A Keith Richards Story That Would Make John Mulaney Fans Smile
The Rolling Stones are a larger-than-life band that almost resembles a caricature of rock stars rather than real human beings. Singer Mick Jagger became iconic for his incredible voice and his groovy, flamboyant dance moves. Keith Richards has known Mick Jagger for most of his life and certainly has a reputation of his own. One particular story shared about Richards would make John Mulaney fans very happy.
John Mulaney told a hilarious story about his experience with Mick Jagger
John Mulaney is one of the hottest comedians out there, amassing a large fan base through his hilarious specials. The comic used to be a writer for Saturday Night Live, where he would work with many of the acclaimed hosts for each episode. Mick Jagger was invited to host one week, and Mulaney shared a story about working with him.
In his Netflix special Kid Gorgeous at Radio City, Mulaney said that Jagger wasn’t nice, but it’s hard to act polite when you’ve been treated like a god for over 50 years. The funniest bit comes when Mulaney talks about writing a sketch with him. Jagger rudely yelled at him, “Not funny!” and then abruptly shouted “no” or “yes” to every possible joke.
“I spent two hours alone with Mick Jagger that week. We were writing song lyrics. It was for a fake song in a comedy sketch, and he was sitting there, and we came to one point, and he goes, ‘Alright. Let’s all go to the picnic. Let’s all have a drink. Let’s see…what rhymes with drink?’ And I said, ‘Think?’ and Mick Jager said, ‘Nooooo!’ And then I said, ‘Sink?’ And Mick Jagger said, ‘Yeah!’ And I was like, ‘Motherf*****, is this how you write songs? Just one word at a time with verbal abuse?’”
Tom Waits shared a Keith Richards story that proves Mulaney was telling the truth
It turns out that it might be precisely how Jagger and the Rolling Stones write songs. In an interview with NPR’s Fresh Air, Tom Waits told a story about working with Keith Richards on Rain Dogs. Waits said Richards never wrote anything down. Instead, he would point and yell at other people to write so that they could collaborate together. It might not be as aggressive as Mulaney made it out to be with Jagger, but it’s still hilarious that someone had a similar experience. Keith Richards all but verified John Mulaney’s bit.
“There’s nobody in the world like him,” Waits said of Richards. “We wrote songs together for a while and that was fun [but] he doesn’t really remember anything or write anything down. So, you play for an hour and he would yell across the room, ‘Scribe!’ And I looked around. ‘Scribe? Who’s the scribe?’ And he’d say it again, now pointing at me.”
Mick Jagger has a mixed reputation with certain musicians
Mick Jagger has worked with dozens of musicians, and while his bandmates like Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, and Charlie Watts, have kind things to say about him, others had mixed opinions. Michael Jackson was one person who publicly criticized the singer, and Bill Wyman claimed to have left The Rolling Stones over being treated poorly by Jagger. Other artists such as John Lennon, Bono, David Bowie, and Tina Turner have nothing but kind things to say about the “Gimme Shelter” singer.
In the end, John Mulaney’s theory about how everyone has their own definition of nice certainly rings true when considering how Mick Jagger and Keith Richards operate.
