5-Year-Old John Mulaney Wanted to Be a Sex Therapist

Fresh off making a convincing case for himself as host of the 2025 Oscars, John Mulaney is getting ready to take a walk down memory lane with David Letterman. Literally. In a clip from an upcoming special episode of the latter’s Netflix series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Mulaney and Letterman stroll the hallways of Mulaney’s Chicago high school while the comedian reminisces with the host about some of the earliest jokes he can remember telling in conversation. Mulaney’s trademark sense of humor evidently developed early in life, as one of these jokes involved him, at 5 years old, approaching his father’s law colleagues and doing his best impression of television sex therapist Dr. Ruth. “I’m going to be a sex therapist,” he remembers telling them, to their confusion. “Sex is an experience of life. It brings joy to the body.” An impressed Letterman remarks, “Wow, that’s pretty edgy, esoteric stuff.” Finish the rest of your session when the episode goes live on April 30.