John Mulaney Show’s Height Episode Had Randy Newman Playing Songs That Aren’t “Short People”

Everybody's Live, John Mulaney's gloriously unhinged live Netflix talk show, might've had its most gloriously unhinged installment last night. The episode was all about men's heights, and they've been building to it for a few weeks. The big centerpiece was the moment that Mulaney lined up a group of men of all different heights, from 5'0" to 6'11", to form a diagonal line onstage. (They didn't have a seven-footer! I could've helped!) The bulk of the show was devoted to Mulaney talking about height stuff with his guests -- David Letterman, Nikki Glaser, Hannibal Buress, and Leanne Morgan -- and with people calling in, including one guy who went to Turkey to get leg-lengthening surgery, which was probably a bad idea.

With this episode, Everybody's Live continued its streak of booking truly great musical guests. In past weeks, they've had Bartees Strange, Mannequin Pussy, and the team of Kims Deal and Gordon. On last night's episode, the musical guest was 81-year-old songwriting legend Randy Newman, who happens to be the author of the most famous song about heights. Newman's acidic and satirical "Short People" was a #2 hit in 1977. Naturally, Newman did not perform "Short People." That would've been the obvious thing, which is probably why he didn't do it. He also didn't sing "I Love LA," a song that's been inescapable since the wildfires earlier this year. Instead, Newman played two songs that are entirely unrelated to people's heights or to loving Los Angeles.

As far as I can tell, Newman's Everybody's Live performance was his first in a few years. He brought no extra musicians, accompanying himself on piano. (There were a lot of other pianos onstage, but nobody played them.) Newman started things off with "I Think It's Going To Rain Today," a classic number from his 1968 debut album. The song is even older than that, since a couple of other people recorded it before Newman. He also played "Political Science," his bitterly funny 1972 song about how nobody likes America so we should just bomb the rest of the world. I don't need to point out how relevant that one is.

Randy Newman wasn't the only music legend on last night's episode. As all the men of different heights lineup onstage, R&B great and former Gap Band leader Uncle Charlie Wilson sang an over-the-top version of "America The Beautiful." Also, announcer Richard Kind told a Charli XCX joke, which fell absolutely flat. This led to a whole video package that I honestly don't want to spoil. That one got me. I couldn't believe what they were doing. I love this ridiculous show. Honestly, just go do yourself a favor and watch the whole episode here.

On next week's episode of Everybody's Live, the topic will be "Are Dinosaur Fossils Put Together Correctly?" At the end of last night's show, Mulaney announced that his guests will be Rita Moreno, Conan O'Brien, Ayo Edebiri, paleontologist Dr. Luis Chiappe, and "reuniting for one night only, the band METZ." METZ just played their farewell show in November, so this might be a record turnaround for a band reunion.