John Mulaney's Netflix show 'Everybody's in LA' is so weird, but also wonderful: Review

It's nice to know there's still room in Hollywood to be really freaking weird. At least if you're John Mulaney.

The quirky and beloved comedian has taken his particularly offbeat brand of comedy to Netflix, not for another standup special but for "John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA" (streaming 10 EDT/7 PDT, through Friday, ★★★ out of four), a live variety/sketch/talk mishmash of famous people, regular people, prerecorded bits, awkwardness and Mulaney's idiosyncrasies. It does not make sense. It does not follow regular formats. It is so strange. And yet it is also pretty funny.

Someone at Netflix, it seems, gave Mulaney a pile of money, a studio set, a great booker and six nights during the "Netflix is a Joke!" comedy festival to fill his guest roster and do whatever the heck he wanted. And he wanted to be even more eccentric than he usually is. Dressed in a variety of not-very-stylish suits and with beloved character actor Richard Kind shouting from a lectern behind him, Mulaney doesn't so much host the series as conduct an orchestra of oddities, from Jerry Seinfeld snapping at a coyote conservationist to Jon Stewart being scared out of his mind by a delivery robot to Sarah Silverman debating the merits of exorcisms.

Add in Andy Samberg doing a very long impression of businessman and NBA fan Jimmy Goldstein, prerecorded segments of Mulaney and comedians including Chelsea Peretti and Fortune Feimster commiting low-stakes vandalism at an open house for a $1.7 million home and Mulaney waxing poetic on hyperlocal LA references and jokes, and it is just so all over the place that it actually kind of comes together. The point of view is chaos, and it surprisingly works for Mulaney, 41, usually an architect of more intimate, self-deprecating comedy. When nothing makes sense, there's almost something grounding about Mulaney's low-grade vocal fry coming in with dry wit amid discussions of helicopters chasing O.J. Simpson.

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Is it too much, sometimes? Absolutely. Mulaney quotes one viewer describing the show as a "fever dream," and it certainly comes off that way at times. Not every whim is as funny as Mulaney and his writers might think it is, and some segments bomb, like one in which a correspondent waits on a hillside for a coyote to appear or an unfortunate bit with Nick Kroll, as they revive their "Oh Hello!" characters as members of the Charles Manson cult (the joke just never lands). The episodes are 15 minutes too long, and Mulaney could use more practice as an interviewer when his guests aren't fellow comedians (Ray J, you did your best).

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Still, it's fun. It's different. Stewart called Goldstein a robber baron while forgetting the show was live. You can call in and talk to Mulaney, and he'll ask you what kind of car you drive. If you like Mulaney's comedy, you will certainly like this. If you don't, you still might like this. If you are bored and scrolling for something to watch, you certainly won't be more bored after watching this onslaught of the bizarre.

Considering Netflix is a Joke! is ongoing in Los Angeles, if you're a comedian, everybody is in L.A. They might as well have some fun while they're there.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'John Mulaney's Everybody's in LA' review: So weird, but wonderful