This past Christmas Eve, Netflix dropped one of the very best pieces of entertainment we saw all year. John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch was weird, touching, absurd, and really freaking funny. It had everything we’d want in a kid’s special, including guest appearances by Richard Kind, Natasha Lyonne, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Talking Heads’ David Byrne. The latter two contributed to what was also one of 2019’s greatest soundtracks, which is about to become one of 2020’s greatest albums. As announced on Wednesday, the John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch soundtrack is getting an official album release!
-It’s John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch
-Grandma’s Boyfriend Paul
-Algebra Song!
-Googy’s Theme
-Plain Plate of Noodles
-Do You Wanna Play Restaurant?
-Pay Attention!
-Do Flowers Exist at Night?
-I Saw a White Lady Standing on the Street Just Sobbing (and I Think About It Once a Week)
-Music, Music Everywhere!
Drag City/Netflix
You can order the album as an LP ($30), CD ($12), FLAC Download ($10.99), or an MP3 Download ($9.99). The downloads will come through now. Drag City says the physical copies will ship as soon as they are available.
If you’re looking for something special, though, you can also order a “very limited-edition signed LP version with special message from John Mulaney himself.” That signed copy will cost you $100, which is roughly 200 plates of plain noodles. (Is that right? We were never good at algebra either.)
“I’m John Mulaney and I am a 37 year old man. The Sack Lunch Bunch is a group of children ages 8-13 who are more talented than me. In this special, we are joined by celebrity guests like David Byrne, Tony Award Winner Andre De Shields, Natasha Lyonne, Annaleigh Ashford, Shereen Pimentel, Richard Kind, and Jake Gyllenhaal from the movie Zodiac. The result is a collage of Broadway caliber showstoppers, comedy sketches for all ages, meditations on the unknown from children and adults, and a papier mache volcano. It’s funny, musical, joyous, anxious, and surprisingly profound.”
It turned out to be even more bizarre, and in turn, better than we had even hoped for, though, because it also featured one of the most insane performances ever by the Zodiac star. A manic Gyllenhaal showcased his musical talents in the final number of the comedy special:
Featured Image: Drag City/Netflix