I kind of thought, wouldn't it be funny to take a swing at being on the weird side of mainstream?

With the first episode [of John Mulaney Show] I tell a story that happened to me accidentally chasing a woman down the subway.

That was an interesting thing I learned I think the first time I did a late night show or something. It was like, "Oh, this is for the camera and a performance that you're giving to the people at home."

If you’re comparing the badness of two words and you won’t even say one of them [the n-word], that’s the worse word.

I remember writing standup jokes without having done sets. But as soon as I did my first set, it didn't matter. Everything I thought would work didn't work. And everything I was iffy on was funny.

Things have to be funny first, and if they want to have a point, that's awesome.

The best-case scenario is everything goes perfect and smooth, but we're also a new and weird show. So all my conversations were, "Hey last night didn't go perfect but we kind of know what we've got in store for everybody episode-wise."