Lunch Time

I just watched the Netflix special John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch.  The idea didn't sound too appealing, actually, but I was paying for it, so what the heck. Turns out it's really good.  Written by Mulaney and Marika Sawyer (including song lyrics to great tunes composed by Eli Bolin), it's a parody of a children's show from the 70s or 80s.  Mulaney is the adult host who hangs out with a bunch of kids.  There are also several guests, including David Byrne, Natasha Lyonne, Richard Kind and Jake Gyllenhaal.

The Sack Lunch Bunch may look like an old-style show, but it features Mulaney and the cast discussing issues in ways that are far too personal and knowing for a kids' program.  Best of all are the musical numbers, ten in all.

There's "Grandpa's Boyfriend Paul" which pretty much describes the contents, trying to explain how grandparents can have new companions and how that will lead to your parents saying bad things about them.  There's "Algebra Song!" where a tutor, played by Andre De Shields, explains in song and dance how not knowing algebra can--in a tortuous way--lead to losing your eye.  There's "Plain Plate Of Noodles" about how hard it is to be a kid when all you'll eat are noodles with butter.

Also interspersed throughout the show are (apparently) actual interviews with the kids and the rest of the cast discussing what truly scares them.

Anyway, definitely worth checking out.