Comedian, writer, and actor John Mulaney has never been shy about publicly discussing his love for Steely Dan, even as he acknowledges many people’s aversion to the band’s eclectic pop-jazz sound. During his Tuesday evening appearance on The Tonight Show, Mulaney once again steered his conversation with host Jimmy Fallon toward Donald Fagen and Walter Becker‘s brainchild.
This time around, Mulaney’s token Steely Dan name-drop came during a conversation about his three-year-old son, Malcolm, who has already developed an obsession with Elvis Presley. On the topic of introducing his kids to music, Fallon asked if Mulaney had been able to sell his young kids on Steely Dan.
“So, I love Steely Dan,” Mulaney began, “Some people don’t like Steely Dan. It’s a very divisive band. When I had a son, I go, ‘Great, fresh person,’ right? Fresh ears. That’s one reason to have a baby is ‘cus you can test Steely Dan out on ’em.”
“So he was 9 months old,” Mulaney went on, “and I was like, ‘Okay, it’s time.’ And he loves dancing, my son loves music. He’ll dance to sirens. He loves dancing. So I put on the Steely Dan song ‘Hey Nineteen’ because that’s fun.” After getting no audible love from the crowd for the song, Mulaney added, “Look at all the applause of recognition for ‘Hey Nineteen’. Everyone knows it. Please, everyone, we have to continue with this segment.”
He continued, “I’m staring at [my son] Malcolm, he’s nine months old, I turn on ‘Hey Nineteen’, he’s not dancing. So I change it to the song ‘Gaucho’ from the album Gaucho. Again, folks, sit down, stop applauding. … Still not dancing. And my son looks at me and he says, ‘E-I-E-I-O.’ And I go, ‘You wanna listen to ‘Old MacDonald?’ And he [nods]. And I turn on ‘Old MacDonald’ and he immediately starts dancing.”
“So here’s what’s interesting about that story,” Mulaney added nonchalantly. “He had never spoken before. That’s how much he hated Steely Dan. He taught himself to talk. … He couldn’t stand this pop-jazz and went [wincing], ‘E-I-E-I-O!'”
Watch Mulaney tell his story about his son’s immediate distaste for Steely Dan on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon below (beginning after the 5:00 mark).
Back in 2018, on a previous visit to The Tonight Show, John Mulaney told a story about the time he took his former Saturday Night Live co-worker Pete Davidson to see Steely Dan at New York’s Beacon Theatre and Davidson got the seated crowd to stand up and dance. Revisit that story here.
John Mulaney Talks Steely Dan On The Tonight Show (Again) – 12/10/24