Netflix’s ‘Mulligan’ mixes political, broad humor

The creative team behind the Netflix animated series “Mulligan” didn’t have to take a mulligan when they launched the apocalyptic sitcom in 2023. The series featuring the voices of Tina Fey, Dana Carvey, Daniel Radcliff and Chrissy Teigen was such a hit for the streaming service that a second season will be available starting May 24.

Series creators Robert Carlock and Sam Means (known for their work on “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “30 Rock”) launched the series asking the basic question of what happens after a science fiction movie where an alien attack is over and the world has to start from scratch.

“There’s so much work to be done,” Carlock says. “It is all the hard stuff and that is where the office comedy stuff comes in.”

The post-invasion world of “Mulligan” is run by Matty Mulligan (voiced by Nat Faxon), a working-class everyman from Boston who becomes President. His first lady, Lucy Suwan (Chrissy Teigen), wants to help fix the world but the beauty pageant queen has her own issues. The troublemaker in the group is Senator Cartwright LaMarr (Dana Carvey), a political schemer.

Casting Carvey was a natural for Carlock and not just because they worked together on “The Dana Carvey Show.”

Carlock says, “He’s just the funniest. I have worked with some great sketch players over the years and Dana is just so funny. In some ways I kind of feel like we built around him.

“We got him pretty early and it took awhile to find our Boston guy because the accent is so hard to do.”

The first season ended with a cliffhanger of a cruise ship showing up full of survivors who spent their time partying during the invasion. The second season picks up with that arrival and how the new survivors will deal with the old.

“They seem like they might have made better decisions than our people because it looks like they have done pretty well,” Means says. “But they might have a dark secret.”

Meansturned hisMasters degree in Philosophy into a job drawing cartoons for The New Yorker and contributed headlines to The Onion. That was followed by working as a writer on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” along with stints on “Rock,” “Parks & Recreation” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”

Carlock was a co-creator of NBC’s “Mr. Mayor” and the Emmy-nominated Netflix original series “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” He spent five seasons on “Saturday Night Live,” including a two-year stint as the producer and head writer of “Weekend Update.”

The work history of both that includes political humor and workplace comedies was the right foundation for them when creating “Mulligan.” The show rapidly switches between jabs at the government to making jokes about what life would be like after an alien attack is thwarted.

Carlock says, “There’s also a love of sci-fi and a love of trying to write topically even with the lead time of animation which is a fun challenge.”

Means jumps in to add that despite the long gaps between writing the show and it being produced, the material has remained very topical.

Carlock finishes that thought by saying the topical nature comes from “the world being on fire.”

The move into animation for Means and Carlock has presented both with new sets of obstacles. With live action productions, if a scene isn’t working during the editing process, there is other material that has been shot. The same process is far more complicated with animation because any change must go through the lengthy time-consuming process to get made.

As far as comedic structure is concerned, the show has the kind of dark and irreverent comedy that appeals to a young audience while mixing in older references. The first season featured a series of jokes built around how Fonzie’s jacket from “Happy Days” was one of the few items to survive the destruction of the Smithsonian.

Carlock says, “We are referencing everything from the present back to the creation of Greek democracy. We have jokes about things that took place in the 18^th Century. We have to assume there is some general knowledge. I remember being 12 and discovering ‘Saturday Night Live.’ Eighty percent of the jokes are going over your head, but I can remember feeling that I should know what that is.”

Means and Carlock have loaded “Mulligan” with such a broad variety of jokes they anticipate while the references might be unclear, the humor is distinct enough to get enough laughs for another season to be ordered. Both agree another big step in the rebuilding of the world would be to have two executive producers trying to bring back television.

“It is the natural step after they get electricity,” Means jokes.

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