t read any of her previous work, I decided to take the risk and purchase a copy, unaware that reviewers and “BookTok” personalities (TikTok users who primarily speak about books) were calling it things like “relentlessly gory” and “nauseatingly violent.” I had absolutely no idea that I’d quickly devour Moshfegh’s book in a single weekend.
The titular Lapvona is a small village somewhere unspecified in medieval Europe ruled by the spoiled Villiam, a skeletal man-child with an endless appetite for food and entertainment, all enjoyed in a hilltop manor far from the wretched peasants. One such wretched peasant is Marek, a boy born with physical deformities; he lives with his cold-hearted shepherd father Jude, and they—despite being distantly related to Villiam—live in poverty. Most regard Marek with disgust or not at all, but Ina, a seemingly magical elderly wet nurse, takes pity on him and gives him comfort by letting him suckle on her dry breasts. Lapvona follows these characters and many others as consecutive tragedies shake up power structures and turn this troubled town into a waking nightmare.
As the New York Times review of Lapvona points out, Moshfegh seems uninterested in creating any sort of functional fantasy “world building” or period accuracy. Instead, she seems more interested in what that same review calls “grimdark” fantasy. The countless cruelties characters inflict upon each other and the tragic turns of fate they’re forced to endure take center stage. Lapvona is less “relentlessly gory,” and more “relentlessly cruel” by subjecting the characters to cannibalism, casual acts of degradation, grotesque perversions, and other horrible things with rarely a kind moment that isn’t tinged with some layer of disgust.
What then does this parade of brutality aim to accomplish? The characters of Lapvona rarely fight against it and most, like Marek is for his entire life, are passive to the acts of the world. Most only act as a means of survival or out of mean-spiritedness. Every character is twisted and damaged in some way, but they find solace in their faith. Accepting their fates as a preordained act of God cushions the horrors of their reality. Marek, who is abused throughout the book, sees this suffering as a guarantee that he will be admitted into heaven. Many others in the book feel the same and use this excuse to carry on working in harsh conditions. Those like Lord Villiam, on the other hand, use religion as a justification for their place in the world. In one passage it’s explained that, “to Villiam, ‘divinity’ was a synonym for his own good fortune. He believed that wonderful things came to him because he was wonderful and therefore deserved them.”
These power structures are very rarely challenged, only upset by seemingly random acts of violence or, less commonly, by outspoken individuals. Grigor, a man whose grandchildren were murdered by Villiam’s hired bandits, is brought to the Lord’s castle. Seeing Villiam, he recognizes that his fortune, “was not God's fortune, but the bounty of a thief. Villiam hadn't worked for his blessings. The villagers had.” Soon though, like so many in our world who are outraged, he is distracted by his next hardship, and his outrage does little more than perturb those around him.
Lapvona has a sort of unbroken circular structure to it where the rich are inherently cruel and the poor inherently suffer, cursed to act out this tyranny so long as this indestructible system exists. When one noble dies, another is quickly installed as a replacement, without any sort of improvement to the lives of those suffering. Fortunately, that’s nothing like our world, right?
With all the gloom, one would assume Lapvona to be a miserable descent into the dark urges of mankind and the complacent acceptance of meaningless cruelty, but the text is gripping rather than miserably nihilistic. Moshfegh’s writing is witty and blunt, occasionally making horrific scenes almost amusing. Placing these dreary misanthropes in rooms together and seeing how each exploits the other is, at least, a sort of ironic salve in this cruel world.
“Don’t Trust the Persona”
The title of former SNL writer and famed comedian John Mulaney’s current stand-up tour is “From Scratch.” It’s his first stand-up tour since he went to rehab, divorced his wife, and had a baby with actress/model Olivia Munn. This tour, seemingly prolonged, appears to be an attempt by him to develop an identity “from scratch,” but Mulaney brings the same kind of humor he always has with just a little more vulnerability.
Throughout his stand-up, between amusing anecdotes about the US/Russian space race and complaining about podcasts, Mulaney spoke candidly about his “star-studded” intervention, his time in rehab, and alludes to his bout with “bad press.” He understands that his target audience is “your daughter or your son if he’s not athletic” and acknowledges, through song, that Bo Burnham is more popular than him now. None of this is done to garner sympathy as he often points out how ridiculous all of it is and any attempt to turn it into a morality tale is undercut by his vulgarity, snideness, and bald sarcasm. Mulaney didn’t speak much about his relationship with Munn and only had a small segment about his son Malcolm.
In an age where countless comedians claim that “comedy is about pushing boundaries” or “making a statement,” Mulaney, despite the recent whirlwind of a personal life, seems content with accomplishing what I hope most people believe is the true aim of being a comedian which is being funny. With this new side of himself being revealed, Mulaney exploits this wrinkle as a mine for comedy. This is especially clear when he retold one of his most famous jokes from one his previous stand-up routines: the salt and pepper diner. When telling this joke during the encore, he included details like the habitual drug use he and his friends would do before going there and how that led to them being banned from the restaurant. This new level of detail seemingly reveals more about Mulaney, but ultimately, only adds new funny details to an already funny joke.
Mulaney mentions that the woman running his intervention was told he was “very nice,”but Mulaney responded with “don’t trust the persona.”
You can find tour dates for “From Scratch” on John Mulaney’s website.
Stray Observations
Despite my lingering doubt, my girlfriend has finally convinced me that Seth Meyers is, in fact, funny. We watched his stand-up special Lobby Baby, and I couldn’t deny his comedic chops and impeccable delivery. I was surprised by how much I did find humorous, and I may have even guffawed at one point.
The bullet point above this was, as some regular readers of my newsletter may be able to tell, not written by me. It was, in fact, written by my talented girlfriend who also edited a large portion of this issue and felt the need to add this little ditty about Seth Meyers. As she implied above, she has been trying to convince me of his talent ever since we met and, perhaps, as stated above, she may have finally done it. Thanks, Brandy!
Great news for sickos like me, the Tom Green classic Freddy Got Fingered is available on Hulu. Despite extremely negative reviews at the time of its release, this gross-out comedy remains a touchstone for many fans. My initial revulsion of the film has given way for adoration. Give Freddy Got Fingered a chance or two and join the chorus of sickos who praise it.
I got around to watching season 3 of the Amazon series The Boys and, much like the previous two seasons, it was shocking and nauseatingly relevant. For those unfamiliar, The Boystakes place in a world like ours where pop culture is dominated by super heroes and everything is owned by a few major conglomerates. In The Boys, these superheroes are real and, often, use their powers for their own gain. Some are just narcissistic power-mad psychopaths that only have their reputation keeping them from destroying everyone. The show lends itself to be extremely sharp satire, but it also leans into shock humor and ultraviolence. As the show has gone on, the focus of its satire has become more bald and heavy handed, so it almost directly pulls lines from moments in the Trump presidency and members of the “alt-right”. Even so, this latest season is an exceptional examination of just how horrifyingly far people in power will hold onto their standing. Whether it becoming spineless “yes men” or exploding the heads of any naysayers, powerful people aren’t people, they’re worse.
You may have noticed that this issue I used links very sparingly (or not at all) when, previously, I would and that is because Substack on mobile has been acting awfully finicky in terms of editing. So until Substack gets it together, you will have to search for some things on your own. Sorry!
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