Laughs and cheers filled the Midland Theatre last night as John Mulaney performed a hilarious, energetic, and fast paced, set. The Midland was just one of his many stops on his Kid Gorgeous tour that began in March of this year. The old theatre in downtown Kansas City, Missouri was sold out excluding four chairs in the front row, something Mulaney turned into a very comedic lesson about humility. Mulaney’s hour and a half long set covered a variety of topics, from his favorite school assemblies to his unhealthy need for approval. My personal favorite section of the show was his opinion on his own Catholic upbringing.

Mulaney is a well known stand-up comedian and actor. He his best known for his New In Town comedy album and his recent work on the Netflix Original show Big Mouth. He was briefly a writer on SNL but quickly moved on to create his own stand-up career. Mulaney’s material is made up of  light-hearted and satirical stories and observations, often just poking fun at himself. Though he is known to occasionally dip into controversial topics like alcohol and drug use and religion, Mulaney is generally regarded as a cleaner, non-taboo comedian, and this was definitely the case for his Kid Gorgeous tour.

Mulaney’s performance at the Midland was well worth the price of admission. His opener had the crowd dying with his jokes about relationships and how different kinds of women argue. Mulaney then came out swinging with some improved material about the city, the theatre, and those four empty seats in the front row. Most of the set was made up of observations and stories from his childhood, mainly about school assemblies. About an hour in he hit a rough patch in his set. A long, overly energized and animated bit cause the audience to hit the ceiling in terms of laughs and then flatline for a good ten minutes. Mulaney was able to completely save the set by ending the night with a very funny bit about his childhood experiences with church and Catholicism. The bit was a powerful way to end the show and left the audience more than satisfied.

Kid Gorgeous isn’t Mulaney’s strongest set but it’s not bad by any means. If you ever get the chance to see him perform live I highly, highly recommend it.