John Mulaney, the American comedian who worked on Saturday Night Live (SNL), is in a rehabilitation centre in Pennsylvania for alcohol and cocaine addiction, as per a New York Post‘s Page Six report on Monday.
A source told Page Six, “John’s friends and family are happy that he’s finally getting some help and focusing on his health.” Further, “His fans know he’s struggled in the past with sobriety, he has talked about it openly. Unfortunately he has struggled again during the pandemic.”
Mulaney, who lent his voice to the Academy Award-winning animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, has been working as a staff writer on Seth Meyer’s show, Late Night With Seth Meyers, during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the Page Six source, “He’s on board with his recovery, he’s not fighting against rehab.”
Mulaney, along with SNL actor Bill Hader, co-created the SNL character Stefon. In 2018, he signed a deal with Netflix and came back to host SNL, making him the fourth SNL writer to lead the show despite being a non-cast member.
Mulaney worked as a writer on SNL for four seasons. He has in the past been vocal about his struggle with alcoholism and drug addiction. In an interview with the Esquire magazine in 2019, Mulaney said, “I drank for attention. I was really outgoing, and then at twelve, I wasn’t. I didn’t know how to act. And then I was drinking, and I was hilarious again.”
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Mulaney told Esquire that he had decided to become sober at twenty-three. He said, “I thought to myself, I don’t like this guy anymore. I’m not rooting for him.” However, he said he never enrolled in a recovery program, as he felt he was able to “flip a switch” and stay sober.
Mulaney’s rehab period now is for 60 days.
Mulaney was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series on SNL. He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics at the 63rd Emmy Awards, along with Justin Timberlake, Seth Meyers, and Katreese Barnes.