John Mulaney Recounts Seth Meyer’s Wedding Disaster
Comedian Seth Meyers turned the birth of his second son Axel into the name of his newest Netflix special, Lobby Baby.
Last spring he recalled how quickly both of his children arrived with his wife Alexi barely making it to the hospital for the birth of their oldest son. But when Alexi went into labor during her second pregnancy, they didn’t have enough time to leave the building. She ended up giving birth in the lobby. Now that blessed event has a special named after it.
Big events like births, but also weddings don’t seem to be standard issue for Meyers. Even his wedding had events that could have left most brides in tears. But, like having a baby in the lobby of an apartment building, the big event always finds a way toward humor. When Seth and Alexi Meyers married, good friend and comedian John Mulaney wrote about the nuptials. He described the beautiful setting, what the bride wore and oh … also the food poisoning.
The perfect setting
Mulaney was tasked with recounting the wedding for Vogue. He gave the piece considerable care and thought as he dove deeply into detail from the minute he arrived on Martha’s Vineyard. Mulaney started by explaining how challenging it is to get to the Vineyard. “The Vineyard is hard to get on and hard to get off: like Alcatraz, but with Kennedys and alpacas.” But he added that everyone was all in with celebrating this couple.
The evening began with the rehearsal dinner. “We arrived at Beetlebung Farm on Saturday evening for a rehearsal dinner/pig roast that was relaxed and beautiful and would have made a nice music video for that song ‘Home’ by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros that everyone likes.” In attendance included Meyer’s younger brother, Will Forte and Chris Fischer who owned Beetlebung at the time. Fischer would eventually marry comedian Amy Schumer.
The scene was set for the ceremony and reception. “Leo DeSorcy gladly handed over the keys to Chickemmoo Farm (do farms have keys?) for the ceremony and reception. Leo and Alexi had built a chuppah together from logs found on the property. I don’t think brides normally do woodwork the week of their wedding, but Alexi was no ordinary bride.”
All was perfect and then …
As with Meyer’s little lobby baby, the best-laid plans can go awry. “On Friday afternoon, less than two days before the wedding, Alexi came down with food poisoning. She spent the morning of her wedding in the hospital. ‘You’re not getting married today,’ the nurse on duty told her,” Mulaney recounts.
Food poisoning wasn’t going to stand in the couple’s way. Mulaney says the team doctor for the Chicago Bears was a wedding guest and “gave Alexi NFL-style treatment, and she walked down the aisle brave and beautiful.”
Mulaney notes that the rest of the wedding went off without a hitch. He mentioned that under the big white tent he detected a stormy sky. That same stormy weather may have kept half of the cast of Saturday Night Live on the island and unable to get back to work. SNL alum Bill Hader appeared on Jimmy Kimmel to share his experience. “All of us kept getting fogged in. It was like every morning at the Martha’s Vineyard airport — it was like the entire cast of SNL,” he said, Boston recounts. The fog kept the guests on the island for a few days until they could leave.
