Nick Kroll Recalled John Mulaney’s “Scary & Brutal” Intervention

Comedian John Mulaney has used his 2020 intervention as fodder for his stand-up, but for his longtime friend and collaborator Nick Kroll, that time was “so scary and brutal to go through.” Appearing on the May 26 episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast, the Big Mouth star opened up about his role in the now-infamous intervention and how he felt about the jokes afterward.

Mulaney’s Intervention

Host Dax Shepard, who has been open about his own struggles with substance use disorder, brought up Mulaney’s intervention. He told Kroll he’d watched the comedian’s 2023 Netflix special, John Mulaney: Baby J, and wondered if he was there for it. (In Baby J, Mulaney describes his intervention as “star-studded,” quipping, “As mad as I was when I walked in there, I was like, ‘This is a good lineup.’” Among the attendees were Seth Myers, Bill Hader, Natasha Lyonne, and Fred Armisen, and more.)

Kroll confirmed he was present, saying, “I produced that intervention.” He went on to recall how stressful it was to plan, explaining that he was in Los Angeles at the time, Mulaney was in New York, and it was “the height of COVID pre-vaccine.” To top it all off, his wife was pregnant and soon to deliver their first child, a son born just weeks later on Jan. 21, 2021.

“John was running around New York City like a true madman, and I was so deeply scared that he was going to die,” Kroll said. “And so I was trying to orchestrate all this, of combining all the elements that go into these things, like the intervention person, where he was going to go, who was going to be at it… It was so f*cking stressful.”

He also revealed that he didn’t know Mulaney had relapsed for very long before the intervention, saying, “It was only near the end.” Once he did know, it helped him connect some dots.

“You’re all of a sudden going back, being like, ‘Oh, oh, oh, oh. That’s why I’ve had an inconsistent friend for the last X amount of time. Oh, this explains that,’” he said. “And so it gives you both empathy for them and also a tremendous amount of anger because they’ve been lying to you.”

The Aftermath

The intervention did lead Mulaney to check himself into rehab afterward, though he harbored some anger about it. From his stand-up, Kroll thought he was “still pretty f*cking pissed about the intervention because he was having a good time.” Meanwhile, he didn’t feel great about some of Mulaney’s jokes about him.

Recalling Mulaney’s quip that he “didn’t get the memo” about being “nice” to him during the intervention, Kroll defended himself. “I’m a good student in this way,” he said. “I was like, if the job is write you, tell you a letter of how you’ve been a bad friend, I’m going to tell you how you’ve been a bad friend. Because this is no more joking around, no more nice sh*t. Like, it’s f*cking done. This is serious.”

The two men discussed the jokes, and Kroll recalled Mulaney saying, “I totally hear you.” He went on to praise Mulaney’s comedy, especially his willingness to share. “Where he’s landed and how well he’s doing in all ways is amazing,” he added.

Mulaney showed his appreciation for Kroll in Baby J. “Getting to do this show, and standing here, listen, I am grateful to everyone at my intervention,” he said. “They intervened. They confronted me and they totally saved my life.”

If you or someone you know is seeking help for substance use, call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).