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Missed ‘Oh, Hello on Broadway’ on Broadway?

Now you can watch it on Netflix on your couch

by
Gabriela Geselowitz
June 13, 2017
Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images
John Mulaney and Nick Kroll in character at Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City, December 8, 2015.Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images
Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images
John Mulaney and Nick Kroll in character at Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City, December 8, 2015.Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images

Hallelujah, the day has arrived: Oh, Hello on Broadway is now available on Netflix.

Some months ago, George St. Geegland and Gil Faizon, the alter-egos of John Mulaney and Nick Kroll, had a two-man show on Broadway—or, Brud-WAY, as they pronounce it. The two crotchety, gross, narcissistic old New Yorkers take the Great White Way by storm, as they perform a play-within-a-play, kvetch, fight with one another, rave about Steely Dan, and generally entertain the hell out of audiences.

The filmed feature adds a short framing device of the duo preparing for the show (in character), but they mostly let the material as they played it onstage speak for itself. You could also go in knowing nothing about the characters, and catch up quickly. Start here: Faizon is Jewish (he’s even wearing a chai necklace), but St. Geegland explains, “I am neither Jewish nor a woman, but like many men over the age of 70, I am somehow both.”

One conceit of the play was that every night the duo invite a different real-life celebrity guest onstage, with whom they’d improv an interview. The nights that they filmed for the special included Steve Martin, so he made the final cut (the Michael J. Fox interview is a bonus clip). Martin is an amazing guest.

“Do people think you’re Jewish?” Faison/Kroll asks Martin. “No,” Martin quickly replies. “Congratulations.”

St. Geegland/Mulaney observes that no one ever stops Christians on the street to ask about their identity, as in, “We need 10 Presbyterians to make a mayonnaise sandwich.”

While it’s impossible to replicate the amazing energy the live show provided, the Netflix special is still laugh-out-loud funny, highly quotable, and a bizarre little trip.

Seriously, it’s a cliche to say that something is better experienced than described, but from a giant tuna fish sandwich monster puppet, to a talk show within-a-play within-a-play, to some secretly really smart jokes about dramatic storytelling structure, do yourself a favor and watch Oh, Hello.

Gabriela Geselowitz is a writer and the former editor of Jewcy.com.