Tag: John Mulaney

My Heart Breaks For Anna Marie Tendler


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Oh boy. Talk about shots fired. While I’ve made my thoughts clear that I’m Team Oulaney, I’m not a heartless monster — Anna Marie Tendler’s Instagram account is tearing me up.

I don’t know what to make of it all. A divorce is always heartbreaking and messy and this one is no different. It’s one of those things where you could pick either side and have a very valid argument, which is what makes the whole thing so rough.

But I have to give Ms. Tendler credit — she’s an amazing artist. The above photo explains all we need to know about her break up from her point of view. It’s just devastating.

So, I totally validate her grief on this issue. And I hope nothing I’ve written seems to indicate I think her ex and his new baby mamma are in the clear, they’re not. I’m more annoyed with people being way too invested in this whole messy, messy situation than the specifics of what happened.

There’s enough hurt to go around, if you will.

Anyway. In the end, I think most of the “parasocial” investment that you see on Tik-Tok comes from younger women in Brooklyn who saw John Mulaney as aspirational — he was the type of guy they wanted. When it turned out he did not fit the romantic narrative they had in their heads…they were heart broken.

And I’m not picking on them for that, either. Just describing what I think may have happened. In fact, the level of misogyny I’ve seen thrown at Olivia Munn for this particular situation is really aggravating.

I have not seen any indication that she actively broke up Mulaney’s marriage. They were already on the rocks — apparently — and Munn just took advantage of what was going on.

Anyway. What do I know.

Woke ‘Oulaney’ Discourse Is The Worst Discourse


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

When it comes to often absurd discourse on the John Mulaney and Olivia Munn relationship, I’m firmly on team Oulaney. The core of the very dumb hot takes on this particular messy situation is apparently twofold, if what I’m seeing on Tik-Tok is accurate.

Leave Oulaney Alone!

One is, a lot of women who bought into Mulvaney’s Tiger Beat persona feel betrayed and use the proxy of his wife to express their outrage. They were invested in Mulvaney as a “good boy” that they felt they could bring home to mom. He didn’t want kids, sure, but he and his wife had their dog Petunia and that was good enough for them.

Meanwhile, the other thing that makes the parasocial people on Tik-Tok angry is, well, Oliva Munn. They don’t like that she wrote a book that was, well, the type of book you could imagine Olivia Munn writing. I remember her from The Man Show and she wasn’t, exactly, uhhhh….woke? The thing that made her a star, in fact, you could say started her whole career, was the episode of The Man Show where she struggled to eat a hotdog tied to a string above her head. (I think that’s what was going on.)

She’s kind of the type of woman that is “just one of the guys” but also is probably banging the best looking Alpha Male in that group.

And here is the point where I kind of hit a brick wall in my response to all of this. Because of how touchy woke people on Tik-Tok are, it’s so problomatic to comment on the surreal discourse about Team Oulaney that I honestly don’t know what to say.

I definitely validate the woke discourse. But I also think if those two crazy kids are happy, who are we to judge? Munn’s thing is being hypersexual and outrageous in a heteronormative fashion. That’s her thing. And that “thing” apparently does a number on the minds of some Tik-Tok users who think Munn is some sort of evil homewrecker who “stole” their Tiger Beat idol from his wife.

I find that argument dubious. Yes, she was probably more aggressive towards Mulaney than maybe they would like, but he was going through some things with his wife and she really, really dug him. That, as far as I’m concerned, is enough.

But I definitely think we can learn a lot about the excess of “woke” culture by mulling the arguments of people angry at Oulaney on Tik-Tok. It’s all very interesting….and a tad surreal.