John Mulaney is back on Broadway in sweet 'All In' with some starry friends

NEW YORK (AP) — John Mulaney's second trip to Broadway took little convincing. He didn't even need to look at the script before signing on.

“I was like, ‘OK, well, send it to me. I’ll read it.’ And they sent it to me. I didn’t read it. I just agreed immediately,” the actor-comedian says.

What Mulaney signed up for was “All In: Comedy About Love,” a stage adaptation of his friend Simon Rich's short stories that's charming Broadway audiences this winter with a starry cast.

Joining Mulaney — who made his Broadway debut in 2016 with “Oh, Hello” — is Renée Elise Goldsberry, Richard Kind and Fred Armisen. They'll eventually be replaced by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jimmy Fallon, Aidy Bryant, Nick Kroll, Tim Meadows, Chloe Fineman, Andrew Rannells, David Cross, Annaleigh Ashford and Hank Azaria.

“All In” opens with the surreal story of a guy who walks into a bar that has a 12-inch piano player and then goes on to feature personal ads from dogs — “Full disclosure: I'm neutered but no complaints yet,” reads one — a love triangle involving The Elephant Man, an aging talent agent confronting Death and a history report from the 2070s.

“These are such meticulously, beautifully written pieces,” says Mulaney, who befriended Rich when both worked at “Saturday Night Live.” “Because they so naturally lend themselves to performing, it’s very fun to take it off the page.”

Director Alex Timbers first approached Rich, the son of noted critic Frank Rich, with the idea of transferring some of his short stories to the stage.

“Our first reading was 4 1/2 hours long so it took some process of elimination, but we eventually found a batch of stories that we felt were not just thematically linked, but would lend themselves to powerful performances by talented actors,” says Rich.

Once they found the right stories, attention went to presenting them: How many actors should there be? How much of a production should the 90-minute play be? Should there be costumes and sets?

They landed on minimalism and four actors, which offered both a chance to showcase each's versatility and make the play more intimate. The show is enlivened by original illustrations from New Yorker cartoonist Emily Flake and the band The Bengsons playing love songs from The Magnetic Fields' catalog.

“What was going to serve the material best was the purest communication of it to the audience,” says Mulaney. “I’m sorry to use a drug thing, but mainlining the material versus taking it in a dissolvable.”

Two of the stories — a pair of passive-aggressive pirates who abandon their rough ways to raise a young stowaway and a noir detective tale told by babies — features children and child-rearing, something both Rich and Mulaney can now relate to.

“It all is greatly enhanced by my own life,” says Mulaney, the “touring, stand-up comedian, ‘Saturday Night Live’-writing, complete night owl, Dracula-like creature who now has two kids and lives in the California suburbs.”

The original four cast members will give way to four more but Rich and Mulaney think the structure is sound and can take changes. It helps that each performer sits in chairs for the entire show and has a script in their lap should they need it.

“So many people can find a way into these stories that I am sure anyone coming in to do any of these pieces will be able to bring themselves to it and rise to the occasion of how good the writing is,” says Mulaney.

The replacements won't slip into the exact performer's spot just vacated — Rich says they'll scramble the parts up. “It’s exciting for me to imagine how not just new individual performances will change things, but new pairings as well,” he says. “So many of the stories live in the scene work between two cast members and that’s another thrilling thing for me to imagine is those shifting dynamics.”

The audience at the Hudson Theatre during one recent performance was notably younger than for most Broadway shows and Mulaney and Rich hope they can do some theatrical recruitment with “All In.”

“I think we are finding that there are some first-time theatergoers or new theater goers that are coming and we’re thrilled by that,” says Rich. “We hope that comedy fans will enjoy this experience and that it’ll help convert them into theater fans and maybe they’ll see this show and want to check out more.”

Jon Stewart attends a gala performance of "All In: Comedy About Love by Simon Rich" at the Hudson Theatre on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)

Lorne Michaels attends a gala performance of "All In: Comedy About Love by Simon Rich" at the Hudson Theatre on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)

Anna Wintour attends a gala performance of "All In: Comedy About Love by Simon Rich" at the Hudson Theatre on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)

Steve Martin attends a gala performance of "All In: Comedy About Love by Simon Rich" at the Hudson Theatre on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)

Alec Baldwin, left, Hilaria Baldwin attend a gala performance of "All In: Comedy About Love by Simon Rich" at the Hudson Theatre on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)

Tom Hanks attends a gala performance of "All In: Comedy About Love by Simon Rich" at the Hudson Theatre on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)

This photo provided by O+M/DKC in December 2024 shows Fred Armisen performing in “All In: Comedy About Love” in New York. (Emilio Madrid/O+M/DKC via AP)

This photo provided by O+M/DKC in December 2024 shows Abigail Bengson performing in “All In: Comedy About Love” in New York. (Emilio Madrid/O+M/DKC via AP)

This photo provided by O+M/DKC in December 2024 shows, from left, Richard Kind, Renée Elise Goldsberry, John Mulaney and Fred Armisen performing in “All In: Comedy About Love” in New York. (Emilio Madrid/O+M/DKC via AP)

This photo provided by O+M/DKC in December 2024 shows John Mulaney performing in “All In: Comedy About Love” in New York. (Emilio Madrid/O+M/DKC via AP)

Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip overnight killed at least 20 people, Palestinian medics said Monday.

One of the strikes killed eight people including two kids in a tent camp in the Muwasi area, which Israel designated a humanitarian safe zone but has repeatedly targeted. The casualties were reported by Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, which received the bodies.

The Israeli military says it only strikes militants, accusing them of operating among civilians. It said late Sunday that it had targeted a Hamas militant in the humanitarian zone.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Around 100 captives are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom Israel believes are dead.

Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed more than 45,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry says women and children make up more than half the dead but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally. The military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Here’s the latest:

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday there is “some progress” in efforts to reach a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza, although he added he could not give a time frame for a possible agreement.

Of the roughly 250 people who were taken hostage in the Hamas-led raid on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that sparked the war, around 100 are still inside the Gaza Strip, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Speaking in the Knesset, Netanyahu said “we are taking significant actions through all channels to return our loved ones. I would like to tell you cautiously that there is some progress.”

Netanyahu said he could not reveal details of what was being done to secure the return of hostages. He said the main reasons for the progress were the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israel’s military actions against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants who had been firing rockets into Israel from neighboring Lebanon in support of Hamas.

“Hamas hoped that Iran and Hezbollah would come to its aid but they are busy licking the wounds from the blows we inflicted on them,” he said, adding that Israel was also putting “relentless military pressure” on Hamas in Gaza.

“There is progress. I don’t know how long it will take,” Netanyahu said.

JERUSALEM — Israel's military said Monday it intercepted a drone launched from Yemen before it entered Israeli territory, days after a long-range rocket attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels hit Tel Aviv, injuring 16 people from shattered glass.

The military said no air raid warning sirens were sounded Monday. Israel says the Iran-backed Houthis have fired more than 200 missiles and UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The Houthis have also been attacking shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden — attacks they say won’t stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.

The attacks on shipping and Israel are taking place despite U.S. and European warships patrolling the area. On Saturday night and early Sunday, the U.S. conducted airstrikes on Yemen. Last week, Israel launched its own airstrikes on Yemen, killing at least nine people, and a Houthi missile damaged a school in Israel.

DAMASCUS, Syria — A Qatari delegation visited the Syrian capital on Monday for the first time in more than a decade and met with the country's top insurgent commander, who said strategic cooperation between Damascus and Doha will begin soon.

Qatar, along with Turkey, has long backed the rebels who now control Damascus, and the two countries are looking to protect their interests in Syria now that former President Bashar Assad has been overthrown.

The Qatari delegation was headed by the minister of state for foreign affairs, Mohammed al-Khulaifi, who met with Ahmad al-Sharaa, leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the insurgent group that overthrew Assad on Dec. 8.

Al-Sharaa was quoted as saying by Syrian media that they have invited the emir of Qatar to visit Damascus adding that relations will return to normal soon. Al-Sharaa said Qatar will back Syria during the transitional period and the two countries will soon start “wide strategic cooperation.”

Al-Sharaa also met Monday with Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi as well as a Saudi official.

Unlike Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Jordan had relations with Assad’s government until he was removed from power.

JENIN, West Bank — The Palestinian Authority says a second member of its security forces has been killed in the West Bank town of Jenin during clashes with Palestinian militants.

Brig. Gen. Anwar Rajab, the spokesman for PA security forces, said 1st Sgt. Mehran Qadoos was killed on Monday by “outlaws” in the volatile northern town, where the security forces launched a rare crackdown earlier this month. A member of security forces also was killed on Sunday.

An Associated Press reporter in Jenin heard heavy gunfire and explosions, apparently from a battle between the security forces and Palestinian militants. There was no sign of Israeli forces in the area.

Militant groups had earlier called for a general strike across the territory, accusing the security forces of trying to disarm them in support of Israel’s half-century occupation of the territory.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority is internationally recognized but deeply unpopular among Palestinians, in part because it cooperates with Israel on security matters. Israel accuses the authority of incitement and of failing to act against armed groups.

The Palestinian Authority exercises limited authority in population centers in the West Bank. Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast War, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.

Israel’s current government is opposed to Palestinian statehood and says it will maintain open-ended security control over the territory. Violence has soared in the West Bank following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, which ignited the war there.

JENIN, West Bank — Palestinians in the volatile northern West Bank town of Jenin are observing a general strike called by militant groups to protest a rare crackdown by Palestinian security forces.

An Associated Press reporter in Jenin heard gunfire and explosions, apparently from clashes between militants and Palestinian security forces. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or wounded. There was no sign of Israeli troops in the area.

Shops were closed in the city on Monday, the day after militants killed a member of the Palestinian security forces and wounded two others.

Militant groups called for a general strike across the territory, accusing the security forces of trying to disarm them in support of Israel’s half-century occupation of the territory.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority is internationally recognized but deeply unpopular among Palestinians, in part because it cooperates with Israel on security matters. Israel accuses the authority of incitement and of failing to act against armed groups.

The Palestinian Authority blamed Sunday’s attack on “outlaws.” It says it is committed to maintaining law and order but will not police the occupation.

The Palestinian Authority exercises limited authority in population centers in the West Bank. Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast War, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.

Israel’s current government is opposed to Palestinian statehood and says it will maintain open-ended security control over the territory. Violence has soared in the West Bank following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, which ignited the war there.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has begun a tour of military positions in the country’s south, almost a month after a ceasefire deal that ended the war between Israel and the Hezbollah group that battered the country.

Najib Mikati on Monday was on his first visit to the southern frontlines, where Lebanese soldiers under the U.S.-brokered deal are expected to gradually deploy, with Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops both expected to withdraw by the end of next month.

Mikati’s tour comes after the Lebanese government expressed its frustration over ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights in the country.

“We have many tasks ahead of us, the most important being the enemy's (Israel's) withdrawal from all the lands it encroached on during its recent aggression,” he said after meeting with army chief Joseph Aoun in a Lebanese military barracks in the southeastern town of Marjayoun. “Then the army can carry out its tasks in full.”

The Lebanese military for years has relied on financial aid to stay functional, primarily from the United States and other Western countries. Lebanon’s cash-strapped government is hoping that the war’s end and ceasefire deal will bring about more funding to increase the military’s capacity to deploy in the south, where Hezbollah’s armed units were notably present.

Though they were not active combatants, the Lebanese military said that dozens of its soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes on their premises or patrolling convoys in the south. The Israeli army acknowledged some of these attacks.

Smoke rises as Palestinian security forces mount a major raid against militants in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Palestinians sit in front of closed shops during a general strike called as Palestinian security forces mount a major raid against militants in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Journalists take cover from gunfire as Palestinian security forces mount a major raid against militants in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Officers from the Palestinian Authority clutch their guns as Palestinian security forces mount a major raid against militants in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Armored Palestinian security vehicles are seen on the road as Palestinian forces mount a major raid against militants in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Israel's security officers check a damaged car at the site of an attack in east Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Zeev, Israel, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the fifth day of testimony in his trial on corruption charges at the district court in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (Debbie Hill/Pool Photo via AP)

Weapons and other equipment seized by the Israeli military during its ground invasion of southern Lebanon are displayed, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Georges Elia decorates a Christmas tree inside St. George Melkite Catholic Church, that was destroyed by Israeli airstrike, in the town of Dardghaya in southern Lebanon, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A worshipper prays in the Church of the Nativity where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born, ahead of Christmas in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Palestinians pray over the bodies of the victims of an Israeli strike on a home late Saturday before the funeral outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. At least eight people were killed according to the hospital which received the bodies.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Relatives and neighbors, two of them holding guns, walk during the funeral procession of a victim of an Israeli strike on a home late Saturday that killed at least eight people, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. Some families in Gaza are armed to protect their homes from thieves in the camps.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)