Big Mouth creator Nick Kroll has shared his deepest fears about watching his friend and collaborator, fellow comedian John Mulaney, spiral during his drug addiction relapse in 2020.
On the latest episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Kroll candidly explained the process of trying to organize the now-famous 2020 intervention that prompted Mulaney to check into rehab.
“It was so scary and brutal to go through because he was in New York. I was in LA. It was at the height of the pandemic,” Kroll explained on the podcast. “So it was incredibly stressful to be in the midst of the pandemic, trying to literally coordinate and produce an intervention, bringing a bunch of different people together, friends from college.”
In addition, Kroll’s wife was about to give birth. “And I was shooting Don’t Worry, Darling, which there was no stress there,” he joked of the highly publicized drama surrounding the film.
“Then John was running around New York City like a true madman. And I was so deeply scared that he was gonna die,” Kroll continued. “And I was trying to orchestrate all this of combining all the elements that go into these things, like the intervention person, where he was gonna go, who was gonna be at it.
“It was so f***ing stressful.”
Kroll continued: “You're all of a sudden going back being like, oh, that's why I've had an inconsistent friend for the last X amount of time. Oh, this explains that. And so it gives you both empathy for them and also tremendous amount of anger because they've been lying to you.”
Kroll recalled being on the phone with Mulaney and sharing his fears. “Both of us crying, me just being like, I'm so scared you're gonna die,” Kroll said. “And so I felt him feeling the same way, but also like, just like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But anyway, I'm in this new Airbnb. I gotta go.”
The infamous intervention involved about a dozen of Mulaney’s famous friends, including Kroll and late night host Seth Meyers. They all convened in New York and lured Mulaney to attend after convincing him he was having dinner with a friend from college.
Speaking to Meyers on his eponymous show in September 2021, Mulaney said: “When I opened the door, I knew right away it was an intervention. That’s how bad of a drug problem I had, that when I opened a door and saw people, I went, ‘This is probably an intervention about my drug problem.’”
Mulaney went straight to rehab from the staged intervention and stayed for two months. He admitted to being addicted to Adderall, Xanax, Klonopin, and Percocet, and was also heavily using cocaine.
The comedian then turned the ordeal into a Netflix special called John Mulaney: Baby J, which debuted in 2023. Mulaney has credited the intervention with saving his life.
“I don’t mean to be weird. It was a star-studded intervention. It was, like, a good group,” Mulaney said of the intervention in the Netflix special. Despite being angry at the time, he did acknowledge that the act was life-changing.
“I am grateful to everyone at my intervention,” Mulaney said in the Netflix special. “They intervened. They confronted me and they totally saved my life.”
If you or someone you know is suffering from drug addiction, you can seek confidential help and support 24-7 from Frank, by calling 0300 123 6600, texting 82111, sending an email or visiting their website here.
In the US, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration can be reached at 1-800-662-HELP
The Last of Us viewers spot subtle Game of Thrones reference in season two finale
Catherine O’Hara seems to confirm fan theory for season three of The Last Of Us
Who Wants to be a Millionaire contestant suffers ‘biggest loss’ in show’s history
Maya Jama demands a shakeup in new Love Island 2025 trailer
